Zimbabwe's President Emmerson
Mnangagwa three days after his inauguration has dissolved the cabinet of
his predecessor Robert Mugabe, who resigned after the military took
control of the country, a senior government official said Monday.
Mnangagwa "is in the process of putting together a
new team of cabinet ministers,” Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to
the president and cabinet said in a statement.
Sibanda added that Mnangagwa has appointed Patrick
Chinamasa as acting finance minister and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as
acting top diplomat “to allow uninterrupted services in critical
ministries of government.”
The statement did not indicate when Mnangagwa will announce his new cabinet.
Mnangagwa, 75, was sworn in on Friday following
dramatic events in the southern African country after the military took
over saying they wanted to arrest criminals in government around
93-year-old Mugabe.
His tenure withstood repeated claims of hanging on to
power through brutal repression of dissent, election rigging and
corruption, until concerted pressure from the military finally forced to
quit.
Parliament had begun proceedings to impeach Mugabe
for allowing his wife and a coterie of followers to "capture" the ruling
party.
Now the new president has vowed sweeping changes in
government and new policies to attract investment and revive the ailing
economy.
At the same
time, Zimbabwe has bestowed a new honour on Mugabe, who had ruled the
country since independence from Britain in 1980, by declaring his
birthday, February 21, a public holiday, a state newspaper reported
Monday.
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