Online Reporter
Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will today officially launch Zimbabwe’s Review Report of the African Peer Review Mechanism in Harare.
Uganda’s Vice President, Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, who arrived in Harare yesterday afternoon to stand in for APRM Chairperson, President Yoweri Museveni, will attend the event.
Shortly after her arrival in Harare, the Ugandan Vice President paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices.
Writing on his X handle after their meeting yesterday, President Mnangagwa said: “I was pleased to receive Her Excellency, Major (Rtd) Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda, who paid a courtesy call on me at the Munhumutapa Building following her arrival in Harare.
“Vice President Alupo is in Zimbabwe representing my brother, His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who is the current Chairperson of the African Peer Review Forum of Heads of State and Government.”
The President said during their discussions, they reaffirmed the deep-rooted bilateral relations and shared Pan-African values between Zimbabwe and Uganda.
“Her presence is a testament to our continent’s collective commitment to self-assessment and African solutions to African challenges.
“Tomorrow (today), July 16, 2026, we will officially launch Zimbabwe’s Review Report of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden.
“This landmark event marks a significant milestone in our country’s governance trajectory, policy innovations, and socio-economic reforms under the Second Republic,” said President Mnangagwa.
After their closed-door engagement with the President, VP Alupo addressed the media, stating that she communicated Kampala’s support for Harare’s efforts to implement the APRM report.
“In our interaction, Uganda will support Zimbabwe on the implementation of issues to do with that report for the good of all the people of Zimbabwe,” she said.
“The issues in the report are based on the socio-economic transformation of Zimbabwe and the independence of the people of Zimbabwe economically, and the financial inclusion of all the people of Zimbabwe in the national economy.
“So, tomorrow (today) we are looking forward to a successful launch of that report and many more details will be unveiled to you and all the people of Zimbabwe and indeed Uganda after that meeting.”
The establishment of the APRM in Zimbabwe serves as a crucial mechanism for self-evaluation, peer accountability, and ongoing improvement.
The APRM is a mutually agreed, voluntary self-monitoring instrument established by African Union member States to promote good governance, transparency, and sustainable development across the continent by assessing six key thematic pillars.
These are democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance, socio-economic development, State resilience to disaster and shocks, and e-governance.
Zimbabwe officially joined the APRM in 2020 during the 29th Session of the African Peer Review (APR) Forum of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, targeting the pillar of economic governance and management.
In November last year, the country underwent a targeted review on economic governance and management across the country’s ten provinces, under the guidance of the APRM Continental Secretariat.
President Mnangagwa presented the country’s Review Report, which was successfully peer-reviewed at the 35th APR Forum of Heads of State and Government in February this year in Addis Ababa.
VP Alupo said she had also discussed the need for Zimbabwe and Uganda to upscale their economic relations.
“I am very glad that on arrival here in Harare, His Excellency Emmerson Mnangagwa accorded me and my delegation a courtesy visit to his office in which we have shared a range of warm bilateral issues between Uganda and Zimbabwe, among them to accelerate trade between the two countries and market the two countries bilaterally and multilaterally to attract tourism, which is the biggest foreign exchange earner to most of the African countries, including Zimbabwe,” she said.
In an interview just before VP Alupo’s arrival, National Governing Council Chairperson Ambassador James Manzou, who was part of the welcoming delegation led by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, said today’s launch is of paramount significance.
“It is a very important occasion where His Excellency the President is launching the Zimbabwe Review Targeted Report, which has its recommendations,” he said.
“This report, as some of you may have already picked up some of the snippets of this report, is a very important report and what makes it very important is that it has a lot of good practises, practises that can be shared on the continent with other countries.”
Attorney General Mrs Virginia Mabiza was also at the Robert Gabriel Muga International Airport to welcome the Ugandan Vice President.
Before today’s launch, Ambassador Aly El-Hefny, a member of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, led a review team that commended a number of things in the economic governance of Zimbabwe.
Said Ambassador Manzou: “It commended also the issue of performance contracting, you know, which we are doing, it commended the issue of land reform, which is the empowerment of the people, it also commended the issue of Village Business Units, among many other areas.”
In a statement yesterday, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ministry spokesperson Mrs Philisiwe Chidawanyika said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade wishes to inform the nation that the President, His Excellency Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, will officially launch Zimbabwe’s Review Report of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in Harare on 16 July 2026, in the presence of the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda, Maj (Rtd) Jessica Rose Epel Alupo who will be representing the Chair of the APRM and President of the Republic of Uganda, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni; and officials from the APRM Continental Secretariat led by Her Excellency Dr Thelma Awori, panel member in charge of Zimbabwe.
“The institutionalisation of the APRM in Zimbabwe, is a vital tool for self-assessment, peer accountability, and continuous improvement, aimed at: aligning national policies with continental best practices while reinforcing a commitment to governance and people-centered development; providing an objective, factbased narrative regarding Zimbabwe’s governance and socio-economic achievements; and creating robust platforms for engagement and dialogue between the Government, private sector, communities and non-state actors.”
