STATEMENT
BY
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE,
HIS EXCELLENCY, CDE. E. D. MNANGAGWA
AT
THE COURTESY VISIT BY SADC AMBASSADORS ACCREDITED TO ZIMBABWE
STATE HOUSE
22 NOVEMBER 2023
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Hon. F. M. M. Shava;
Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador J. Manzou;
Your Excellency, Agostinho da Silva, Ambassador of the Republic of Angola and the Chair of the SADC Ambassadors;
Your Excellency, Franscisco Cigarro, the Ambassador of the Republic of Mozambique and Dean of the SADC Ambassadors accredited to the Republic of Zimbabwe;
Your Excellencies, SADC Ambassadors here present.
On behalf of the Government and people of Zimbabwe, I am pleased to receive you all, in this show of solidarity with us, as brothers and sisters. We value the friendship and unwavering support SADC continues to demonstrate towards Zimbabwe.
Allow me to once again thank, most heartily, your respective jurisdictions for the continued calls for the unconditional lifting of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
These have been echoed consistently by the various leaders within our region, not only during the SADC Anti-Sanctions Day as recognised annually on the 25th of October.
Dating back to the days of our liberation struggle, and indeed since time immemorial, we are collectively united by unbreakable bonds cemented by historical, cultural and family ties. We are one people.
This unity, love and common purpose, among our countries, must be nurtured and defended for shared peace and stability as well as the socio-economic development and prosperity of our peoples.
May I thank you, Your Excellency, Ambassador Agostinho da Silva and your esteemed colleagues, for initiating this courtesy call on me, to congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for holding free, fair, credible, and peaceful 2023 Harmonised General Elections.
Your visit today shows our determination as SADC to continue standing as a solid bloc, guided by the adage, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. Let us remain firm on our principles of solidarity as we accelerate regional integration for sustainable development for a common future.
Your Excellencies;
Democracy and the rule of law are two of the core principles enshrined in Articles 4 (c) and Article 5 of the SADC Treaty.
As a founding Member of our august Regional bloc, Zimbabwe takes pride in entrenching unity, peace and development as well as deepening constitutionalism, good governance, democracy and the rule of law.
I also want to assure you that as the Incoming Chair of SADC, that Zimbabwe is committed to Promoting Our Common Political Values, Systems and Democratic practices.
Let me also take this opportunity, Your Excellencies, to congratulate the Kingdom of Eswatini for conducting peaceful elections earlier this year.
As you are aware, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar will soon be heading for elections. I wish the two countries peaceful and successful electoral processes.
Your Excellencies;
Since the advent of the Second Republic, you as Ambassadors, have walked the journey with us and experienced the peace, tranquillity and unprecedented development which we are experiencing as a nation. Being the eyes and ears of your capitals, you have honestly testified to this indisputable fact. We thank you.
Now that the elections are behind us, the people of Zimbabwe continue to maintain peace and exhibit political maturity.
The conduct of political contestations under the Second Republic is a clear demonstration of our resilience, unity and peaceful nature.
Despite socio-economic adversities brought about by the illegal sanctions, we remain focused, steadfast and determined to grow every sector of our economy, guided by our national development philosophy, “Nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatirwa nevene vayo,” A country is built, governed and prayed for by its own people.”
I call upon you, ambassadors from SADC, to focus on economic diplomacy towards harnessing the economic potential of our region. Drawing from our respective comparative and competitive advantages, more must be done to deepen cooperation between and among our countries. This must be in the context of our regional industrialisation and intergrtaion agenda as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Avenues should be pursued to increase our region’s capacity to realise food security and sovereignty. Riding on our rich natural resources, industrialisation must be accelerated, infrastructure connectivity enhanced and our tourism products jointly marketed. Through the effective use of ICTs and our youthful population, innovation must see us produce more goods and services for use by our people. These and other critical areas should be our key focus We must believe in ourselves.
I urge you as ambassadors to promote relations between your capitals and Zimbabwe to uplift more of our people out of poverty and into prosperity.
May I once again thank you most sincerely for the gesture of solidarity and support afforded by the courtesy call. I look forward to the continued deepening of our cooperation.
Long live SADC solidarity.
I thank you.
