Riyaz Patel
President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Tanzania on his first State Visit since being elected president in May 2019.
Ramaphosa’s will also lead a delegation to the 39th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government session scheduled for 17-18 August 2019.
The State Visit comes at the invitation of the President of Tanzania, John Magufuli.
The two leaders are expected to discuss a range of bilateral, continental and global issues, and to reaffirm the commitment and cooperation between Pretoria and Dar es Salaam.
President Ramaphosa will also visit the town of Morogoro west of the capital to offer his condolences in person following last weekend’s fuel tanker explosion that claimed more than 70 lives.
He said the tragedy at Morogoro is shared by South Africans for whom the site holds great significance as the first National Consultative Conference of the ANC convened there 50 years ago on May 1.
The Morogoro Conference brought together and advanced unity among diverse formations in the struggle against apartheid, and further issued a call for the armed struggle to be intensified.
The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO), established by the exiled ANC in 1978, is also located in Mazimbu, Morogoro.
The college provided educational and vocational skills to young South Africans who had fled the country after the 1976 Soweto uprising.
The bilateral activities will include a Business Forum where both Magufuli and Ramaphosa will speak.
Following the conclusion of his state visit, Ramaphosa will shift focus on SADC business.
Regional leaders will be briefed on the status of the economy, health, and food security in the SADC region.
In his capacity as the SADC facilitator to Lesotho, Ramaphosa will report back on developments in the facilitation process during a Troika Summit of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
Ramaphosa will be accompanied by the Ministers of International Relations, Defence, Tourism, Finance, and Mineral Resources.
