President Jacob Zuma will next week host Angolan President João Lourenço who will be in the country for a state visit.
The state visit, which is scheduled from Thursday, 23 November, will be President Lourenço’s first state visit to South Africa after his August election.
Lourenço, 63, of the ruling Popular Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA), replaced President José Eduardo dos Santos who retired after 38 years in power.
During his visit, President Lourenço will also deliver a lecture at OR Tambo Building in Pretoria.
South Africa and Angola enjoy historical and fraternal bilateral relations that were cemented during the period of the liberation struggle when Angola housed and supported South African liberation cadres in various camps in that country.
This is not only evidenced through the fraternal political relationship, but also through the growing socio-economic and trade and investment relationship between the two countries.
Angola is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners on the continent of Africa with numerous South African companies involved in a variety of sectors in Angola.
To date, the two countries have 33 agreements and Memoranda of Understanding that have been signed within the JCC framework to enhance cooperation in a number of areas.
Zimbabwe
With regards to the political situation in Zimbabwe, Communications Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Nubane said Cabinet supports the intervention by President Zuma, in his capacity as Chair of SADC in response to the situation.
President Zuma on Wednesday dispatched the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Minister of State Security, Bongani Bongo, to Harare.
They are to meet with President Robert Mugabe who is reportedly confined to his home and the Zimbabwean Defence Force.
“The information we received is that they are in Zimbabwe and were received well,” Minister Kubayi-Nubane told a media briefing on Thursday following a Cabinet meeting that was held on Wednesday.
The envoy will proceed to brief President Lourenço as the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
Further updates on this matter will be communicated by the Presidency, the Minister added.
The SADC is also holding a Ministerial meeting of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to discuss the unfolding political and security situation in Zimbabwe.
The meeting, which is scheduled for this afternoon, will be held at SADC Secretariat headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana.
The meeting will be attended by the Ministers responsible for Foreign or External Affairs from the SADC Organ Troika member states including Angola, Tanzania and Zambia, plus the SADC Council chairperson, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who is also the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
The SADC Trioka meeting coincides with fourth session of the South Africa-Botswana Bi-National Commission (BNC) which will be held in Botswana on Friday.
South Africa and Botswana meet annually at the level of the Heads of State within the framework of the BNC to review bilateral cooperation and discuss issues of common interest. - SAnews.gov.za
