Zimbabwe’s new Cabinet sworn in this week faces an uphill struggle in dealing with the country’s economic challenges, said Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD) leader Trust Chikohora.

“We wait to see the new policies that will come out of the new Cabinet. We also wait to see how progressive those policies will be and whether the new Cabinet will be able to tackle the myriad of challenges facing the Zimbabwe economy and whether the lives of people will be improved by this new Cabinet,” Chikohora said during an interview on Thursday. 

The opposition party leader went on to say that the new Cabinet should focus its efforts on stabilising Zimbabwe’s economy by dealing effectively with hyperinflation. 

“The Cabinet has to make sure the economy is stabilised on a sustainable basis, make sure the currency and prices on the market are stabilised and that inflation is reined into single digit levels. They have to make sure that both foreign direct investment and local investment are realised in the country if Vision 2030 of being an upper-middle income economy is to be achieved,” he continued. 

On Monday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa unveiled a 26-member Cabinet that also included his loyalists and relatives, News Day reports, which, according to Chikohora, was “unusual.”

“We have seen Mnangagwa’s son David Mnangagwa being appointed Finance deputy minister, while his nephew Tongai Mnangagwa is the Tourism deputy minister. We also have the husband and wife team — the Mutsvangwas [Christopher and Monica as War Veterans and Women Affairs ministers, respectively] — which is also unusual and would ordinarily not happen if you want to apply best practices in terms of good governance,” he stated.

The President said that his new Cabinet would continue with the development projects that the previous government initiated.