ANC STRENGTHENS TIES WITH FRELIMO

The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party on Tuesday, 20 March 2012, committed themselves to strengthening political ties between the two giant liberation movements.

The ANC delegation led by Provincial Chairperson, Cde Zweli Mkhize and Provincial Secretary, Cde Sihle Zikalala, met with a Frelimo delegation on the sidelines of a meeting between the KwaZulu-Natal government and the Maputo Province. The Frelimo delegation was led by Maria Elias Jonas, a senior party leader and a Governor of Maputo Province.

The meeting between the ANC and Frelimo forms part of the resolution by the ANC to foster strong co-operation with former liberation movements as part of its Centenary Celebrations.  It is interesting to note that Frelimo and the ANC share a common history as they both spent many years fighting for liberation. When Mozambique attained its independence from the Portuguese in the 1970s, Frelimo played a huge role in assisting the ANC to fight against the Apartheid regime.

Speaking after the meeting, Zikalala said it was crucial for the two parties to strengthen political ties developed decades ago when the ANC was still fighting against the apartheid regime. "It is important to have ties because both the ANC and Frelimo have many things in common. We are both mass based organizations and we are liberation movements. The meeting has helped us to share ideas on how to grow our parties and how to develop our countries as we are both governing parties," he said.

Furthermore, Zikalala said "Frelimo played a huge role in helping the ANC when it was banned in South Africa under the Unlawful Organisation Act which forced many of our comrades to go underground or to go to exile. Just like many other African countries, Mozambique became home to many ANC members including Cde President Jacob Zuma who escaped being imprisoned or killed by the apartheid regime".

Among other things that the two parties agreed on was the sharing of ideas on how to conduct political education which we believe is crucial to cadre development. They also discussed strategies on how to deal with poverty, underdevelopment and economic challenges in the African continent.

Statement issued by the ANC KZN, March 20 2012

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