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Friday, November 22, 2024
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Zimbabwe general who led coup against Mugabe sworn in as VP

Zimbabwe general who led coup against Mugabe sworn in as VPZimbabweโ€™s former army commander who led a military takeover thatย helped end Robert Mugabeโ€™s 37-year ruleย was on Thursday sworn in as one of the countryโ€™s two vice presidents.

General Constantino Chiwenga, 61, took the oath of office in Harare, pledging to be โ€œfaithfulโ€ to Zimbabwe and to โ€œobey, uphold and defend the Constitutionโ€.

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VICE PRESIDENT

โ€œI will discharge my duties with all my strength and to the best of my knowledge and ability,โ€ said Chiwenga, dressed in a black suit at a ceremony held on the lawns of the presidential residence.

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The new president Emmerson Mnangagwa, dozens of government officials, military and police chiefs as well as traditional leaders, attended the event.

Gen Chiwenga retired from the militaryย last week, slightly over a month after the army temporarily took control of the country on November 15, culminating in Mugabeโ€™s resignation six days later.

Mr Mnangagwa, who had a few weeks earlier been humiliated and sacked from his job as vice president by Mugabe, then took over as the head of state.

MILITARY

Mr Mugabe, 93, was ousted from power after the military stepped inย following internal feuding and factionalism that escalated in the ruling Zanu-PF party over who would succeed him. Mugabeโ€™s wife Grace had expressed an interest in succeeding her husband.

Gen Chiwengaโ€™s ascent to the countryโ€™s second most powerful job has further consolidated the militaryโ€™s power in the political space of the southern African country.ย  Several other senior army officers have in recent weeks been appointed to ministerial or influential party positions.

President Mnangagwa did not give a speech at the inauguration of his deputies, but told journalists that their responsibility is โ€œto drive the ministers.โ€

โ€œThe performance of the ministers will be reflected by the supervision they give.โ€

COUP

Mr Chiwenga became the face of the rapid transition in Zimbabwe.

It started on November 13, two days before the coup, when he went on state television to make aย rare statement by the countryโ€™s military.ย Surrounded by defence chiefs, Mr Chiwenga called on the ruling party officials to โ€œstop reckless utterances… denigrating the militaryโ€.

The next day tanks rolled out of the barracks onto the streets of the capital.

Just before dawn on the following day,ย the military went on state television saying they were not launching a coupย but were โ€œtargeting criminals aroundโ€ Mugabe. Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, a veteran politician and long-serving state security minister, were then named the ruling partyโ€™s vice presidents.

Mr Mohadi was also sworn in as the state second vice president on Thursday.

REWARD

The appointment of Chiwenga and several other senior army officers in government and the ruling party is seen as a reward for the armyโ€™s instrumental role in ending Mugabeโ€™s rule.

Two other top military officials were also awarded ministerial posts earlier this month.

Ex-air force chief Perrance Shiri became the new lands and agriculture minister and the general who announced the military takeover, Sibusiso Moyo, is the new foreign affairs minister.

Another senior military officer Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje was early this month appointed Zanu-PF national political commissar, a powerful position equivalent to organising secretary.

-nation.co.ke

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