President Mnangagwa[Photo: Voa Zimbabwe]
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has fired his state security minister Owen Ncube.
In a statement, the president said Ncube had been removed from office with immediate effect for conduct inappropriate for a minister of government.
The sacked minister was placed under US sanctions in 2019 over the government’s crackdown on protesters, the opposition and the civil society.
“In his role as the minister of national security, (Mr) 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,” said the US State Department at the time.
“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 Zimbabwe African National Patriotic Front (Zanu PF).“
The UK also slapped sanctions against him and three security chiefs last year over alleged human rights abuses.
Government sources say that Ncube was given the boot for instigating post-election violence in Midlands province and causing disharmony in Zanu PF.
Ncube is the fifth minister to be fired by President Mnangagwa since he came to power five years ago.
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