SA needs black empowerment assistance, says Mugabe

The SADC Chairperson, President Robert Mugabe says the South African leadership needs assistance so that black people in the country are included in the mainstream economy for them not to resort to violence on fellow Africans.

Mugabe said this at a news conference in Gaborone, Botswana, where he was on a two day official visit to the regional body's headquarters, his first since assuming the SADC chairmanship last year.

At the same news conference held before his departure back home, Mugabe also said Botswana was wrong in condemning Zimbabwe's elections when SADC and African Union observers had declared them free and fair.

He also said his relationship with Botswana's President Ian Khama is open and they had frank discussions during his visit.

Earlier on, Mugabe met the SADC Secretariat staff members at the SADC headquarters, where he said it is high time the regional grouping, which he described as ‘the most organised and solid grouping on the African continent,' has to wean itself from the dictates of the donor community.

He also spoke of the vision of the founding fathers, saying the region should be on the lookout for neo-imperial forces who were defeated politically but are coming back preaching  democracy, good governance, human rights and transparency.

Later, President Mugabe planted a tree at the SADC headquarters.

The visit to the regional block's headquarters is a routine requirement that the SADC Chairperson must undertake during the course of his tenure.

On his arrival back home, Mugabe was met at the Harare International Airport by the two vice presidents; Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mpoko, government ministers and service chiefs.