Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe wasted no time in reshuffling his cabinet, less than two days after announcing his intention to do so, at a youth conference at his Zanu-PF Headquarters in Harare, Saturday.
President Mugabe reassigned 10-ministers and appointed eight new ministers in cabinet reshuffle, secured through a constitutional mandate.
Among the casualties of the reshuffle is Patrick Chinamasa, currently in Washington for the Annual and Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, in his capacity as the country’s finance minister.
Chinamasa will now head a newly-established ministry – Cyber Security, Threat Detention and Mitigation.
Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya, who is among the delegation in Washington for the IMF/World Bank meetings, would not comment on Chinamasa’s ouster from the finance ministry, but said he was optimistic about the new cabinet.
“We want the cabinet to push the Zimbabwe agenda of development to ensure that the economy benefits from its policies, so obliviously we expect the new cabinet to deliver on the development agenda. The economy is expanding as we said and therefore we want to take advantage of that development and go forward.
Chinamasa was not immediately available for comment.