• Agrees to accept the Phumaphi Report
• Others believe Lesotho is just buying time?
Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) wayward child Lesotho is at it again. This time around the Mountain Kingdom has somersaulted on its initial decision not to accept Judge Mphaphi Phumaphi’s report from the regional body chaired by President Ian Khama. Lesotho has since changed its mind and accepted the report after SADC unanimously stamped its authority and threatened to cut off the country from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) which Lesotho relies on heavily for revenue.
The Judge Mphaphi Phumaphi Commission investigated Lesotho’s insecurity and the killing of former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao.
Despite Khama being lauded for a no-nonsense approach that many attribute to Lesotho’s change of heart, observers say the real reason for the Mountain Kingdom to accept the Phumaphi Report was the fear of being cut off from SADC and subsequently SACU where the country would have lost its share from the union’s revenue pool that translates to 50 percent of the country’s national budget.
Lesotho’s 2014/15 budget was R15 billion, with SACU input contributing half of the amount.
Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, agreed that SADC was unanimous in its decision to suspend Lesotho.
“The decision to suspend Lesotho was unanimous, it had nothing to do with President Khama,” she said at a media briefing on Wednesday in Gaborone, adding that it is a coincidence that it happened under his tenure as chairman.
Even though stubborn Lesotho has changed her mind the decision is not yet a done deal.
Even though stubborn Lesotho has changed her mind the decision is not yet a done deal. Basotho who came to Botswana to hear the decision of the Double Troika say Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili still has to convince members of his coalition government to endorse it, something they say is almost impossible. “They are just buying time,” the visiting Basotho said.
Venson-Moitoi also stated at a press briefing that Mosisili had been given 14 days to consult members of his coalition.
Earlier on Monday, desperation was written on the faces of presidents that consisted of South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Botswana’s Ian Khama, and Mozambique’s Jacinto Nyusi at the meeting held in Gaborone that wanted Lesotho to accept the findings of the Phumaphi Report.
The meeting that was supposed to start on Monday morning went ahead without Mosisili, who arrived towards lunch time showing no distress. To his defence, Venson-Moitoi said he was told to come after lunch only to be notified to show up earlier that’s why he turned up before lunch.
By then the programme of the day had been thrown into disarray, leading to the cancellation of both the opening and the closing ceremonies. At the end, no official communiqué was handed out until the next day when SADC Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Tax did that.
The communiqué states that it notes with concern that the Kingdom of Lesotho has not undertaken the constitutional, public sector and security sector reforms. Further it states that the Double Troika Summit urges Lesotho to prepare, with the support of the organ troika and secretariat, a road map for the implementation of the reforms as contained in the SADC facilitators’ final report. “The government of the Kingdom of Lesotho is to submit a progress report to the summit in August 2016.”
The communiqué also states that the government of Lesotho and all political stakeholders are to actively contribute to a conducive environment to allow the safe return of the opposition leaders and members of the security forces that are in exile.
Meanwhile, Venson-Moitoi told the media that Khama and Botswana are satisfied with the Phumaphi Report. “Judge Phumaphi is a seasoned judge. He has done many investigations and we are satisfied with his report,” she said.
This is despite a pending case in Lesotho in which Special Forces Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Tefo, seeks to have the SADC inquiry into Mahao’s killing declared illegal.
In its communiqué, SADC also says any court decision taken against the commission of inquiry is of no legal effect, and will not bind SADC and its institutions.