Johannesburg — Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will meet his Zimbabwean counterpart Tendai Biti to discuss Zimbabwe's loan request, the finance ministry said on Monday.
After the meeting, the request would be passed on to Cabinet, spokeswoman Phumza Macanda said.
"South Africa has previously assisted Zimbabwe, contributing R300 million to the SADC agriculture support programme, a portion of which was used for the purchase of seeds, fertiliser and fuel for agricultural production in Zimbabwe."
The previous loan was provided via the African Renaissance Fund, managed by the international relations department.
In 2009, South Africa gave Zimbabwe another R300m budget support grant for municipal infrastructure, including health and education facilities.
Macanda said the date of the meeting could not be disclosed yet.
On Sunday, Democratic Alliance international relations spokesman Ian Davidson claimed Zimbabwe was seeking around R827m from South Africa.
The ministry would not confirm the figure.
Davidson said he had written to Gordhan asking that any funding to Zimbabwe have conditions aimed at helping the country reach peaceful political transition.
The DA was concerned the money would be used for political campaigning and to fund Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's militia, rather than for the benefit of the Zimbabwean public.
Comments Post a comment