Zimbabwe. 26.08.18. Thousands of Zimbabweans and foreign dignitaries, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, attended the swearing-in ceremony of Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Sunday. Picture:Shepard Tozvireva/African News Agency (ANA)
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday night dropped energy and power development minister, Joram Gumbo,amid crippling fuel shortages and power cuts that have rocked Zimbabwe.
Gumbo was has been moved to the less prominent portfolio of minister of state for presidential affairs.
In a statement announcing the reshuffle, Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said Mnangagwa had made “senior appointments and re-assignments”.
“Minister Joram McDonald Gumbo has been appointed the minister of state for presidential affairs in charge of implementation and monitoring. Hon Fortune Chasi, the current deputy minister of transport and infrastructure development, has been appointed minister of energy and power development,” said the statement.
Gumbo becomes the first casualty in Mnangagwa’s Cabinet since last year’s elections, when he, and other ministers, were appointed.
Previously, he had served as transport and infrastructural development minister under the now ousted ageing president Robert Mugabe, who turned 95 in February.
Gumbo got the chop after he failed to end the crippling fuel shortages in the country. The energy crisis has been exacerbated by regular power cuts, which started this month.