Zimbabwean president fires minister amid squabbles in ruling party

HARARE, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday fired Minister of State for Mashonaland West Province Webster Shamu, but gave no reasons for the move.

Shamu becomes the first minister to be sacked since Mnangagwa took office last November.

"The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, has announced the removal of Honorable Webster Shamu by His excellency the President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, from office of Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland West Province," Regis Chikowore, principal director in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, said in a statement published by state newspaper The Herald.

Shamu, who is the member of Parliament for Chegutu East, was recently caught in the eye of a storm following allegations of vote rigging while the ruling Zanu-PF party was conducting primary elections to choose candidates for the forthcoming national elections.

This is the second time Shamu has been fired from a ministerial position, the first being in 2014 when then President Robert Mugabe sacked him for associating with former Vice President Joice Mujuru, whom Mugabe had accused of plotting to topple him.

Mugabe re-appointed him to government in October 2017, and Mnangagwa retained him when he took over power the following month. Enditem