The President of Zimbabwe swears in his son and nephew as ministers

Following his controversial re-election, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa held two important ministerial posts with his son and nephew. More than 20 ministers and ten representatives were sworn in at a ceremony held in the capital, Harare, yesterday.

Kudakwashe David Mnangagwa, Mnangagwa’s son, took over as deputy finance minister. The president’s nephew, Tungai Mnangagwa, was appointed deputy tourism minister.

The president’s son is MP Mthuli Ncube, whom critics blame for the country’s economic collapse and high inflation and who has remained in office regardless.

The “worst” government since independence

The opposition described the new government as “the worst” since the country’s independence. “The government, made up of (Mnangagwa’s) friends, family, loyalists and the least qualified, is the worst since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980,” said Promise Mkwananzi, spokesman for the Citizens Coalition for Change, the main opposition party.

According to the Electoral Commission, 80-year-old incumbent President Mnangagwa won the elections held on August 23 in the first round. The opposition rejects the result.

Zimbabwe has been ruled by the presidential party ZANU-PF since independence from colonial power Great Britain in 1980. Initially, autocrat Robert Mugabe was in power for 37 years. When the army staged a coup against the head of state in 2017, Mugabe’s deputy Mnangagwa took office.