The governments of Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe have agreed to cooperate and sustainably develop the use of water resources in the Buzi river basin.
The 250 km Buzi river flows from Zimbabwe’s eastern border through Mozambique’s central provinces of Manica and Sofala into the Indian ocean.
The Buzi basin covers an area of 28 870 square kilometers, of which 6 066 square kilometers, or 21 percent, is in Zimbabwean territory and the remaining area in Mozambican territory.
Mozambique’s minister of Public works, Housing and Water resources, João Machatine, signed the agreement representing his government while Zimbabwe’s Minster for Land, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement, Perrance Shiri, represented his country.
“This agreement aims to promote coordinated cooperation between the parties to ensure the sustainable development, management and use of water resources in the Buzi watercourse, taking into account the increasing demand for water in both countries, the changing scenario, impact on the gradual reduction of water availability and socio-economic development in the basin, ” Machatine said on Monday, 29 July 2019.
The official added that the signing of the agreement “is an important milestone, as it is a manifestation of the unequivocal willingness of the two countries to contribute to the management of the basin’s water resources within the regional framework of mutual benefit respecting each other’s sovereignty. from member states.”
The signing of the agreement comes at a time when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is struggling with severe drought with negative impacts on people’s water supplies, agricultural productivity as well as electricity generation.
Mozambique and Zimbabwe, in managing shared river basins, are guided by the Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the SADC, signed in 2 000 with the objective of fostering closer cooperation for judicious, sustainable and coordinated management.
Source: Political Analysis South Africa
