Ramaphosa visit grows Zim ties
Presidents agree their trade and finance ministers will work to expand investment
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa was warmly welcomed by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa as he touched down in Harare.
“It is an honour to welcome President Cyril Ramaphosa to Zimbabwe. The strength and depth of our relationship is the epitome of true brotherhood, of a common people with a shared past and destiny. You are a key and true ally,” Mnangagwa said yesterday.
Ramaphosa and Minister for International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu were in Harare as part of the third BiNational Commission (BNC) summit between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“Our fortunes remain bound together,” Ramaphosa said, “we must employ the same resolve with which we fought the scourge of apartheid to combat the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality. We must use the BNC mechanism to consolidate and deepen our bilateral relations.”
The two presidents agreed that their respective trade and finance ministers would work together to expand investment.
Finance options were also explored in terms of a facility from South African private banks to the Zimbabwean private sector, and guaranteed by the South African government and counterguaranteed by the government of Zimbabwe. South Africa would also work with Zimbabwe on economic reform and clearing Zimbabwe’s debt.
Gift of the Givers used the opportunity of Ramaphosa’s visit to deliver a major humanitarian donation to Zimbabwe that included 3 000 food parcels, 100 000 water purification sachets, 2 000 stationery packs, books, 30 wheelchairs, rice, sugar and cooking oil.
As the BNC got under way, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement and video documenting the excessive and disproportionate force Zimbabwean security forces used to crush nationwide protests from January 14 to 16 and in their aftermath.
“There is irrefutable evidence that Zimbabwean security forces carried out horrific abuses, including killings, torture, and rape, during and since the January protests,” said Dewa Mavhinga, the Southern Africa director at HRW.
“Ramaphosa and other regional leaders should press Zimbabwe to halt security forces’ abuses, and individually prosecute and punish those responsible.
“Prosecution and accountability for past and ongoing abuses will help end impunity and vicious cycles of violence in Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reported that police and army personnel carried out apparently indiscriminate door-to-door raids, forcibly entering homes by breaking doors and windows.
HRW found that the security forces rounded up and detained hundreds of people, many of whom were brought before the courts on charges of public violence and criminal nuisance, and most of whom remain in detention.
HRW has reported that Zimbabwean security forces appeared to use the crackdown to commit rape. Eight women told HRW that they were raped by uniformed and armed soldiers and police.
A 46-year-old woman said nine armed men, six in army uniform, came to her house in Epworth on January 15 and two soldiers raped her in front of her teenage son.
At the local police station, the police refused to record her complaint, telling her: “These things are happening all over the country, so we cannot receive your report or open a police case docket.”
The Zimbabwe Peace Project has also recently expressed concern about the re-emergence of torture bases in Zimbabwe, allegedly run by Zanu-PF to target opponents of the current government of Mnangagwa.