In African states, there is a lot of fluctuation in cabinets. Large structural changes such as leader changes or changes in ethnic representation only explain a fraction of those. Why do leaders decide to replace ministers so frequently? The literature on authoritarian regimes assumes that autocratic leaders need to strategically balance their ruling coalitions. African leaders use cabinet placement to co-opt potential rivals. We argue that once new threats emerge, leaders need to decide which of the current ministers are least important for regime survival and can be replaced. We test whether ministers from overrepresented ethnic groups, ministers that serve only since a short time and women are most likely to be considered replaceable to make space for the co-optation of new potential rivals. To do so, we use monthly data on cabinet composition in 23 African countries between 1996 and 2017.