News / National
Mugabe appoints white civil servant as senior secretary
25 Sep 2014 at 13:46hrs | Views
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has appointed a white man into a senior position within the presidency.
Stuart Comberbach, 62, whose whole working life has been spent in the Zimbabwe civil service, was appointed secretary to the president and cabinet this week. He was the outgoing Zimbabwe ambassador to Japan for the past ten years.
Mr Comberbach is one of the last senior white civil servants left in Zimbabwe.
When Mr Mugabe, 90, came to power in 1980 he inherited a small, largely white Rhodesian public service, but most quickly left both their jobs and the country.
Many who retired believed they would receive pensions, which were guaranteed following the peace agreement signed between the United Kingdom and Mr Mugabe at Lancaster House in 1979. But those pensions dried up within the first few years of Zimbabwe's independence.
Mr Mugabe has repeatedly made it clear he has little time for whites and said again in July that no white person should be allowed to farm in Zimbabwe. "We say no to whites owning our land, and they should go," he said at a political rally near his rural home about 60 miles northwest of Harare.
Mr Mugabe and his supporters confiscated about 90 per cent of white-owned farm land from 2000, which collapsed an economy heavily dependent on commercial agriculture.
Mr Comberbach was formerly secretary for industry and offered to resign from the civil service in 2001 after he opposed some price controls which he said would ruin the economy.
His recent appointment was announced by Mesheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and cabinet.
As Zimbabwe ambassador to Japan, Mr Comberbach was Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps. He was not available for comment.
Stuart Comberbach, 62, whose whole working life has been spent in the Zimbabwe civil service, was appointed secretary to the president and cabinet this week. He was the outgoing Zimbabwe ambassador to Japan for the past ten years.
Mr Comberbach is one of the last senior white civil servants left in Zimbabwe.
When Mr Mugabe, 90, came to power in 1980 he inherited a small, largely white Rhodesian public service, but most quickly left both their jobs and the country.
Many who retired believed they would receive pensions, which were guaranteed following the peace agreement signed between the United Kingdom and Mr Mugabe at Lancaster House in 1979. But those pensions dried up within the first few years of Zimbabwe's independence.
Mr Mugabe and his supporters confiscated about 90 per cent of white-owned farm land from 2000, which collapsed an economy heavily dependent on commercial agriculture.
Mr Comberbach was formerly secretary for industry and offered to resign from the civil service in 2001 after he opposed some price controls which he said would ruin the economy.
His recent appointment was announced by Mesheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and cabinet.
As Zimbabwe ambassador to Japan, Mr Comberbach was Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps. He was not available for comment.
Source - Telegraph
