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Zvamaida Murwira

Senior Reporter

Zimbabwe’s continued support in security and humanitarian areas in Mozambique is a reflection of the deep and close bilateral relations the two countries enjoy, Mozambican Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Veronica Macamo Dlhovo said yesterday.

She commended Zimbabwe’s role in fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado and parts of Mozambique’s Manica and Sofala provinces where terrorists and armed groups were carrying out attacks, murders and destruction of public and private infrastructure, undermining efforts towards peace and development.

Zimbabwe is among Sadc countries that deployed a team of defence instructors to train Mozambican troops as part of its contribution to the Sadc Standby Force Mission in Mozambique under the Sadc Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

Minister Dlhovo, who was in the country for the 12th Session of the Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation, was speaking at State House after holding a meeting with President Mnangagwa.

The discussions, she said, centred on a number of issues of cooperation between the two countries aimed at exploring ways to improve the lives of people of the two countries in line with a mandate she got from her President Filipe Nyusi.

“We came also to say thank you very much to Zimbabwe for helping us always, on Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kennedy and now fighting terrorism in Mozambique. Zimbabwe is always with us and we came to say thank you. We came also to reiterate the invitation from President Nyusi to President Mnangagwa to pay a State visit to Mozambique in order to always keep together and improve the lives of our people,” she said through an interpreter.

Minister Dlhovo said she briefed President Mnangagwa about the deliberations they had on the 12th Session of the joint commission, which had just concluded.

“We came here to inform His Excellency President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa about the successful meeting we held here in Harare. We had a successful meeting and we were honoured to have been received by the President and report on our mission to Zimbabwe,” she said.

Both Heads of State supported the meeting to consolidate and deepen bilateral cooperation to bring concrete results to improve the lives of the people of Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

“The two Presidents gave us permission to explore the potential and possibilities that each country has in order to join hands and improve the lives of people of the two countries. We came to say to the President ‘mission accomplished’ as they instructed us, to come over here and we had a very good meeting and concrete results. We signed some memorandums of understanding and from here we will have a matrix to monitor the decisions we have been taking because we set time-lines to accomplish what we have agreed here.”

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava and Zimbabwean Ambassador to Mozambique Victor Matemadanda attended the meeting.

Earlier, Zambian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ambassador Emmanuel Chanda, bade farewell to President Mnangagwa. He hailed Zimbabwe’s economic recovery, saying he was carrying the lessons he had drawn to his home country.

“I came to bid farewell to His Excellency President Mnangagwa and to thank him profusely for all the support I got here as ambassador; the support I got from the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It was only right and proper that I come and bid farewell and show my gratitude and to talk about my stay here. It was fantastic. I have seen this country change for the better. I came here in January 2018; there were queues everywhere, but they have disappeared. This shows that the Government is working for the people,” said Ambassador Chanda.

“I am going back home as a happy person having learnt some lessons. My heart is very close to agriculture and you cannot have a better country where agriculture is at its best than Zimbabwe. You talk of irrigation, water harvesting.

“This country I am told, is the most dammed country which means you have perfected the art of water harvesting, and how best can you empower the people in rural areas than to give them water. Instead of depending on rain-fed agriculture, now they can engage themselves throughout the year.”

Ambassador Chanda said he was excited by President Mnangagwa’s mantra that only Zimbabweans can build their own country.

“I am also happy with this mantra, ‘nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’. I recently took a tour to Masvingo and was happy to see the four road contractors that have been given those jobs.

“They are all Zimbabweans; the workers are Zimbabweans; the funds being used are domestically generated: what a better example. So we can do it, as Africa we can do it.”

He described the 2018 harmonised elections as peaceful and providing equal space for all contesting parties and candidates.