by Staff Writer
General Constantino Chiwenga (Retired) and Cde Kembo Mohadi have been sworn-in as Vice Presidents of the Second Republic today at State House.
The VPs took their oaths of office before Chief Justice Luke Malaba at a colourful ceremony also attended by their families and relatives.
The VPs, who took the oath of office for the second time, were previously tasked to oversee Government Ministries, whose starling performance was a reflection of the good supervision they gave during their last tenure of office.
Also present was President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Retired Air Marshal Perence Shiri, comrades Ziyambi Ziyambi, Obert Mpofu, Kazembe Kazembe and National Chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri.
Cde Mohadi was born on November 15, 1949 in Beitbridge. He did his Sub A up to Standard One in Beitbridge at Mtetengwe Primary School before proceeding to Gwanda Primary School for Standard 2. He proceeded to Manama High School in Gwanda for secondary education and then Goromonzi High School in Mashonaland East where he was kicked out while doing Form 3.
Cde Mohadi joined the liberation struggle in the early 70s when he left the country for military training in Zambia. He later went to Russia for further training and on his return was attested to a department within Zapu called Zimbabwe Intelligence Services under the command of Cde Ethan Dube but was detained at Khami Prison in 1976 until his release at Independence in 1980.
He was appointed Defence, Security and War Veterans Minister last year. He also served as the Minister of State for National Security in the President’s Office (2015 to 2017) and Minister of Home Affairs from 2002 to 2015.
Gen Chiwenga (Rtd) was born on July 2, 1956 in Hwedza, Mashonaland East. He attended secondary school at St Mary’s Mission in the same district before joining the liberation struggle as a 17-year-old and received military training in Zambia and Tanzania.
In 1974, he was appointed a member of the Zanla General Staff and rose to become a member of the Zanla High Command as deputy commissar in 1978. During the ceasefire period, Gen Chiwenga (Rtd) was appointed to the ceasefire monitoring team assigned to Manicaland in 1980 and later moved to Masvingo the same year.
He was commissioned a Brigadier on April 16 1981 and within the same year, he was appointed Commander of 1 Brigade. In 1984, he was appointed Commander of 5 Brigade and later as Brigadier-General based at Army Headquarters until his promotion to Major-General, becoming Chief of Staff (Administration and Quartermaster).
In 1994 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General and subsequently Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army on the formation of the Zimbabwe Defence forces. In 2004, Gen (Rtd) took over as ZDF Commander upon retirement of General Vitalis Zvinavashe.
