A high-profile delegation from the Southern Sudanese government which has been in the country for the past three weeks is scheduled to jet off from the country this Sunday, September 9.

A team of 64 Southern Sudanese arrived in South Africa on August 10 last month as part of a capacity-building programme. The team, which is comprised of commissioners and senior government officials, was divided into three groups. Amongst them, 21 opted to visit Limpopo Province and since their arrival in the province they have been visiting the six provincial districts and local municipalities. This Tuesday, the Sudanese visited the Vhembe district being led by the deputy provincial chairperson of the House of Traditional leaders in Limpopo, Khosi-Vho-Vusani Netshimbupfe.

In the Vhembe district they visited Thulamela, Musina Local Municipality and Beitbridge border post. When they arrived in Louis Trichardt, they went to view the statue of King Tshilwavhusiku Makhado Ramabulana at the Tourism Information Centre before their last visit at the Makhado Municipality.

According to commissioner Oliver Gabriel Mule of the Kajoliefi County, who was leading the Sudanese team, the whole process since their arrival in South Africa was educational. He indicated that the capacity-building programme initiated by the South African Government and facilitated by the University of South Africa was crucial to his country that has been in civil war for the past 21 years.

"We´ve learnt a lot about local-government-related matters. It is true that we are still faced with the challenge of infrastructure and the civil war brought major destruction and displacement, but to move our country forward, we agreed to visit South Africa because the strategies that we are going to implement back home will be coming from the African continent," he said.

Mule, who was heading a team with only one woman, confirmed that they have also learn a lot about gender and the constitution. Southern Sudan or new Sudan, according to Mule, saw peace for the first time after a long period on civil war when the region´s most influential political parties signed what is known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. "What we have acquired in South Africa will assist us in speeding up service delivery to our people. We are very much grateful to the government of this country, who view it important to improve the capacity of the Southern Sudan government through this programme. We hope and believe that our relationship with the government of South Africa will be a lasting one," he said.

Khosi Vho-Netshimbupfe indicated that as the house of traditional leaders in the province, they are grateful about the initiative taken by the Sudanese government, who seem to have realised that they have been fighting each other because of an external hand from outside the continent when they agreed to participate in the capacity building programme.

At the Makhado Municipality, the delegation was welcomed by Cllr Grace Nkanyani, as both the municipal manager, Ms Faith Muthambi and the mayor, Cllr Glory Tsakane Mashaba, were absent.

Mirror learnt that more than 2 million Sudanese died as a result of the civil war, while more than 5 million are displaced or became refugees in their neighbouring countries.