The former South African President, Thabo Mbeki made the pledge soon after the signing of a power-sharing deal between Zanu PF and the two formations of the MDC on 15 September.
The country’s new President, Kgame Motlante endorsed the pledge and incorporated it into the country’s budget.
South Africa’s Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, last week announced the package deal in his Annual Budget speech.
According to a report from Harare, the delegation visiting Zimbabwe will meet with officials from the ministries of Finance, Industry and International Trade and Agriculture as well as those from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The current visit is hot on the trails of a visit by technocrats from South Africa’s Department of Agriculture which visited Zimbabwe to assess the country’s seed and fertilizer requirements.
The aid package will help procure seed, fertilizer and other inputs needed this agricuktural season and will be incorporated into ongoing efforts to revive Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector. Reports from Harare say, the rescue package will be part of a national strategy to ease the country’s food and agricultural challenges.
Earlier this month the Government said it would target 500,000 hectares of land for food production in 2008 under a “Champion Farmer” programme, and pledged 10 million litres of diesel, 12,000 tonnes of seed and 450,000 tonnes of fertilizer for selected farmers.
Last week all Government vehicles were recalled and are currently being used to distribute seed and fertilizer to farmers around the country to Champion Farmers’ – those farmers the government has deemed very productive and worthy of reward.
Critics earlier this month blamed the Government for implementing the Champion Farmer programme without sufficient inputs to aid the farmers.
Renson Gasela of the Movement for Democratic Change attacked the Champion Farmer strategy: There are no inputs on the ground, and what we are hearing from the press is that a lot is being done to assist targeted farmers, and those targeted are said to be top farmers, but the number of top farmers is small compared to over one million small-scale farmers around the country.
The package unveiled by the South African government should help alleviate the problems identified by Gasela.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes last month announced that his organisation had availed over US$100 million to Zimbabwe for emergency agriculture and education. The funds were made available through the UN 2008 Consolidated Humanitarian Appeal for Zimbabwe.
Holmes urged the donor community to offer parallel funding to help alleviate the economic problems in the country. He said funds should be made available for emergency agriculture and for health, water and sanitation.
The people of Zimbabwe urgently need food, seeds, fertilizers and essential drugs, among so many other priorities,” Holmes said in September. “While the humanitarian community must urgently step up immediate interventions, I call on the donor community to step up its funding in parallel, particularly to priority sectors and projects.”
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr Gideon Gono told business leaders this week that he was continuing with aggressive efforts to revive the economy despite the delay in signing a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.
Addressing the annual congress of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Gono said he would not be deterred by the impasse in the political process.
“We should continue with the economic turnaround and let our political leaders catch up with us when they have concluded their talks,” Gono told CZI. “We cannot wait because what if they decide to take another five or six years, should we then fold our hands and die?”
South Africa’s pledge to Zimbabwe is seen as an important step to revive the country’s agricultural sector and in strengthening ties between the two countries.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo praised Pretoria for the pledge saying it demonstrated the cordial and solid relations between the two countries at all levels.
The Ambassador urged farmers in Zimbabwe to work hard, feed the nation and turn around the economy. – talkzimbabwe.com