[Photo: Sky News]
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has temporarily handed over power to one of the country’s vice-president Constantino Chiwenga for three weeks.
In a statement from Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information, this is as the president begins his annual leave today.
According to the ministry, Mnangagwa’s vacation runs until 5th of February 2022.
This comes amid calls of democracy in the country.
Human Rights Groups claim that since becoming the president in November 2017, Mnangagwa did little to further human rights and democratic freedoms in the country.
They alleged that instead, his government deepened Zimbabwe’s economic struggles, enabled endemic corruption, and targeted opposition figures, rights activists and journalists to instill fear in the people.
Meanwhile, during such a time in 2021 President Mnangagwa had to cut short his annual leave due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which saw medics across the country go on strike.
“The president has had to cut short his annual leave in order to play an oversight role in the negotiations,” said the Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana.
Government officials said the pandemic and the strike had run over the government.
The doctors called for decent remuneration and the employment of more medics, saying they had been overwhelmed by the workload and feared compromising theirs and the patients’ safety.
One of his deputies, Chiwenga then effectively put the country on a 30-day lockdown.
His other deputy Kembo Mohadi, directed for individual effort in containing the virus.
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