New Ministries created following cabinet reshuffle

1. Ministry of Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation

The creation of such a ministry shows that Government is following through with its threats to tighten social media which it blamed for fueling shortages and panic buying in September. Ironically, the new minister Patrick Chinamasa is on record saying:

The cause was social media, which means that it is a security issue. There is a political agenda, a regime change agenda. We are going to seriously look at what happened with a view to take corrective measures in the security arena. We need to understand social media and the forces behind it…….they have given us a timely warning about their intentions and clearly we will take the necessary measures to counter those nefarious activities.

2. Ministry of State in the President’s Office Responsible for National Scholarships

This ministry will be headed by Christopher Mushohwe who has been the executive director of the Presidential and National Scholarships Programme for some time now. The programme was criticised by James Maridadi the MDC-T MP for Mabvuku/Tafara who said that it was only benefiting the children of connected people. The programme was recently transferred to the Department of Presidential Scholarships in the Office of the President & Cabinet.

3. Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture

This ministry has been reunited with the cultural and arts aspect after it was remodeled to the Ministry of Sport and Recreation. There is no change as Makhosini Hlongwane continues as minister in this ministry.

See the full reshuffled cabinet list here