Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa Reappoints Controversial Vice President  

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa reappointed Kembo Mohadi on Friday as one of his two vice presidents. Mohadi had resigned from the same post two years ago, following media reports he had engaged in improper sexual relationships with married women, including one of his subordinates.


Mohadi and Constantino Chiwenga took the oath of office at the State House to be Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents for the next five years.


After being sworn in, Mohadi said only, "I am here to serve the nation. I have been serving the nation since the coming in of the second republic and will continue to do so.”


Chiwenga said it was a great day for Zimbabweans as a new year is starting.




“We start now a new year for government," he said, "which we are going to start with zeal, energy and strength to build the Zimbabwe that we want in support of our president and his vision, which he has pronounced to the people of Zimbabwe, to Africa and the world at large: that Zimbabwe will be an upper-middle-income society by 2030.”


Some Zimbabweans took to social media to condemn Mnangagwa for reappointing Mohadi, given his history, but no one was willing to talk with VOA about it.


Linda Masarira, founder of the opposition Labor, Economists and African Democrats, said she was concerned about the absence of a female vice president.


“Consideration should be done especially when appointing executives of this country, taking into consideration that 54 percent of the voting population are women," she said. "But we continue to structurally undermine women’s rights and women’s participation. ... We are just demanding for at least one female president, a gender-balanced cabinet. There is no democracy without women. We will not tire to demand what is rightfully ours and what belongs to the women’s movement in Zimbabwe.”


Harare-based independent political analyst Gibson Nyikadzino said Mnangagwa appointed the two men to ensure that his goals are fulfilled in his final term.


“This is to ensure that the two vice presidents are going to be delegated the agenda to spear[head] the policy and vision of the president so that they pull in one direction," he said.


Mnangagwa, who defeated Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change in the disputed August 23 general election, is now expected to appoint ministers to make his cabinet full and lead Zimbabwe in his second and final term.