President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed four new ambassadors to lead the country’s diplomatic missions in China, India, Saudi Arabia and at the United Nations (UN).

Career diplomat Taonga Mushayavanhu has been named Zimbabwe’s new chief emissary to the UN in New York while Abigail Shonhiwa was posted to China, where she will be based in Beijing.

The new postings are contained in General Notice 463 of 2024 published in an Extraordinary Government Gazette on Friday issued by the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya.

“It is hereby notified that His Excellency the President has, in terms of Section 110 (2) (i) as read with Section 204 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, appointed Mr Taonga Mushayavanhu as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary/Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, United States of America,” said Dr Rushwaya.

Former Public Service Commissions (PSC) chairman, Jonathan Wutawunashe, has been posted to the oil-rich Saudi Arabia as ambassador while former Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) chief executive officer, Stella Nkomo, is the new ambassador to India, stationed in New Delhi.

The appointments of ambassadors Wutawunashe, Nkomo, and Shonhiwa were confirmed in General Notices.

Until his recent appointment, Mushayavanhu was the principal private secretary to the President and has previously served as the chief director for multilateral cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade after a long and distinguished career in the same ministry that saw him twice serve as the ambassador to international and African organisations in Geneva and Addis Ababa.

Ambassador Mushayavanhu has served as ambassador or permanent representative of Zimbabwe to the UN Office, the World Trade Organisation, and other international organisations in Geneva, Switzerland.

He subsequently served as ambassador to Ethiopia and was a permanent representative to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.