“Instability due to political problems and the lack of sustainable programmes for institution and capacity building renders Zimbabwe more vulnerable to natural disasters. We will fight poverty which is gripping some parts of the country,” said Fransman.
The Minister, who has just returned from the African Union summit for pledging funds to support relief efforts in Somalia, said South Africa would continue to work with the AU, the Africa Group in Rome and the UN to ensure that not only the immediate humanitarian relief operations and needs were being addressed, but to strike a balance between the short-term relief responses and the need for development over the medium and long terms.
In the last few months famine was reported in some parts of Zimbabwe’s Matebeleland region and more suffering is expected countrywide.