Commonwealth assessment team meets gvt ministers

The Commonwealth Assessment Mission to Zimbabwe is engaging with several government ministries today as part of its week- long visit.

The visit is aimed at assessing progress made by Zimbabwe following the country’s application in 2018 for re-admission into the club.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Finance and Economic Development, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs,as well as Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, are currently meeting with the Commonwealth delegation led by the Assistant Secretary General Prof. Luis Franceschi.

The team is expected to meet other political stakeholders in the country, such as opposition parties.

Late former President Robert Mugabe angrily pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in 2093 after the country was suspended over alleged human rights abuses.

Angry Mugabe described the grouping as ‘just a club’ and pulled Zimbabwe out.

Countries like Canada, Britain and Australia pushed a much harder line, then.

They said Mugabe’s government should not be allowed back in until it allowed free elections and showed respect for human rights, conditions outlined in a Commonwealth agreement known as the Harare Declaration.

However, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa applied to have the country re-admitted into the grouping.

Zwnews