in honour of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Phakalitha Mosisili,
Cape Town
19 June 2007
Honourable Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies, ambassadors and high commissioners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
On behalf the people and government of South Africa I would like to extend a
warm welcome to you Your Excellency and your entire delegation. Indeed, we are
happy to say welcome to your other home!
I say welcome to your other home Prime Minister, because many of us in this
room and indeed in the rest of our country also regard the Kingdom of Lesotho
as our other home because the unique interwoven nature of our nationalities
make us both BaSotho and South Africans, giving real meaning to the saying that
it is possible simultaneously to be local and exotic.
Today, we learnt of another expression which characterises our relations
with Lesotho that 'Lesotho is not only landlocked but is also South Africa
locked.' This therefore speaks to the constant interaction and strong
relationship we should maintain with Lesotho.
I say welcome to your other home because both our peoples share the same
history, we are descendants of the same ancestry, we sing the same songs and
our praise songs salute the same forebears.
Because of these family bonds, which could not be broken by the arbitrary
dint of colonialism, many Basotho participated in the struggle against
apartheid unflinchingly as this was also their struggle. Some paid the ultimate
price while many more still carry the scars of that struggle.
Lesotho, as a country, also paid dearly for its principled stand on the side
of our struggle for freedom in the form of sanctions by the apartheid regime as
well as the craven Maseru massacre of 1982, in which Basotho nationals and the
anti-apartheid operatives and their families were killed in cold blood by
apartheid operatives.
On 13 December 1982, following the Maseru massacre in a solemn message of
solidarity with the people of Lesotho as conveyed to then Lesotho Prime
Minister Dr Leabua Jonathan, OR Tambo, the late President of the African
National Congress (ANC) said,
"We pledge our continued commitment to support the Kingdom of Lesotho with
all means in our power in her struggle to consolidate her independence and
defend her sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Following the historic democratisation of 1994, South Africa has not reneged
on this pledge.
Our countries signed a Joint Bilateral Commission (JBC) for co-operation in
2001 to foster a strategic partnership that would ensure mutual economic
benefit, co-operation in the social, cultural, scientific, governance and peace
and stability areas as well as facilitate easier movement of our people across
our borders.
Our central objective in this regard is to work together to ensure that the
Kingdom of Lesotho evolves away from the status of a least developed country
towards a developed and prosperous future.
Since then, we have entered into bilateral agreements in various sectors.
Three other agreements have been signed today while others are to be finalised,
as they are still in the process of negotiations at this stage.
This serves as a clear demonstration of the progress we have made in
establishing a firm base for the further deepening of our bilateral relations,
representative of the warm feelings of friendship that our people share.
In this regard we are collaborating on projects expressive these relations,
such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), the Geo-chemical Mapping
Project and the Hydrological Project. Further, I am confident that the two
projects we discussed today, Your Excellency, that of the Sani Pass-Mokhotlong
road as part of the Maluti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Project will help both our
countries in terms of tourism promotion.
Again, Your Excellency, the Metolong Dam which Lesotho is about to embark
upon, is critical as it will provide Maseru and the low lying areas with much
needed water resources. Clearly these are important projects which should bring
about economic development, create employment and create new investment
opportunities for our countries.
We are also happy that the Rail Link which will move from the Northern Cape,
the Free State, Lesotho into KwaZulu-Natal will provide the much needed access
to the Durban Port and has been adopted as a South African Development
Community (SADC)/New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) project.
We however need to ensure full implementation of all these projects and
agreements. In this regard, I am pleased that we have agreed on the specific
steps we should take to accelerate the implementation of our agreements.
Honourable Prime Minister, the 2010 Soccer World Cup belongs to Basotho, to
South Africans and to rest of our brothers and sisters across the African
continent. Because geography has united both our countries, we should
collaborate more to ensure that the Kingdom of Lesotho also benefits from this
important tournament especially in tourism and the hospitality industry,
ensuring that even after the World Cup many of the visitors keep coming back
for more of the breath taking views of the emerald coloured mountains of
Lesotho.
Since independence in 1966, the Kingdom of Lesotho has had many challenges.
Yet, at every turn the resilience of Basotho has ensured that the country moves
forward. Indeed, Prime Minister, we admire this tenacity of our sisters and
brothers in Lesotho because it is the same strength that will help all of us to
defeat poverty and underdevelopment.
I would also like to congratulate you, Prime Minister, as well as all
Basotho for the expert manner in which you hosted the SADC Heads of States
Summit in 2006. I recall this meeting, honourable Prime Minister as well as the
later Extraordinary Summit Meeting because of the important contribution they
made towards the acceleration of our process of regional integration.
In this regard, Prime Minister, the agreement signed today on the
facilitation of cross border movement of citizens is a significant part of this
movement towards integration. We hope that the long queues that have
characterised the border between our countries will be a thing of the past, as
soon as the agreement comes into operation.
I wish you well in your meeting with the business community during your
visit and I would like to call upon the business people present here today, to
support the people of Lesotho in their efforts to attract the much needed
investment. In this context I am happy to hear that negotiations on the
memorandum of understanding (MoU) on economic cooperation and an agreement on
mutual protection of investment have been concluded. We therefore expect
relevant Ministers to ensure the speedy signing of these agreements. These
agreements will help us in our efforts to attract private sector investment
into Lesotho.
Once more, honourable Prime Minister, a warm welcome to you and the
delegation and many thanks for visiting us.
Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and join me in a toast to the good health
and prosperity of the Honourable Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili and to the
everlasting and enduring friendship between the wonderful people of the Kingdom
of Lesotho and the people of the Republic of South Africa. To friendship!
Thank you!
Issued by: The Presidency
19 June 2007
