Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has apologized to President Robert Mugabe for the boycott of last Monday's cabinet meeting by ministers drawn from his party MDC-T, local newspaper The Herald said on Monday.

Speaking to journalists in Libya on Saturday, Mugabe said he had discussed the matter with the prime minister who apologized for the conduct of the ministers who opted to go and welcome the prime minister at Harare International Airport instead.

Tsvangirai was returning from a tour of Europe and the United States, where he had been sent by Mugabe and cabinet to call for the lifting of economic sanctions and press for economic assistance for the inclusive government.

"We talked a bit about it with the prime minister and he apologized for it, and thought they should have come; and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting," Mugabe said. "It was a surprise to me, to tell you the truth. I don't know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It's insolence, on one hand, but it's also abysmal ignorance, on the other," the president said.

The MDC-T ministers boycotted last Monday's cabinet meeting, drawing a stinging rebuke from other members of the inclusive government, who said the move was highly disrespectful of the president and cabinet and against the spirit of inclusively.

The cabinet session, which had been brought forward by a day to accommodate Mugabe's departure for the African Union summit in Libya, however, went ahead and dealt with all matters on the agenda, according to Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu.

Sources said Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara condemned the MDC-T move during the Cabinet meeting, saying the boycott was unnecessary as there were proper channels to air grievances or resolve sticking issues regarding the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

MDC-T Vice President Thokozani Khupe told a press conference last week that her party was not happy with the reasons advanced for bringing cabinet sitting to Monday instead of the traditional Tuesday, hence the decision to boycott.

She claimed that the cabinet meeting had been "unilaterally moved from Tuesday to Monday to deny the recognition of the Prime Minister as chair of Cabinet when the President is away".

However, Mugabe, as the Head of State and Government, chairs Cabinet, and when he is away, Cabinet does not convene. Last Monday's incident was also not the first time that Cabinet had sat on a day other than Tuesday as three sittings earlier it had convened on Wednesday as is the case with this week's session.

Source:Xinhua