President Mnangagwa yesterday held successful bilateral
talks in Niger with his South African counterpart, President Cyril Ramaphosa, to
find lasting solutions to Zimbabwe’s power problems, clearing the way for
officials from the two countries to meet soon for a new power supply
arrangement.
The President said Energy and Power Development Minister
Fortune Chasi would soon lead a delegation to SA to finalise a new power supply
deal, that should ease electricity woes in the country.
“With President Ramaphosa we met and we were sharing
challenges we are facing and, in particular energy shortages.
“We exchanged views on how we can deal with that issue. Of
course, our Zesa owes Eskom quite a lot of money and they have been able to pay
US$10 million last week to reduce that debt.
“This enables them to have discussions and I think our
Minister of Energy (Cde Fortune Chasi) will go to South Africa next week to
discuss some new arrangements,” he said.
Last week Government paid US$10 million to reduce the debt
owed by Zesa to South Africa’s Eskom.
The Head of State and Government also said that they
discussed the conditions set by the United States of America at the
America-Africa Forum in Mozambique recently before unveiling a US$60 billion
facility to Africa.
“We interrogated the conditions of accessing that fund,” he
said. President Mnangagwa has made it clear that Zimbabwe will
not accept the facility since it had strings attached.
On the launch of African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA) by the African Union, President Mnangagwa said it was a success story
for Zimbabwe to be part of the process.
He said the AU agreed to give Zimbabwe a 15-year period to
retool its industries and commerce that have been brought to their knees by the
economic sanctions imposed by the US, Britain and their Western allies.
“For Zimbabwe it was a huge success because we succeeded in
depositing our instruments, so we were number 23 and we have managed to get a window
to develop our industry and commerce so that we catch up with the rest of the
world and we got a 15-year reprieve.
“It has gone very well. We signed the protocol (African
Continental Free Trade Area) in Kigali (in Rwanda), but we entered a reservation
because of sanctions imposed on us which have rendered our industry and
commerce uncompetitive in the market,” he said.
Apart from Zimbabwe, four other countries —Malawi, Zambia,
Madagascar, Ethiopia and Eritrea — also requested for derogation.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa and his delegation were
expected to arrive home early this morning. Herald
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