Own Correspondent | As the power struggles within Zanu PF continue, pitting party leader Emmerson Mnangagwa against his deputy General Constantino Chiwenga, more scalps in the security sector are going to be claimed, a local weekly reports.
The Independent newspaper reports that top of the firing line list is Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga who is set to be replaced, as Mnangagwa consolidates his grip on power.
Quoting unnamed sources the publication, also writes that Mnangagwa has made some key changes within the military, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and government circles as he seeks to strengthen his grip on power, while emasculating Chiwenga’s influence.
Chiwenga returned from China last week where he was receiving medical treatment, only to find that Mnangagwa had reshuffled cabinet and appointed his loyalists.
Through the reshuffle, Mnangagwa also took into consideration complaints from Zezurus that the President’s Karanga tribe is dominating cabinet and the security sector. He appointed some Zezurus loyal to him, in a move seen as part of an ethnic balancing act.
Sources in the Home Affairs ministry told the Independent this week that Matanga, who was appointed to head the police in the aftermath of the November 2017 putsch, is set to be replaced.
The current Deputy Commissioners-General, Stephen Mutamba, Mind Elliot Ngirandi, Learn Ncube and Lorraine Chipato are being considered for the position while Registrar-General Clemence Masango, a former high-ranking police officer, is also in the running.
Masango, a Mnangagwa loyalist, served as immigration boss after moving from the police, before being appointed RG.Matanga replaced Augustine Chihuri, a perceived Mugabe loyalist who fled the country in the aftermath of the military coup. “Changes are looming in the police. On paper they are meant to improve the efficiency and operations of the police. But in real terms, these changes must be seen in the broader context of the ongoing changes Mnangagwa has been introducing in the security sector as he consolidates his grip, while weakening his ambitious deputy’s influence.
The President wants trusted lieutenants in key positions,” a senior government official told the Independent this week.
After narrowly winning last year’s disputed polls, Mnangagwa embarked on a purging spree, removing some influential generals within the military perceived to be loyal to Chiwenga. The initial security changes and reconfiguration in the aftermath of the 2017 coup are widely read as Mnangagwa’s drive to flush out the residual elements of the Mugabe regime within the command structure of the army, while diminishing Chiwenga’s influence.
The Independent