New army commander David Sigauke

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has elevated one-time ardent Robert Mugabe defender David Sigauke to new Zimbabwe National Army commander.

This follows the death of Lieutenant-General Edzai Chimonyo from cancer early last month.

The now Lieutenant General Sigauke’s appointment is with immediate effect.

Prior to his new appointment, Sigauke was a Major-General and the military Chief of Staff (General Staff).

He was promoted to Major General on 18 December 2017.

The new army boss has a history as a politically meddlesome top soldier, having in 2008 been linked to threats on voters who rejected then President Robert Mugabe in the election.

Sigauke was one of the top officers in the army brass who were once hard-line defenders of former President Mugabe.

Six months before the 2008 elections, Sigauke was quoted in the media as having said, “As soldiers, we have the privilege to defend this task (of guaranteeing Mugabe and ZANUPF rule) on two fronts: the first being through the ballot box, and second being the use of the barrel of the gun should the worse come to the worst. I may therefore urge you as citizens of Zimbabwe to exercise your electoral right wisely in the forthcoming election in 2008, remembering that Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again.”

The first round of the poll was won by late former MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was later forced out of the run-off poll following an orgy of state sponsored violence against his party’s structures.