Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa fires state security minister

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has fired his state security minister Owen Ncube.

Ncube, once considered a Mnangagwa loyalist, was in charge of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), the country’s dreaded spy agency.

In a statement, Mnangagwa said Ncube had been removed from office “with immediate effect for conduct inappropriate for a minister of government”.

Ncube was appointed state security minister in September 2018, but has recently been associated with Zanu-PF factional wars as the country moves towards the 2023 election.

Ncube is the fifth minister to be fired by Mnangagwa since taking office, after tourism minister Prisca Mupfumira, energy minister Fortune Chasi,  deputy information minister Energy Mutodi and health minister Obadiah Moyo.

In 2019, Ncube was placed under US sanctions over gross violations of human rights and last year the UK imposed sanctions against him and three other Zimbabwean officials over human rights abuses.

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