Lekhetho Ntsukunyane
THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa has called on Lesotho to become the 10th province of South Africa, citing the kingdom’s failure to resolve its current political crisis and economic dependence on Pretoria.
NUM general secretary, Frans Baleni, told South African media last week that Lesotho should not have been an independent state in the first place, as it was part of the Free State Province.
Mr Baleni told reporters: “The developments in Lesotho are of concern. A number of NUM members, who are also citizens of Lesotho, have urged the union to appeal to the authorities to bring about stability in their country.
“In 1991, NUM took a resolution that South Africa and Lesotho should seriously consider the mountain kingdom being incorporated into South Africa, which completely surrounds it.
“That dialogue is still taking place and we are still promoting that there must be dialogue. Basotho must decide their future and South Africa obviously must decide how to take this process forward.
“The kingdom could be a 10th province of South Africa. In reality, Lesotho is in the Free State Province and so it can be an extension of the Free State, or the 10th province of South Africa.
“Lesotho’s economy depends heavily on South Africa. This country’s mining industry draws a large part of its labour force from Lesotho. The boundaries of Lesotho were due to wars of land dispossession which were not satisfactorily resolved. The people of Lesotho were deprived of their land and freedom, and democratic South Africa will have to resolve that.”
However, Mr Baleni’s suggestion met with fierce criticism from Lesotho politicians and activists interviewed on Friday by the Sunday Express. The fact that the coalition government partners—namely All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader, Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) leader, Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing and Basotho National Party’s Thesele ‘Maseribane — had failed to resolve their differences despite the intervention of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and other mediators, was no reason for the country to become part of South Africa, they told the Sunday Express.
ABC spokesperson, Tefo Mapesela said: “We are not that much of a failed state that we can surrender our sovereignty to South Africa. We are only having problems at the moment, where certain people don’t want to abide by the laws of this country. Our country is a constitutional monarchy. It has its own constitution, which is very different from that of any other country, including South Africa. We can’t just let go of that important factor.”
Mr Mapesela further said South Africa had its own problems which it was failing to resolve and cannot be considered the solution to Lesotho’s political and security challenges. In addition to the coalition government leaders failing to agree on a number of issues, among them when Parliament should be re-opened following its nine-month suspension by Dr Thabane on 10 June 2014 to avoid a no-confidence vote against him, there is confusion over who is in charge of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) between Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli and Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao. Although Dr Thabane maintains he fired Lt Gen Kamoli on 29 August 2014 for alleged insubordination and replaced him with Lt Gen Mahao, he has refused to vacate office, citing his removal was illegal.
“South Africa has enough problems of its own and can’t claim it can easily solve our problems by simply annexing Lesotho as a 10th province,” Mr Mapesela said.
BNP spokesperson, Machesetsa Mofomobe, shared similar sentiments with those of Mr Mapesela, adding: “Even other Sadc countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, and Swaziland have problems, but nobody has suggested that for the challenges to be resolved, these nations must become part of South Africa.
“We are a sovereign state. I doubt even if this issue of being incorporated into South Africa can be done by way of referendum, Basotho will vote for it. We are a country of King Moshoeshoe I. Other nations will look down upon us should we let this happen and we become part of South Africa.”
Bishop Motaung of rights group, Voice of the Voiceless (VOVA), said while his organisation has been campaigning for free movement between Lesotho and South Africa—and also that Lesotho should allow dual citizenship—it was totally against the country being annexed by South Africa.
“We categorically reject NUM’s recommendation that Lesotho should become the 10th province of South Africa. People should not confuse our advocacy with suggestions that Lesotho should be part of South Africa.
“It is wrong for anyone to perceive Lesotho as a failed state simply because of recent events of an attempted coup (on 29 and 30 August) and many other problems we are having at the moment, as a country. It happens everywhere that there are problems of governance. Indeed, we have 48 years of independence but people should not look at us as a failed state. We always have a way of solving our problems one way or the other.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Sunday Express on Tuesday last week, the Democratic Congress (DC) member of parliament (MP), Mathibeli Mokhothu indicated among other recommendations suggested by “other parties” to resolve the current political stalemate, was that Lesotho should become part of South Africa.
“From a DC perspective, we categorically dismiss this recommendation. It is as if we are being led by cowards that we can think of being ruled by South Africa,” Mr Mokhothu said.