SA transfers US$200 million to Zimbabwe

South Africa has transferred about $200 million to Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government.

According to the government information services international relations and cooperation director general Ayanda Ntsaluba said the South African government managed to secure $300 million in budget support from its neighbours to reviving Zimbabwe’s economy.

"This grant is aimed at assisting Zimbabwe in some of the critical sectors that require assistance," explained Nstuluba, adding that a report indicates that the money was used towards the improvement of the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government secured the $300 million in budget support from its neighbours to revive the country's economy in April this year.

Negotiations between the neighboring countries, including South Africa and Botswana, had been wrapped up earlier on after Zimbabwe’s political parties formed a government of national unity.

Botswana alone donated $70 million.

The southern Africa region is also finalising discussions around credit lines for Zimbabwe which from years of misrule by long time ruler Robert Mugabe has been reduced to a basket case, with disease, starvation, violence becoming the order of the day.

Britain has pledged more than $21 million in humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, which is estimated to benefit three million people by way of food, seeds and fertilizer.