South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, says his country will give the Democratic Republic of Congo unconditional support in the preparations and holding of the upcoming December 20, 2023 presidential and parliamentary election.
President Ramaphosa met this Thursday with DRC President, Félix Tshisekedi, at the Presidential Palace in Kinshasa.
The South African leader is on a two-day visit to the country to discuss security and trade and during a press conference discussed issues concerning the election.
“We have pledged our total support for the DRC to go through the election process. We have always supported all democratic processes in the DRC and calling for stability. With the last one we did that and with this one we will do exactly that and we are prepared to give practical support as well in every way that is possible and we call on the people of the DRC to ensure that they hold a peaceful election to ensure that it will have a credible outcome.
“Actually [a] welcomed [election] and embraced by all. And when you do that you will be entrenching democracy and demonstrating to all that the DRC is stable, democratic and is seeking to be a prosperous and successful country. We hope that they will go well and our support is unconditional,”
Both Ramaphosa and Tshisekedi are attending the DRC-South Africa Economic Forum, which brings together around a hundred businessmen from the two countries.
On Tuesday, the two sides reactivated the DRC-South Africa Great Joint Commission, a bilateral body of ministers from both sides tasked with working on revising bilateral deals.
The visit from the South African president takes place as Kinshasa prepares for a general election at the end of December amid persistent security problems in the east of the country.
