Story by Abigirl Tembo
SOUTH Africa’s Special Envoy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has called for stronger cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Africa in key sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure development, emphasising the need to build on the historic solidarity that has long defined relations between the two nations.
Dr Ramokgopa, who is representing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, made the remarks during a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House in Harare on Friday.
She said her mission sought to engage the ruling party, ZANU-PF, and its South African counterpart, the African National Congress (ANC), on deepening party-to-party relations and encouraging progressive business partnerships that promote shared development across the region.
“I am here to meet with the ZANU-PF, our counterpart in the ANC, to discuss, in particular, ways and means of encouraging progressive business to participate in our various fundraising, and indeed, it was a very positive, courteous visit to His Excellency.
“I am now en route to meet my counterpart to discuss details. Zimbabwe and South Africa traditionally enjoy very cordial relations. With ZANU-PF, we have very great fraternal relations, historically forged in the struggle for freedom of the two countries,” she said.
Dr Ramokgopa, who is also a medical doctor and academic, commended Zimbabwe’s health system, noting that South Africa could learn from its post-liberation focus on primary health care.
“As a health professional myself, when I was a young student, I was inspired by the strong public health system, especially the primary health care system that Zimbabwe built post-liberation. I have also made a commitment to continue collaborations around that, so that health becomes one of the key deliverables of our term and our contemporary priorities. There are many areas in which Zimbabwe is ahead of South Africa. As I was flying over the Limpopo River, I could see that on the South African side of the border posts, we still have a lot of infrastructure development work to do, and Zimbabwe is quite ahead.”
Highlighting the importance of continued engagement at multiple levels, from government and party to academic institutions, she said the two nations’ liberation movements must continue fostering unity and shared progress.
“The two countries can definitely learn from each other. We continue exchanging on a number of areas, both at the state level, government-to-government levels, and also at party-to-party levels. We, especially the liberation movement, are encouraging our people to remember that we are not yet where we want to be, we need to collaborate with many fraternal organisations and friends,” she said.
Her visit is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen political solidarity and regional development coordination between Zimbabwe and South Africa, two nations whose liberation histories and futures remain closely intertwined.
