Zimbabwe’s President Names Cabinet, Shuns Opposition
December 1, 2017 by admin
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Zimbabwe’s new president appointed a cabinet that sees Patrick Chinamasa return as the southern African nation’s finance minister and the opposition excluded as the government returned party loyalists to power along with generals weeks after a military coup.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed Winston Chitando as mines minister, while Simon Khaya Moyo will head up energy, Sibusiso Moyo will lead foreign affairs and Ziyambi Ziyambi will take on the justice portfolio, Cabinet Chief Secretary Misheck Sibanda said in an emailed statement. Chitando is the executive chairman of Mimosa, a unit of Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal.
Winston Chitando in 2012.
Mnangagwa replaced Robert Mugabe after he resigned Nov. 19 to end 37 years in power. In his inaugural speech, the new president spoke about the need to revive an economy in free-fall, with a 90 percent jobless rate, a severe cash shortage and crumbling public infrastructure. Hopes of significant change have now been dashed, a leading opposition figure said.
“The honeymoon is over even before it had begun,” Tendai Biti, leader of the opposition People’s Democratic Party and a former finance minister, said on Twitter. “What a shame. What a missed opportunity.”
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party said the cabinet was a disappointment.
“It’s the antithesis of most people’s expectations, more of the same old, same old,” the party’s vice president, Nelson Chamisa, said in a telephone interview. “Mnangagwa never reached out to us. That didn’t happen.”
The new cabinet, with “the same tired faces being recycled” means that a change in policy direction is unlikely, said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe.
“We had high expectations, but what we see is a ‘thank you’ cabinet — thanking the people that may have contributed in various ways to his ascendancy,” he said. “He promised to his the ground running. That is not going to happen — it’s more like hitting the ground crawling.”
Generals Ascend
Mnangagwa came to power after a tumultuous three weeks that started with his firing by Mugabe on Nov. 6 following accusations by Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, that the former spy chief was plotting a coup. An intervention by the armed forces and a decision by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to back Mnangagwa as its leader and to begin impeachment proceedings against Mugabe prompted the president to resign.
In addition to the cabinet, court decisions since the coup have been criticized as showing that little change can be expected in a country that has been riven by human rights violations for two decades. The High Court ruled that the coup was legal and an ally of Mugabe claimed that he was tortured while held in custody.
Mugabe appointed Ignatius Chombo to replace Chinamasa as finance minister on Oct. 10. Chombo was expelled from Zanu-PF and is in police custody following his arrest during a brief period of military rule from Nov. 15 to 21. He faces corruption and fraud charges and will appear in court Dec. 8.
In addition to party officials, the head of the air force, Perrance Shiri, was made agriculture minister, the statement said, while Major General Sibusiso Moyo, who announced the coup on national television, becomes foreign minister. Vice presidents were not appointed.
“It’s still a big cabinet, although he’s reduced the number of ministries to 22 from 33. It’s still expensive,” Harare-based economist John Robertson said in a telephone interview in the capital. The addition of Winston Chitando as mines minister “may bring in a new perspective and hope given his experience,” he added.
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Texas sheriff says it’s unlikely border agents were attacked
December 1, 2017 by admin
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A Texas sheriff who was among the first people to reach two badly injured U.S. Border Patrol agents said he thinks they may have been sideswiped accidentally by a tractor-trailer, not attacked, as President Donald Trump and some others have suggested.
The injured agents were found the night of Nov. 18 along a culvert next to Interstate 10 near Van Horn, which is about 110 miles southeast of El Paso and about 30 miles from the border with Mexico.
Agent Rogelio Martinez succumbed to traumatic head injuries and broken bones. His partner, who has not been identified, was seriously injured and hospitalized for several days. The agent has no memory of what happened that night.
Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo said he thinks a tractor-trailer may have accidentally sideswiped the pair, The Dallas Morning News reported.
I-10 is a heavily traveled route for truck drivers and accidents regularly occur, some due to wind drafts and others from drivers overcorrecting after drifting across lanes, Carrillo said.
“From the beginning we were radioed to assist in the incident as an injury, not an assault,” Carrillo told the newspaper. “That’s the way it was communicated to us.
“If this was an assault, believe me, as sheriff, I’d be the first one out there emphasizing safety in our community and with our deputies, pairing them up,” he added.
It’s not clear why Martinez and his partner were along the highway and U.S. Customs and Border Protection only said in a statement that they “were responding to activity.”
A Border Patrol union, the National Border Patrol Council, has said the pair was attacked and struck with a rock or rocks.
President Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also have said the two were attacked, with Trump using the incident to renew his call for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. in the FBI’s El Paso office said last week that investigators were treating the incident as a “potential assault,” but they could not rule out other scenarios.
Federal officials have released few details about the circumstances leading to their injuries.
The FBI announced Thursday a $45,000 reward for information leading to solving the mystery surrounding Martinez’s death and a new digital billboard campaign to promote the reward. It is asking for statements from anyone who drove through Van Horn between 10 p.m. and midnight on Nov. 18.