The Herald reported on 3 January 2009, that Muchinguri had been dismissed from the Cabinet earlier in the week, along with 11 other ministers, because she no longer held any seat in Parliament.[4]
She was re-appointed to cabinet in 2014 following the dismissal of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and several of her allies, in December 2014. In 2015 she was moved to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate in a cabinet reshuffle. On 27 November 2017, Mugabe's successor Emmerson Mnangagwa dissolved the cabinet.[5]
She was appointed as the Minister of Environment, Water and Climate again on 30 November 2017.[2] She was later appointed Minister of Defence in September 2018.[6]
She was placed on the United States sanctions list in 2003.[7] In 2020 she claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic was God's punishment on the countries (USA etc.) that "suffocate" Zimbabwe by sanctions.[8]
In January 2021 Muchinguri was condemned by public health experts in Zimbabwe after accusing China of "botched experiments" that were responsible for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the world after Zimbabwe lost 2 cabinet ministers.[9][10][11]