The visit dovetails with the Second Republic led by
President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement thrust anchored with the
policy of a “friend to all and an enemy to none”.
In a statement last night, Foreign Affairs and
International Trade Minister Frederick Shava said the mission will be led by
Assistant Secretary General, Professor Luis Franceschi and will be in the
country from November 12 to 18, 2022.
“A Commonwealth assessment mission will be in Zimbabwe from
November 12 to 18, 2022, at the invitation of His Excellency President ED Mnangagwa,
to assess the progress that the country has made following the application it
submitted in 2018 to rejoin the organisation.
“The mission, led by assistant secretary general Professor
Luis Franceschi, will be visiting the country for the third time, in line with
Zimbabwe’s re-engagement thrust that seeks to reset and rekindle its foreign
relations in order to create a conducive and supportive environment for the
successful implementation of NDS1 and the realisation of Vision 2030,” said
Minister Shava.
“During the visit, the Mission will meet with His
Excellency the President and hold discussions with the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador FM Shava, and other ministers and
senior Government officials covering the political, legislative and economic
reforms that the Government has under the Second Republic. It will also engage
the media and other stakeholders on matters of interest to the organisation.”
Commonwealth secretary general, Mrs Patricia Scotland was
in South Africa early this month where she addressed the first ordinary session
of the 6th Pan African Parliament pledging to deploy a team in Harare to assess
the situation on the ground.
She said several engagements had been made and the current
stage with regards to Zimbabwe’s application to re-join the club was to have an
assessment team which will eventually report back before a position is taken.
Mrs Scotland said she was “delighted that Zimbabwe is
putting a great deal of energy and commitment to be re-admitted back into the
Commonwealth”.
President Mnangagwa met Mrs Scotland in 2019 on the
sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly where the Head of State
and Government outlined several steps including reforms that had been
undertaken by Zimbabwe.
In his address at the UN General Assembly, President
Mnangagwa said it was important to note that Zimbabwe had not been expelled
from the Commonwealth, but had withdrawn and the issues that led to its pulling
out, that of land reform, had since become water under the bridge.
The land reform programme was meant to address historical
imbalances that saw rationalisation of land ownership from white minority
owning large swaps of land to the black majority who hitherto had been on
unfertile and unproductive soil. Herald
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