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Mukudzei Chingwere and Farirai Machivenyika

The specialised agency of the African Union, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Lead Panel Member responsible for Zimbabwe, Ambassador Al Hossam El-Din El-Henfy is in the country leading a delegation to provide guidance and support in the establishment of the national APRM structures.

Zimbabwe acceded to be subjected to continental scrutiny in 2020 and the panel of eminent persons of the APRM yesterday paid a courtesy call on Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga at his offices.

Their visit comes at a time Zimbabwe is already under review process by institutions like the Southern African Development Community Macro-Economic Peer Review Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund Staff Monitored Programme.

For the first review cycle Zimbabwe chose the Economic Management and Governance thematic area for continental scrutiny.

During the meeting, VP Chiwenga re-affirmed Zimbabwe’s commitment to ensuring that the APRM becomes a success.

The coming of the APRM team follows President Mnangagwa’s declaration that Zimbabwe was prepared to volunteer and expose itself to peer review for continuous improvement of good governance.

“We had an excellent meeting with the Honourable Vice President, we are the delegation representing the African peer review mechanism,” said Ambassador El-Henfy after their meeting with VP Chiwenga.

“Zimbabwe has adhered to this mechanism in 2020 and our mission is focused on having deliberations with the Government and other stakeholders so that we exchange views about how to proceed in such a way that we could take the necessary steps to establish a national governance mechanism.

Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga poses with the Musavaya family when he joined them in celebrating the birthday of his former teacher, Sekuru Maximilian Muvirimi Musavaya (yellow shirt) on Saturday night

“It is very important to come for this short mission, but it will be followed by other missions to meet with as many stakeholders as possible to hear from them, to listen to them and discuss how to move forward.

“How we move together as African countries on our march to achieve sustainable development and to uplift the standards of living of our people and to see the growth rate in employment and that the needs of our people are addressed,” said Ambassador El-Henfy.

Earlier the delegation had met with the Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda at Parliament.

“We came to Zimbabwe for the very first time for such a meeting to interact with the Government of Zimbabwe especially the ministry of foreign affairs and other stakeholders that we will engage in that process,” Ambassador El-Hefny said.

“The Government of Zimbabwe is of the opinion that this exercise is important and in the interest of the people of Zimbabwe. It is a long process which will take time, but for as long as the political will is there, we are going to reach the stage where we could ensure that a change of opinions pertaining to a number of themes that are a priority for our Continent and the Heads of State and Governments in Africa and for our Mechanisms as the African Peer Review.

“We are talking about good governance, democracy and corporate governance. These themes are important for Zimbabwe and also the whole of Africa.”

He said it was important that Africans take lead in implementing programmes for their own benefit.

“As we are talking about Agenda 2063 that we are all trying to implement, we have an interest in getting advice and making the best use of the expertise we have as Africans and among the whole of Africa so that we could advance in good governance in so many areas and in so many ways and in so many walks of life. 

“This is why we are going to interact, whether it is this time or in the future or the future visits, with all important stakeholders.”

Advocate Mudenda also met new South Korea Ambassador to Zimbabwe Park Jae-Kyung, who promised to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.

“We exchanged a lot of issues and I can’t mention how many diverse issues we touched upon, the agriculture, health, education issues, technology and tourism and he told me to work hard and I told him I will work hard to cement our bilateral relations.

“We both agreed that there should be some benefits and tangible results of our relations and I shared with the Speaker that very soon there will be a business delegation from Seoul coming to Zimbabwe, of course we should have more and more business delegations from South Korea,” Ambassador Park said.