Frederick Shava And Amon Murwira Swap Roles In Cabinet Reshuffle
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reassigned Frederick Shava, the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, to the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development. In turn, Amon Murwira will now take over Shava’s previous role.
The reassignment was announced by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Martin Rushwaya, on Tuesday evening.
Murwira has frequently served as Acting Foreign Affairs Minister since 2020. Said Rushwaya:
In terms of Section 104 Subsection (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, His Excellency the President, Cde. Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has reassigned the under-listed Ministers as follows:
Hon.A. Murwira, M.P. : Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Hon. F.M. Shava, M.P. :Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development.
The re-assignments are with immediate effect.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Walter Mzembi, who is currently in self-imposed exile, opined that the reassignments may not be based on merit, but rather on loyalty to President Mnangagwa. He posted on X:
Ministers are not Permanent deployments anywhere in the world but some abrupt changes just raise eyebrows. Presidents can reassign anyone to anywhere and in fact, drop some unlucky folks altogether!
Being moved to Foreign Affairs is always considered a ” promotion ” and being moved from it a ” demotion ” but in essence, all Cabinet deployments are equally important, members of one body, like the arm, leg, eye, ear or mouth scenario.
There is not one unimportant or more important than the other. The only thing making Foreign Affairs prestigious is proximity to the Principal and of course visibility. Often you wear borrowed robes but they are exactly what they are “borrowed “.
If any thought lingers on as a result of conduct that you now want the robes permanently you are quickly disabused…
Often a sudden movement from the portfolio is linked to loyalty issues perceived or real than meritocracy. In fact meritocracy threatens loyalty and before you know it, you are out.
But back to Zimbabwe with all ahead of it, including a bid for readmission to the Commonwealth, UN Reforms, SADC Chairmanship & Regional politics, Domestic Policy, International Trade, Geopolitics & the crucial balancing act required and finally Sanctions ( lobal Magnitsky ) what do our deployment in this portfolio signal?
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