By JARED OKUMU

King Mswati III has said that the ongoing development projects in Zimbabwe are impressive, with the new Parliament building in Mt Hampden likely to leave a lasting legacy.

He said the Kingdom of Eswatini, which has also begun building a new parliament, will send a team from Mbabane to Harare to share notes.

King Mswati, who spoke after touring the new Parliament building, and his counterpart President Mnangagwa, added that Zimbabwe’s progress was worth emulating.

“We have been very pleased to see the level of development since we came here. I have visited almost many parts of Zimbabwe,” he said.

“We started in Victoria Falls, we came to Harare, and we went to Bulawayo, where we officially opened the trade fair (Zimbabwe International Trade Fair) there; now, we are here this morning (last Saturday) at the new majestic Parliament.”

Projects that have an enduring legacy, he said, are cherished by the people.

“This is an outstanding legacy; we need such buildings in Africa, and, of course, the people of Zimbabwe will always appreciate this infrastructure. This is one of the legacies of the Government that they will leave behind. People will always want to know what the leadership has done for them, and Zimbabweans, this will be a testimony,” said King Mswati.

“We are happy and in the process of designing our own Parliament. We have already started work on the area design, and fencing and are almost complete with the design.

“Time and again, we will send our team here to come and share expertise; this is the kind of Parliament we need in this day and age, which will be able to conduct any government business and come up with solutions to all the challenges for the country.”

He thanked President Mnangagwa for inviting him to attend the Transform Africa Summit (TAS), which was held in Victoria Falls last week.

“I want to thank the President for inviting me here to attend the summit, looking at how we could bring technology to our doorstep and African countries. On the sidelines of the summit, the President then invited me to pay a State visit to this beautiful country, and I accepted with great honor and have been thrilled since we came here.”

In his remarks, President Mnangagwa said the relationship between Zimbabwe and the Kingdom of Eswatini has always been sound and stretches back to the liberation struggle.

“I am happy that King Mswati has come to visit this once-magnificent but now majestic Parliament building. He is the first Head of State to come and visit this building, and from today, we call it the majestic Parliament of Zimbabwe.”

The President commended his counterpart for accepting the invitation to open the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) officially.

“We invited him to be a guest at our trade fair, and within two days, he had accepted; we are delighted.

“We were together in Bulawayo, where he opened our ZITF and, as we discussed, I told him we had just completed building a new Parliament. They are also in the process of building a new Parliament in Eswatini,” he said.

The President also said the Swazi royal family provided invaluable support during the liberation struggle.

“At one time in 1977, we were buying provisions from Maputo for the late President Mugabe and (late former VP) vaMuzenda, so I went to Manzini in Eswatini to purchase provisions.

“Before I could buy, a tall man came into the shop; he had a handkerchief on his arm and sandals. Then he said, ‘Young man, don’t pay; I will pay.’ He paid for all our provisions. And when I asked him, ‘Who are you?’ he refused to tell me. When he went out, we followed and were surprised as he got into a long Mercedes-Benz. He was one of the princes in Eswatini. He is now late,” said President Mnangagwa.

King Mswati traveled back to Eswatini yesterday.