South Africa is expected to deliver $3.33 million worth of food aid comprising 5,000 tons of maize meal to neighbouring Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
This is to fulfill a pledge made two years ago following Cyclone Idai’s devastation of parts of the country, South Africa’s International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor announced on Monday.
According to Pandor, the aid convoy would arrive in Harare on Tuesday, which is Africa Day, the occasion the continent commemorates African leaders’ first steps at reunification efforts of the continent made in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will receive the consignment at the State House in Harare, Pandor said.
The delayed delivery of the food aid was due to the interruptions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the minister explained, adding that the assistance would be distributed to the affected families.
Some 82 people died, over 200 got injured, while some 217 went missing during the disaster — mainly in eastern Zimbabwe, the minister said.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 delayed the implementation of the project, which will now be completed by September 2021,” she added.
NM/as/APA