{"id":85806,"date":"2023-10-29T22:38:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T20:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo"},"modified":"2023-10-30T01:53:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T23:53:31","slug":"mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo","title":{"rendered":"Mnangagwa trashes Constitution, appoints top military general to Zanu PF Politburo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has defied the country\u2019s Constitution and controversially appointed Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander, General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, an ex-officio member of Zanu PF\u2019s Politburo, the ruling party supreme decision-making organ outside Congress.<\/p>\n

Addressing party delegates at the 20th Zanu PF National People\u2019s Conference in Gweru on Saturday, Mnangagwa made the shock announcement, which he says takes immediate effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is this comrade who was called Gwenzi during the armed struggle in ZPRA (Zimbabwe People\u2019s Revolutionary Army); he is now called General Phillip Valerio Sibanda. I, with immediate effect, appoint him an ex-officio member of the Politburo,\u201d Mnangagwa said.<\/p>\n

Zanu PF Politburo is the standing micro-body of the Central Committee vested with powers to implement decisions, directives, rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented move, described by political commentators as unconstitutional, is the first such appointment of a serving military general to Zanu PF structures.<\/p>\n

The Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013 prohibits serving members of the security sector from involvement in partisan politics.<\/p>\n

Section 208(3) of the Constitution states that \u201cmembers of the security services must not be members of any political party or organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Section 208(4) of the Constitution further states that \u201cmembers of the security services must not engage in any partisan political activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the constitutional provisions, military personnel must act in accordance with the Constitution and the law and neither the security services nor any of their members may, in the exercise of their functions; act in a partisan manner; further the interests of any political party or cause; prejudice the lawful interests of any political party or cause; or violate the fundamental rights or freedoms of any person.<\/p>\n

The Zimbabwe Defence Act (Chapter 11.2) also prohibits members of the military from any involvement in party politics.<\/p>\n

Gen Sibanda replaced Constantino Chiwenga as Commander of ZDF on December 19, 2017. Sibanda was promoted from Lieutenant General to full General at that time. As Lieutenant General he had served as Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).<\/p>\n

Chiwenga had retired as ZDF Commander to take a civilian role as the country\u2019s vice president. Sibanda is a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his appointment into the Zanu PF structures may be seen as a consolidation of Mnangagwa\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa also appointed Rose Mpofu of Matabeleland South province the new secretary for People With Disabilities (PWDs) replacing late national hero Joshua Malinga.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has defied the country\u2019s Constitution and controversially appointed Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander, General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, an ex-officio member of Zanu PF\u2019s Politburo, the ruling party supreme decision-making organ outside Congress. Addressing party delegates at the 20th Zanu PF National People\u2019s Conference in Gweru on Saturday, Mnangagwa made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":["post-85806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nMnangagwa trashes Constitution, appoints top military general to Zanu PF Politburo - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has defied the country\u2019s Constitution and controversially appointed Zimbabwe Defence Forces ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mnangagwa trashes Constitution, appoints top military general to Zanu PF Politburo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has defied the country\u2019s Constitution and controversially appointed Zimbabwe Defence Forces ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-29T20:38:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-29T23:53:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698607242.442161.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"577\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mnangagwa trashes Constitution, appoints top military general to Zanu PF Politburo\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-29T20:38:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-29T23:53:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698607242.442161.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-trashes-constitution-appoints-top-military-general-to-zanu-pf-politburo\",\"name\":\"Mnangagwa trashes Constitution, appoints top military general to Zanu PF Politburo - 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