"Zimbabwe Has Made Impressive Progress In Its Journey To Rejoin The Commonwealth Family"

The Commonwealth delegation which visited Zimbabwe to assess the progress made since the southern African country’s application to rejoin the group in 2018 has said impressive progress has been made. The team was in Zimbabwe from 12-18 November 2022. This was the third time Commonwealth visited Zimbabwe to assess progress made since 2018. In a statement seen by Pindula News, Assistant Secretary-General, Prof Luis Franceschi who was leading the delegation said:

Zimbabwe has made impressive progress in its journey to re-join the Commonwealth family. This is encouraging and we hope that further progress will be made. This mission by the Commonwealth forms part of the broader membership process and we look forward to advancing this further.

All the stakeholders we engaged with – the Government, opposition parties, Civil Society Organisations, religious leaders, and indeed the people of Zimbabwe – are supportive of Zimbabwe coming back to the family. We will work together towards that shared goal to ensure this process reaches its proper conclusion.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government applied on May 15, 2018, to rejoin the grouping, a year after Mugabe’s ouster.

But the bloc has perennially cited human rights abuses and lack of rule of law as stumbling blocks for Zimbabwe’s re-admission.

Zimbabwe was in the Commonwealth until 2003 when the late former President Robert Mugabe withdrew the country from the group.

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