HARARE – Veteran opposition lawmaker Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga is leaving the National Assembly to join the diplomatic service after she was named Zimbabwe’s new ambassador to Sweden on Friday.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, one of the founders of the Movement for Democratic Change, was returned to parliament as an MDC-T proportional representation MP for Matabeleland South in 2018.
The lawmaker had been gravitating towards President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s political agenda in the Matabeleland region where she became one of the drivers of the Matabeleland Collective, a grouping of NGOs that have twice met the Zanu PF leader to raise concerns about the marginalisation of the region.
Mnangagwa appears to have repaid her with the diplomatic posting after 20 years as a lawmaker.
In a Government Gazette, Mnangagwa also announced he had appointed Alice Mashingaidze as the country’s ambassador to Germany while Lovemore Mazemo will represent Zimbabwe in the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa announced the death of Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Iran, Christopher Mapanga, who died on Friday. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Mnangagwa said Mapanga, who took up the assignment in 2019, was a “diligent and experienced diplomat who served the nation with undivided dedication and loyalty.”
He was 69.
Mapanga joined the ministry of foreign affairs as an administrative assistant in 1981. He rose through the ranks to become administrative officer, then assistant secretary, deputy director and director.
He also served in various capacities at the country’s embassies in Japan, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Russia before he became Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Russia and Iran.
