SADC Facilitator and South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa concludes working visit to Maseru
South African Deputy President and SADC Facilitator Cyril Ramaphosa, today Thursday 23 June 2016, concluded his working visit to Maseru as part of preparations for the forthcoming Southern African Development Community (SADC) Double Troika meeting scheduled for Tuesday 28 June 2016 in Gaborone, Botswana.
Deputy President Ramaphosa arrived in Maseru on Wednesday 22 June 2016.
The SADC Double Troika meeting which will be attended by leaders of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Swaziland has been convened to discuss the current political situation in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
During his working visit to Lesotho, Deputy President Ramaphosa held consultative meetings with the Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili and his coalition government partners, representatives of opposition political parties, College of Chiefs, Council of Churches of Lesotho and members of civil society.
The meetings discussed the status of implementation of recommendations of the Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry into the death of the late Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao as well as constitutional and security sector reforms.
Following these consultative processes, Deputy President and Facilitator Ramaphosa is expected to report his findings to the SADC Double Troika meeting in Gaborone next week.
In this regard, Deputy President Ramaphosa said ''We have come here as Facilitator for SADC. We have been briefed on the much awaited response of the Lesotho Government on the Phumaphi (Commission) Report. We have been given a detailed briefing on all recommendations”.
"We now move onto the Double Troika Summit that will be taking place in Gaborone next week to report on the progress that has been made in relation to what the Phumaphi Commission recommended”, said Deputy President Ramaphosa.
"We will table that report and I can say we have been very pleased with the fact that the government has come up with a response which was tabled to both Houses of Parliament (in Lesotho). We are now going to deal with it at the SADC level and we will look at how government has taken steps to implement the recommendations”.
''In that regard, it is quite clear that there is a determination on the part of the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho to deal with the Phumaphi Report with serious intent to make sure those recommendations are dealt with”, continued Deputy President Ramaphosa.
"The rest of the other things we will discuss once the Double Troika Summit has an opportunity to deal with all the matters that are covered in that report. As Facilitator I am rather pleased that I came here again and I was warmly received by the Prime Minister and the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho”, concluded Deputy President Ramaphosa.
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