A Robert Mugabe loyalist with no ICT experience: this is how experts are describing Zimbabwe’s new minister for information and communications technology Webster Shamu.

Following an overwhelming election victory for Zanu-PF earlier this year, one of the party’s old guard Shamu has replaced Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) stalwart Nelson Chamisa.

Chamisa headed up the country’s ministry of ICT from 2009 as part of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government.

Shamu -- who used to be Zimbabwe’s minister of publicity and information, and a key player in the country’s 1972–1980 liberation war against colonial rule -- now leads Zimbabwe’s ICT department, of which Zanu-PF has broadened its scope to include postal and courier services.

This in turn means that the country’s telecoms regulator, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), now falls under Shamu’s government ministry, according to TechZim.co.zw.

Shamu’s appointment to the top post comes after Chamisa made a name for himself as a minister who publicly stated his ministry’s intention to make Zimbabwe one of the most progressive ICT markets in Africa.

But now Chamisa been left out in the cold as Zanu PF yesterday announced the deployment of its members to key positions in government.

One expert, Zimbabwe ICT analyst Robert Ndlovu, says the move to deploy Shamu could be targeted at curtailing free speech in the country.

“What I suspect is that because of the growth of social media, the growth of things like Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp, which has been a pain in the flesh (of Zanu PF), they want to bring in somebody who’s got the skills of, what can I say, ‘national intelligence’ in terms of that area,” Ndlovu told ITWeb Africa.

Ndlovu went on to say that Shamu has no previous experience in ICT.

These are sentiments also expressed by ITWeb Africa’s Zimbabwe contributor Tawanda Karombo.

“Webster Shamu is a Mugabe loyalist who is a firm believer in stricter regulation of the media,” Karombo said.

“He is someone who can easily toe whatever line of thinking he thinks works for Mugabe.

“He has no experience in ICT and comes as not the best appointment. We may see him trying to bring some sort of regulation of the internet because last year he said ... that social media should be regulated,” Karombo told ITWeb Africa.

It is unclear at this stage as to whether Shamu could retain Chamisa’s staff in the department of ICT and postal and courier services.

But Ndlovu said that the MDC’s move to refuse to participate in government structures means that Zanu PF can control departments such as ICT to its liking.

This comes as the MDC has alleged that the country’s elections earlier this year, in which Mugabe won with 61% of the presidential vote against 34% for the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai, were rigged by Zanu-PF.

As a result, the MDC has cut ties with the country’s ruling Zanu-PF.

Owing to these political undercurrents at play in Zimbabwe, it is unclear what policies Shamu could then adopt as ICT minister.

“Shamu may struggle to further develop the sector from where it finished off under Chamisa,” Karombo said.

“And he may end up just operating with the policies left by Chamisa and most likely introducing more radical ICT policies to regulate and make the internet less scathing for Mugabe and Zanu PF,” Karombo concluded.