Mnangagwa to retire long serving Chief Secretary to OPC Misheck Sibanda, to send CIO boss to foreign service

HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to implement a major shake-up of the bureaucracy in the coming weeks with several high-profile departures and appointments.

Misheck Sibanda, (pictured) chief secretary to the president and cabinet who has been in the job for 20 years is set to leave his position after reaching retirement age, as will Prince Machaya, the attorney general.

Mnangagwa is also set to name a new boss for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and appoint a new Prosecutor General, ZimLive has been briefed.

The shake-up will also spread to the Central Intelligence Organisation where Mnangagwa has told deputy director general Walter Tapfumaneyi that he wants him to join the diplomatic service.

Tapfumaneyi reportedly superintended over the Zanu PF-affiliated Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ) which was flagged by several election observer missions as leading an intimidation campaign against opposition supporters during last month’s general elections.

“He became very emotional in the meeting with Mnangagwa,” a source said about Tapfumaneyi. “He feels he is being demoted, and not rewarded for FAZ’s election activities which he believes secured Mnangagwa victory.”

Sibanda and Machiya are set to leave their positions after reaching the retirement age of 65, while the prosecutor general position is vacant following Kumbirai Hodzi’s resignation in March last year. Nelson Mutsonziwa has been acting.

Under amended regulations announced in 2020, the Public Service Commission (PSC) said public servants appointed on pensionable terms of service before May 1, 1992, have a pensionable age of 65 while those appointed on or after that date have a pensionable age of 60 years.

The dominoes could start falling with Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo being removed as the country’s top anti-corruption boss, ZimLive understands.

Matanda-Moyo could return to the bench or become prosecutor general, although Mnangagwa is also reported to be considering justice secretary Virginia Mabiza as the country’s next top prosecutor.

Former deputy attorney general Florence Ziyambi, the ex-wife of justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, remains a dark horse.

Mabiza, who is coming to the end of her second and final five-year-term as permanent secretary, is also a candidate for next chief secretary to the president and cabinet, but Sibanda’s current deputy Martin Rushwaya remains a firm favourite.

Mnangagwa is understood to favour lawyer Thembinkosi Magwaliba as his next attorney general.

Mnangagwa was last month declared winner of contested elections for his second and final five-year term.

He announced a cabinet full of his close associates, including his son and nephew.

The 81-year-old is also reportedly planning to create a formal government role for his son, Emmerson Junior, who could be made a director or adviser to the president.

Emmerson Junior has sat in several meetings where Mnangagwa met foreign investors.

“The president wants to justify his presence in those meetings and so a government role could be created,” the source said.

-Zimlive