Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa sacks security minister

The sacking comes after allegations that Mnangagwa and Ncube had a fall out owing to violence witnessed during ruling party Zimbabwe African National Patriotic Front’s (Zanu PF) maiden internal elections last week. 

President Mnangagwa’s office has however remained mum on what exactly triggered Ncube’s sacking. Ncube, who has been a close ally of the Head of State, has been an integral part of Zimbabwe’s government ever since Mnangagwa took over from the late Robert Mugabe in 2017. 

Ncube has been accused by the United States and the United Kingdom of allegedly violating the rights of Mnangagwa’s critics. According to the Daily Nation, he was the mastermind behind the 2019 three-day shutting down of internet services in the Southern Africa nation following protests decrying the hiking of fuel prices in the country. 

His actions led the US and UK governments to add the minister to its sanctions list for gross violation of human rights. 

"In his role as the Minister of National security, Ncube, with the support of other Zimbabwean government officials, ordered the Zimbabwean security services to identify, abduct and mistreat individuals assessed to be supporters of a Zimbabwean opposition group," the US State Department said then.

"In addition, while in his position, the government of Zimbabwe has at times used so-called 'ferret teams' to abduct and beat individuals deemed to be a threat to the ruling ZANU PF party. Ncube is being designated for being responsible for or participating in human rights abuses related to political represssion in Zimbabwe."