Zimbabwe's development worth emulating - King of Eswatini

The King of Eswatini, King Mswati III has described as impressive ongoing developmental projects in Zimbabwe which include the construction of a new Parliament building in Mt Hampden.

King Mswati III who has been blown away by the legacy projects, disclosed that the Kingdom of Eswatini which has embarked on a massive infrastructure drive will delegate a team to Zimbabwe to pick lessons from Harare.

Speaking after a tour of the new Parliament building with the President of Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa, King Mswati observed that the story of Zimbabwe should be an example for all countries on the continent.

“We have been very pleased to see the level of development since we came here. I have visited almost many parts of Zimbabwe,” he said.

“We started off in Victoria Falls, we came to Harare and we went to Bulawayo, where we officially opened the trade fair (Zimbabwe International Trade Fair) there; now, we are here this morning (Saturday) at the new majestic Parliament.”

Projects that have an enduring legacy, he said, are cherished by the people.

“This is a very good legacy; we need such buildings in Africa, and, of course, for the people of Zimbabwe, they will always appreciate this infrastructure. This is one of the legacies of the Government that they will leave behind. People will always want to know what has the leadership done for them and for Zimbabweans, this will be a testimony,” said King Mswati.

“We are very pleased, and in the process of designing our own Parliament, we have already started work on the fencing of the area — and we are almost complete with the design.

“Time and again, we will send our team here to come and share expertise; this is the kind of Parliament we need in this day and age, which will be able to conduct any government business and come up with solutions to all the challenges for the country.”

He also expressed gratitude to President Mnangagwa for inviting him to attend the Transform Africa Summit (TAS), which was held in Victoria Falls last week.

“I want to thank the President for inviting me here to attend the summit, which was looking at how we could bring technology to our doorstep and African countries. On the sidelines of the summit, the President then invited me to pay a State visit to this beautiful country, and I accepted with great honour and I have been very happy since we came here.”

In his remarks, President Mnangagwa said the relationship between Zimbabwe and the Kingdom of Eswatini has always been sound and stretches back to the liberation struggle.

On his part, President Mnangagwa talked up the relationship between the two countries, noting that they have historically shared a great relationship.

He also praised King Mswati for welcoming the invitation to be part of the official opening of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

“I am happy that King Mswati has come to visit this once-magnificent but now majestic Parliament building. He is the first Head of State to come and visit this building, and from today, we call it the majestic Parliament of Zimbabwe.”

“We invited him to be a guest at our trade fair and within two days he had accepted; we are very happy.

“We were together in Bulawayo, where he opened our ZITF and, as we discussed, I told him we had just completed building a new Parliament. They are also in the process of building a new Parliament in Eswatini,” he said.

The President also said the Swazi royal family provided invaluable support during the liberation struggle.

“At one time in 1977, we were buying provisions from Maputo for the late president Mugabe and (late former VP) vaMuzenda, so I went to Manzini in Eswatini to buy provisions.

“Before I could buy, a tall man came into the shop; he had a handkerchief on his arm and sandals. Then he said, ‘Young man, don’t pay, I will pay.’ He paid for all our provisions. And when I asked him, ‘Who are you?’ he refused to tell me. When he went out, we followed and we were surprised as he got into a long Mercedes-Benz. He was one of the princes in Eswatini. He is now late,” said President Mnangagwa.