Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday dropped two ministers he had appointed to his new Cabinet just a day earlier, a move widely seen as a response to a public uproar over the nominations. Mnangagwa, 75, named his Cabinet overnight Friday, and is expected to appoint two vice-presidents following a special ZANU-PF Congress in mid-December.
But he quickly replaced education minister Lazarus Dokora with Paul Mavima, a professor and also a lawmaker in the governing ZANU-PF party. Professor Clever Nyathi was dropped as labour minister in favour of Petronella Kagonye, also a ZANU-PF lawmaker, though Nyathi will remain as special advisor on national peace and reconciliation.
A government statement said the changes were necessary to “ensure compliance with the constitution and considerations of gender, demography and special needs.”But Mnangagwa has come under fire for recycling officials from the era of ousted president Robert Mugabe, and for naming two military allies to top positions in his new Cabinet. Dokora has faced heavy criticism for introducing changes to the country’s education curriculum which were widely seen as threatening the once-revered school system.
