By Gift Mashoko

South African Deputy Minister of social development, Honourable Hendrietta Bogapane-Zulu today donated computers to Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre through the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

Minister of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Honourable Dr Sekai Nzenza highlighted that South Africa and Zimbabwe had renewed their Memorandum of Understanding.

"The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding which was initially signed in 2011 and renewed in 2016, covering cooperation on the fields of labour and social protection,” said Minister Nzenza.

Minister Nzenza said that the engagement between SA and Zimbabwe is to help each other.

"The fundamental objective of our engagement is to learn from each other's experience particularly in the disability field.

Minister Nzenza pointed out that Deputy Minister Zulu's visit in 2018 carried a message of empowerment of persons with disabilities within the SADC countries. She said the Zimbabwean Government shares the same sentiments that empowerment is key for persons with disabilities to come out of dependency.

Minister Nzenza highlighted that the Zimbabwean Government is working hard for persons with disabilities.

"The Government of Zimbabwe is committed to guarantee the full participation of persons with disabilities in every respect of life in line with Disabilities Conventions of the United Nations.

"Our Government has seriously pursued the domestication of the UNCRP," she said.

Minister Nzenza added that, "SA is working on developing a capacity for people who are deaf in training them in sign language and also in providing them with the right skills that are required.”

To this, Minister Zulu highlighted that SA will continue providing support to Zimbabwe.

"We will provide the support and necessary commitment. We thank you for strengthening the social work services because that makes it easy for us to have people to interact with.

"We remain committed to the partnership and we remain committed to the harmony the President has shown," she said.

“It's important for the social sector to function very well between our two countries because if the system doesn't function then we are going to have problems.

"When we function well, we are able to minimise the impact of social areas within our countries," minister Zulu said.

This gesture comes at a time when South Africa and Zimbabwe are meeting for the third session of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission (BNC) that will see the signing of several agreements.

This follows the recent Botswana-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission (BNC) that was co-chaired by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and President Emmerson Mnangagwa which ended with the signing of six agreements.