Anxiety gripped Zimbabwe’s police force following the dismissal and reinstatement of senior personnel.
Authorities had on Thursday retired 30 senior officers, including former President Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Innocent Matibiri, with effect from January 19 but were reinstated hardly 24 hours later following President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s intervention.
Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, told the private-owned Standard newspaper that Mnangagwa had reversed most of the dismissals because they had been done outside procedure.
“Yes, it was done when the President was away and when he came back, he discovered we had thrown away the bath water with the child and corrective measures had to be taken,” he said.
The number of dismissed officers was subsequently reduced from 32 to nine, with Matibiri, who is one of four deputy commissioner-generals, being spared.
Read also: George Weah: The Journey to the Government House
According to sources, the office of Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga allegedly ordered the mass dismissals without Mnangagwa’s approval or knowledge, resulting in the president overturning some of the terminations upon his return from a working visit in Zambia.
Sources within government said while Mnangagwa had authorised the firing of 11 top police officers, described as “retirements,” the number had been increased to 32 during his absence.
The Standard heard that the purges were earmarked to cascade to officers commanding provinces as the axe continues to fall on officials linked to the vanquished G40 faction in Zanu PF.
