Mozambique: PM calls for maximising gains from cooperation with Zimbabwe

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Mozambique: PM calls for maximising gains from cooperation with Zimbabwe

7:41 CAT | 28 Aug 2018

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario said on Sunday that Mozambique needs to continue improving the efficiency of its infrastructures in order to maximise the gains from cooperation with Zimbabwe, particularly now that Zimbabwe is showing signs of an economic recovery.

Speaking to Mozambican journalists in Harare, after participating in the investiture of Emmerson Mnangagwa, as the new Zimbabwean President, Rosario described Zimbabwe as an emerging colossus, and said the entire southern African region is hoping to take some advantage from any revival in the Zimbabwean economy.

“Mozambique has a great deal to offer Zimbabwe, notably its ports and railways, “but we have to increase efficiency and effectiveness so that we can take advantage of this emerging giant”, said the Prime Minister.

“We have witnessed a ceremony consolidating the stability of Zimbabwe”, he added. Rosario believed the time had come for the historic relations between Mozambique and Zimbabwe to be expressed in economic prosperity for the peoples of the two countries.

“We want Zimbabwe to remain strong and to be a strategic partner on all fronts”, he declared. “We need to unite our efforts so that together we can create the well-being of our peoples”.

During his inauguration speech Mnangagwa demarcated his rule, from that of his predecessor, the nonagenarian Robert Mugabe, saying that Zimbabwe has now embarked upon a “Second Republic”, opening a new chapter in its relations with the rest of the world.

“We have to focus on improving the lives of Zimbabweans and on empowering them”, he told the crowd in the Harare National Stadium. “It is time to unite and work for our well-being, promoting foreign and domestic investment. This is the new Zimbabwe”.

Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the presidential election held on 30 July, after the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal from the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which alleged that its candidate, Nelson Chamisa, had been robbed of victory by widespread electoral fraud.

The official result gave Mnangagwa 50.8 per cent of the vote to 44.3 per cent for Chamisa, with the remaining votes scattered among 22 other candidates. Mnangagwa narrowly met the requirement for the winner to have over 50 per cent of the votes in order to avoid a run-off.

The Constitutional Court described the MDC’s fraud claims as “bold and unsubstantiated”, but Chamisa has refused to accept the Court’s ruling.