Lesotho is a landlocked country inside South Africa; some believe much of the country’s land was lost to South Africa in the colonial period.
A South African delegation made up of senior police and government officials met with their counterparts in Lesotho on Monday to discuss security concerns between the two countries.
According to a statement by the South African Police Service (Saps), the two parties met in Maseru, Lesotho’s capital.
High on the agenda are reports of military training camps on South African farms, where Lesotho nationals of different ages are allegedly receiving military training for the purpose of reclaiming land that Lesotho lost to South Africa during the colonial period.
The South African delegation comprises Deputy National Commissioner of Policing and Co-chair of the NATJOINTS, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, the head of Interpol in SA, a senior officer from Saps crime intelligence, and a senior officer from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
“General Fannie Masemola will, during the engagement, appraise the Lesotho police chief on what Saps crime intelligence driven operations have yielded thus far. Advocate Borotho Matsoso and his delegation are also expected to present a report on what the Lesotho Mounted Police Service have uncovered thus far,” police spokesperson Athelenda Mathe said.
The Citizen understands that the parties were also likely to discuss the alleged victimisation of Lesotho nationals, who allegedly face victimisation from South African authorities for different reasons. This includes police harassment and being denied media services in South African hospitals.
Mathe said the officials from both countries will release a joint media statement after their meeting.
Concerns of regional tension in Southern Africa
A week ago, Lesotho’s police commissioner, Borotho Matsoso, told Newsroom Afrika that their intelligence had discovered that men of different ages are being trained on South African farms to forcefully take back land from South Africa.
This land includes parts of the Free State, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape.
“We have discovered that they have been recruited to do some military training on some farms in South Africa,” Malata Naha.
Matsoso said these camps could disturb the peace between Pretoria and Maseru should they be left to operate undisturbed.
“The target is Basotho citizens, and some South Africans are being recruited into this thing…they are organising themselves to reclaim the land that they say belongs to Basotho,” he said.
Matsoso said the government of Lesotho was shocked to learn about the existence of these camps.
“Our intelligence tells us these people want to do something that is completely against the laws of South Africa,” he said.
Matsoso told the channel that the recruits seemed prepared to use military techniques to demand the land they wanted from South Africa.
Debate over colonial borders
This is not the first time that Lesotho nationals have tried to reclaim land from South Africa.
Some opposition parties have raised a debate on this matter in the Lesotho parliament.
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However, the government of Lesotho maintains that it will not contest the borders that were inherited before the country gained independence from Britain.
The reports of a military training on farms also come after minister in the Presidency Khumbuzo Ntshavheni revealed that State Security had averted a number of coup attempts.
She has given no further details about these coups.
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