Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has appointed senior military figures to key positions in his 22-member cabinet.
However, the new president kept a sizeable number of ministers from his predecessor Robert Mugabe’s former cabinet - many of them veterans of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mugabe, 93, ruled for nearly four decades before sacking Mnangagwa, his deputy, in November following rumours that Mnangagwa was plotting to take power with the backing of the military.
Mnangagwa fled the country following his sacking, but returned to “a hero's welcome” after the military launched a coup to remove Mugabe from power and replace him with Mnangagwa. Zimbabweans nationwide have celebrated the change of leadership, which they hope will shake up the political system.
But according to the BBC’s Africa correspondent Andrew Harding, the cabinet line-up isn’t the new beginning that many hoped for.
“Some of Mr Mugabe’s old allies have been removed, but other controversial and long-serving ministers are back in key jobs. Some call that stability. Others, a missed opportunity.”
News site VOA Africa says the move was seen by many as “an attempt to reward the military and war veterans for removing former president Robert Mugabe from power”.
Zimbabwean newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube told the BBC: “Largely the same people that caused this crisis have been recycled. The honeymoon comes to an end and reality dawns.”
-
Grok in the crosshairs as EU launches deepfake porn probeIN THE SPOTLIGHT The European Union has officially begun investigating Elon Musk’s proprietary AI, as regulators zero in on Grok’s porn problem and its impact continent-wide
-
‘But being a “hot” country does not make you a good country’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why have homicide rates reportedly plummeted in the last year?Today’s Big Question There could be more to the story than politics
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
