Mugabe announces major Cabinet reshuffle

President Robert Mugabe last week stripped one of the top candidates to succeed him of a Cabinet post. A report on the eNCA site notes that Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa was replaced by ruling Zanu-PF party loyalist Happyton Bonyongwe. Mnangagwa will stay on as one of the two Mugabe Vice-Presidents. He reassigned 10 Ministers and replaced eight members of his Cabinet whom he appointed after the last elections in 2013. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who had made good contacts with international financial institutions since he was appointed in 2013, was replaced by Ignatius Chombo, arguably the least trusted of Mugabe’s henchmen. Chinamasa, a lawyer by training, now heads up a new Ministry of Cyber Security. A report on the IoL site notes that the new Foreign Affairs Minister is Walter Mzembi.