South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has implored the British monarch and government to facilitate Zimbabwe’s re-admission to the Commonwealth and remove sanctions imposed on the country.
Ramaphosa was in the United Kingdom recently where he met King Charles III and the newly elected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The South African leader said it was important for Zimbabwe to be readmitted to the Commonwealth, a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. Said Ramaphosa:
The Zimbabwe issue inevitably always comes out in meetings like these because we are talking here with the country that is like the head of the Commonwealth and we advocate for Zimbabwe to be readmitted to the Commonwealth; it is important.
Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth under then leader, the late Robert Mugabe in 2003, after it had been suspended from the group over alleged human rights violations.
Since the 2017 military coup that ended Mugabe’s 37-year reign, Zimbabwe has been seeking to rejoin the association.
Recently, a Commonwealth delegation headed by Luis Franceschi was in Harare to assess progress made by the country in readying itself to rejoin the grouping.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa also reiterated his call for Britain to lift the sanctions it imposed on Zimbabwe saying they are also hurting South Africa. He said:
The sanctions that have been imposed on Zimbabwe have a collateral impact, a negative impact on us as South Africa because the Zimbabwean economy is weakened.
Zimbabweans flow to our own country and exacerbate the challenges that we have regards to unemployment and health services.
Reports suggest that millions of Zimbabweans have migrated to South Africa over the past two decades seeking better economic conditions. | NewZimbabwe.com