by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
PRETORIA, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa and neighbouring Mozambique are deepening bilateral ties.
This will enable the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional bloc to assess its military intervention in Mozambique after years of insurgency by some Islamist sects.
South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa has undertaken a working visit to the Mozambique at the invitation of his counterpart President Filipe Nyusi.
Ramaphosa will participate in the 53rd commemoration of the assassination of Dr Eduardo Mondlane, the founder and first President of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO).
He will also pay a visit to military troops that are part of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM).
Ramaphosa is undertaking the visit in his capacity as Chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
He is accompanied by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Candith Mashego-Dlamini, and Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Thabang Makwetla.
Relations between South Africa and Mozambique are cordial, fraternal and of a strategic nature.
“The working visit will further deepen existing economic, political, cultural and social relations between the two countries,” read a statement from Ramaphosa’s office.
“The working visit will also afford the leaders an opportunity to discuss bilateral, continental and global issues and to reaffirm their commitment to further cooperate closely on multilateral issues.”
Mozambique-South Africa relations began in 1923, during the colonial era, when the Union of South Africa entered into formal agreements with the Portuguese Empire for the then colony of Portuguese East Africa.
Graça Machel, the inaugural First Lady of Mozambique President Samora Machel from 1975 to 1986, later married the first post-apartheid-era President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, from 1998 until his death in 2013.
– CAJ News