President Cyril Ramaphosa met with his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare over the weekend and the two leaders reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries.

According to the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper, Ramaphosa, who spoke to journalists after the meeting, said that the courtesy call on Mnangagwa had provided an opportunity to discuss economic matters.

"It was a courtesy call but we used the opportunity to have a number of discussions on various issues; issues that have to do with challenges we are facing in the region, mostly economic challenges, and we reaffirmed our willingness to work together, to improve and grow the economies of our two respective countries.

"So, this was a great opportunity to confirm that South Africa and Zimbabwe are joined at the hip and will find clever ways of growing our economies and co-operate on matters of trade, matters of finding various projects that we can work together on," Ramaphosa was quoted as saying.

Ramaphosa's visit formed part of a long-standing tradition in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, whereby newly elected heads of state pay courtesy calls to the neighbouring countries.

Ramaphosa was accompanied by the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Lindiwe Sisulu and the Minister of State Security, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.