By Emmerson Mnangagwa, the new Zimbabwean President has on Monday 4, December 2017, sworn in his newly appointed cabinet that he appointed few days earlier and also made some adjustments, responding to the public cry out.
This is the first cabinet in the history of Zimbabwe, that is sworn in, and not by Robert Mugabe, the former President who had ruled the country for 37 years.
Mugabe resigned in November, after forces from the military, in a coup.
The ZANU-PF ruling party immediately appointed Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was then an ousted Vice President, to replace Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
At the swearing in ceremony, President Mnangagwa called for peace, patience, calmness and unity amongst the people of Zimbabwe, and asked them to grant his cabinet sometime as they begin to attend to the long time broken economy of the country.
Mr. Mnangagwa further explained that his cabinet was appointed to complete Mr. Mugabe’s term, as the country looks forward to holding general elections in the mid of next year – according to the sources.
The 75 year old Mnangagwa, the current President, did not however talk about if he will be running in the 2018 Zimbabwe general elections.
‘The new Cabinet is just to finish the term of the former president [Robert Mugabe] which is a period of six to seven months. My first 10 days in the office have been hectic, and I believe that my team will withstand the challenge. I want us [Zimbabweans] united, we must grow our economy,’ he said.
The citizens of Zimbabwe seem to have great hope in the new President and his now sworn in cabinet.
‘The composition of the new Cabinet is OK, and Zimbabweans are expecting it to quickly address the economy so vendors do not have to remain in the streets,’ said one of the vendors in Harare.
‘I hope the government addresses the problem of cash shortages at banks instead of relying on plastic money, and it must create jobs,’ he added.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu