Military, loyalists named in new Zimbabwe Cabinet

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe

President Emmerson Mnangagwa late Thursday announced a Cabinet largely packed with military appointees and ruling party loyalists.

The 22-member Cabinet was announced just before midnight by the Chief Secretary Misheck Sibanda.

There were no opposition figures among the new ministers, sparking condemnation that Mnangagwa was relying on the same cliques that had backed former President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule.

The Cabinet included Maj. Gen. Sibusiso Moyo, who appeared on state TV after last month’s military takeover, as the new foreign minister.

Another prominent military figure was air force chief Air Marshal Perence Shiri, who was named minister of agriculture and land affairs -- a key role given the still controversial issue of land seizures in Zimbabwe.

Veterans of the independence struggle, who played a crucial role in Mugabe’s removal, also secured seats at the Cabinet table.

Kembo Mohadi, a Mnangagwa supporter who faced expulsion from the ruling Zanu-PF in the final days of the Mugabe regime, was appointed minister of defense, security and war veterans.

Victor Matemadanda, secretary general of the veterans’ association, was named his deputy while the association’s chairman, Christopher Mutsvangwa, was made information minister.

Many of Mugabe's former ministers remained in office although those affiliated with former First Lady Grace Mugabe’s Generation 40 faction of Zanu-PF were excluded.

Patrick Chinamasa returned as finance minister after being removed from the post in October and Obert Mpofu, who was heading the mines ministry at a time when billions of dollars in diamonds were siphoned out of Zimbabwe, received the home affairs portfolio.

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Ziyambi Ziyambi was appointed to the Justice Ministry.

Lovemore Madhuku, a law professor at the University of Zimbabwe, criticized the appointments as a failure to break with Mugabe’s rule.

“There is no new Cabinet,” he said. “This is just confirmation of a successful coup against Mugabe. Only Mugabe has gone. Everything else remains.

“More fundamentally, the system of using a Cabinet appointment as a reward is continuing.”

Rashweat Mukundu, a human rights activist and veteran journalist, also condemned the continuation of Zanu-PF’s core in government.

“It’s the recycling of the Mugabe-era ministers and uninspiring, pointing to the fact that reforms will be slow and the new president has limited space to manoeuvre as the military is in control,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“Zimbabwe may slowly become a military state with a civilian face.”

Mnangagwa was sworn-in as president last week after Mugabe was forced to stand down in the face of impeachment following a military takeover.

The military denied staging a coup and claimed to be acting against “criminals” around Mugabe. The army’s intervention came after a succession struggle between Mnangagwa and Grace Mugabe.

Although he promised a new beginning for Zimbabwe following Mugabe’s removal, Mnangagwa and many of his ministers are associated with atrocities and economic misrule carried out under the former president.