After Robert Mugabe's forced removal from the presidency in November 2017, Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared President of Zimbabwe. There were hopes that Mnangagwa would reverse Zimbabwe's decades-long persecution of LGBT people. In January 2018, Mnangagwa addressed the issue for the first time, saying: "Those people who want it [same-sex marriage] are the people who should canvass for it, but it's not my duty to campaign for this". In June, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the ruling political party, met with LGBT activists to discuss the situation of LGBT rights in Zimbabwe and to "improve the lives of LGBT people through local governance". Chester Samba, director of GALZ, said: "As an initial meeting it was great that they responded positively and somewhat surprising as this marked a departure from the previous leadership which did not engage with us. A willingness to engage is indeed an important shift."