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President Mugabe welcomes his Malagasy counterpart Hery Rajaonarimampianina at State House in Harare yesterday. (Picture by Tawanda Mudimu).

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
MaLAGASY President Hery Rajaonarimampianina yesterday met Sadc and African Union chairperson President Mugabe at State House to brief him on political developments in his country following post-election disturbances that occurred last year.

Madagascar held presidential elections in 2013 and there were manoeuvres by a coterie of Members of Parliament to impeach President Rajaonarimampianina after the polls.

President Rajaonarimampianina, who was speaking through an interpreter, told journalists after meeting President Mugabe that he had come to brief him in his capacity as the African Union and Sadc chairman.

“First of all, I want to thank the President of Zimbabwe for his welcome,” he said.

“I have come to meet him in his capacity as the chairman of Sadc and the African Union. I talked to him on issues relating to the relationship that exists between Sadc and Madagascar.

“I informed him about the situation prevailing in Madagascar — that is the political situation as well as the economic situation — so we discussed and shared different points of view on what I have told him.”

He said the situation in Madagascar had improved although there was still need to strengthen democratic tenets in the country.

“It is true that there has been a period of instability,” he said.

“There is now democracy, but it is still fragile.

“We are trying to strengthen this democracy through national reconciliation.

“We are trying to put in place a peaceful and stable environment by engaging all the stakeholders.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who also attended the meeting, said President Rajaonarimampianina assured President Mugabe that everything was now under control in Madagascar.

“He (President Rajaonarimampianina) said the differences have now been resolved,” he said.

“He said there have been some attempts by some MPs to impeach him but that has fallen away because the Constitutional Court ruled that the whole thing was irregular and unconstitutional and therefore it’s closed.”

Minister Mumbengegwi said President Rajaonarimampianina said the MPs were arguing that they were not happy with his ruling.

The meeting was also attended by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. President Rajaonarimampianina, who is the former finance minister of Madagasacar, was declared president-elect after the December 2013 presidential run-off election.

He was inaugurated in January last year.