General Philip Valerio Sibanda has been tipped to be the next Vice President of Zimbabwe replacing Kembo Mohadi who resigned on Monday following accusations of illicit affairs with his married aides.
We present below a few things you probably did not know about Philip Valerio Sibanda.
- He is a Zimbabwean military general and the current Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces a post he took from General Constantino Chiwenga who was taking the Vice President post.
- Before that, Sibanda was the Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army a position he held from December 2003 to December 2017 when the Zimbabwe Defence Forces launched Operation Restore Legacy.
- General Sibanda is the first former ZIPRA Cadre to hold the rank of the Commander Defence Forces.
- Sibanda joined the liberation struggle in 1973 as Ananias Gwenzi. He received military training at Morogoro under the likes of Retired Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri.
- He completed his training in Tanzania and proceeded to Lebanon for 9 months where he received vigorous training under the Palestinian Liberation Organization at Jalub.
Political Scientist Professor Jonathan Moyo says Philip Valerio Sibanda is likely to be appointed Vice President due to his contribution before, during and after Operation Restore Legacy.