The fallout between Deputy information minister Energy Mutodi and foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo has accelerated further with Mutodi telling Moyo to stop behaving like he is the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

In the latest clash of the ministers, Mutodi wrote a letter to Moyo urging him to stop attacking him, noting that the two were running different ministries.

He said, “I wish to remind you that our two ministries operate on a divergent yet complimentary role, with your Foreign Affairs Ministry outward looking while my Information Ministry is inward looking. While our ministry is worried about the public perception on the national leadership, its image, electability and the public approval ratings of the president, your ministry focuses on foreign cooperation and diplomatic engagement, otherwise our two ministries should have been merged if they served the same purpose.”

Mutodi went on to take a swipe at Moyo saying his utterances were uncalled for as they have puzzled Zimbabweans.

“…Your public statement which could have been sufficiently dealt with by a diplomatic correspondence to the Tanzanian embassy if it mattered, has divided public opinion first on the definition and meaning of government and whether you had become its Prime Minister in charge of the two ministries.”

In the United States, President Donald Trump has described the virus as a “Chinese virus”, but members of his cabinet who may have reservations about the description have not objected in public, Mutodi went on.

On Wednesday, Mutodi declined to comment on his letter, but minutes after he wrote on Twitter: “Living in fear of the Chris Mutsvangwa-SB Moyo coalition. I hope it won’t resort to wartime tactics. Appealing for prayers.”

Chris Mutsvangwa is the husband of Mutodi’s boss, Monica Mutsvangwa. Relations between Mutodi and Monica Mutsvangwa are reportedly strained.

Moyo has not yet responded to Mutodi’s latest remarks amid fears of a fallout between government ministers, who once teamed up to unseat the late former president Robert Mugabe in a defacto military coup.