A common approach involving the Zimbabwean private sector and political parties was needed on the pending loan agreement between South Africa and Zimbabwe, said South African deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad on Tuesday.
The government news agency, BuaNews, reported Pahad as saying on Monday that although there was an agreement in principle to provide Zimbabwe with a loan, he noted that the loan had not been finalised “as yet” as both South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni were still interacting with their Zimbabwean counterparts over the details of the loan.
Pahad was briefing the media in Pretoria on the ministerial meeting and Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit that kicked off on Monday in Gaborone, Botswana.
Pahad said South Africa also had to look at political and economic factors in order to financially assist Zimbabwe.
“It is not only about financial aid … our view is that political parties and the private sector have to come together and find a common approach,” said Pahad.
However, he noted there had been too much emphasis in the media about the concept of the need for a government of national unity in Zimbabwe.
BuaNews reported that Zimbabwe had requested a loan from South Africa so that it could pay its International Monetary Fund debt — failure of which might result in Harare being forced out of the international institution.
The agency reported that South Africa had agreed to give President Robert Mugabe’s government a loan as part of the economic recovery package to stop the Harare economy from total collapse.
Referring to the summit, Pahad said the key items on the agenda would be the reviewing of developments in the region with special emphasis on the economic, social, food security and political situation.
He said economic growth accelerated last year in the SADC region as the gross domestic product grew by 4,1% against the growth rate of 3,2% in 2003.
“Economic growth is however not homogeneous across the region. Fastest growing economies are Angola, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with growth rates of 11%, 7,8% and 6,3% respectively.
“Botswana and Malawi were also above Africa’s and SADC average growth rates with a GDP of 4,8% and 4,9% respectively,” said Pahad.
He added that the region had peace and stability and there was consolidation of democracy and rule of law.
“In October this year Tanzania will be holding elections, we hope they will also implement the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections as well,” he said.
He added that South Africa played a major role in bringing about peace in the DRC and Burundi. He explained that the DRC’s new Constitution had been adopted by Parliament and that there would be a constitutional referendum in November next year.
That country’s Constitution also guaranteed a 50-50% gender participation in the political institutions.
“There is relative peace and security in the region, however some challenges such as cross-border crime, trafficking of weapons, airspace and maritime security and terrorism remain to be addressed,” he said.
On food security, Pahad said it was estimated that Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe were faced with poor crop harvests.
There was a serious concern as the countries would only be sufficient with South Africa’s grain surplus of 5,71-million tonnes.
The SADC summit ends on Thursday. – I-Net Bridge