SANDF members patrolling near the Ficksburg Bridge border checkpoint.
PHOTO: Thulani Mbele, Gallo Images/Sowetan
- The Lesotho government says it has repatriated 400 of its citizens from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal.
- He accused South Africa of violating bilateral relations that include free movement.
- Since then, Lesotho has approached the South African government for talks.
Lesotho says South Africa violated its “free movement” agreement with the country when authorities ordered 400 Basotho to leave Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal early last week.
The Lesotho government had to repatriate its citizens amid questions about their status in South Africa.
“More than 400 Basotho were transported to Lesotho by the Lesotho government following an incident of persecution by authorities there, concerned about their legality in South Africa,” read a statement from the Minister at the Limpho Tau Prime Minister’s Office. .
Tau called it a “traumatizing” event that should not have happened due to the two countries’ cordial relations. He noted Lesotho’s deep concern over the treatment of its citizens while in South Africa, saying the countries had signed bilateral agreements that included free movement.
Tau said Lesotho had contacted the South African government and “everything will come out once talks are set up and agreed.”
He added that the safety of Lesotho citizens outside the country was one of the country’s top priorities.
He said:
One of Lesotho’s key action points for the plight of the Basotho is to secure their freedom while in South Africa and elsewhere by making sure everyone has the proper expected documents.
The Acting Executive Director of the Lesotho Disaster Management Authority, Caroline Mahosi, said they would return to look for Basotho nationals who had not made it on the first trip. She also promised that those who had already left for Lesotho would be “delivered to their respective homes”.
During interviews with SABC News, some of the affected Basotho nationals said they would be banned from South Africa for the next five years.
The deportees were allegedly living and working in South Africa without permits, while others were reported as having overstayed the country.
READ | It’s not just Zim: Lesotho’s special permits will end soon too, says Motsoaledi
Meanwhile, South Africa will resume deporting undocumented Zimbabweans living and working in the country from June next year.
This follows the extension of the window period for Zimbabweans to change their discontinued Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) to regular visas.
Initially, the deadline had been the end of December 2022, but it was later changed to June of the next year.
According to Zimbabwe’s National Statistics Agency, South Africa is home to 773,246 Zimbabweans, but independent estimates put the number at around three million (more than the total population of Botswana, which is estimated at 2.3 million, or Lesotho’s at 2.1 million). ).
News24 tried unsuccessfully for more than a week to get a response from the Department of the Interior.
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