Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe sacked controversial Information Minister Jonathan Moyo on Saturday after he defected from the ruling ZANU-PF party to run as an independent in next month's parliamentary elections. Mugabe spokesman George Charamba said Moyo -- who has spearheaded Mugabe's propaganda campaign over five years of mounting political and economic crisis -- had been stripped of party membership, legislative seat and cabinet post. "By his actions, he ceases to be a member of parliament and a minister in government," Charamba said in a statement. Moyo registered on Friday as an independent candidate for the March 31 parliamentary elections after being sidelined in a power struggle over who would be named as Mugabe's likely successor when he retires in 2008.