The Sunday Mail
Live updates from Mabasa Sasa in TSHWANE, South Africa
President’s Mugabe’s historic state visit to South Africa seeks to resolve four major issues of bilateral concern that will also have wider ramifications on the SADC region’s development, his spokesperson Mr George Charamba has said.
Mr Charamba is part of a delegation comprising eight Cabinet ministers and other senior government officials who are in South Africa to, among other things, seal a Bi-National Commission Agreement.
President Mugabe led the delegation into the country yesterday evening, with Mr Charamba saying the talks were not predicated on begging for assistance as some sections of the anti-Zimbabwe media have said, but on mutual development.
He said the four key issues informing the discussions were upgrading of bilateral relations beyond the traditional joint permanent commission on the basis that Zimbabwe was historically South Africa’s biggest trading partner in Southern Africa; a just, fair and reciprocal trade relationship; establishing joint ventures in mining on the understanding that Zimbabwe’s mining sector is a strong economic proposition; and recognising the contributions Zimbabweans working in South Africa were making to that economy and ensuring their role is appreciated.
