Africa News
Ramaphosa: SA will stand by Lesotho─── 11:46 Sat, 25 Oct 2014
Johannesburg - South Africa, in the spirit of former ANC president Oliver Tambo, will stand by Lesotho as it works towards a better future, the party's deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday.
"We have just returned from Lesotho, a neighbour that stood by us during the darkest moments of our history, a neighbour that paid a heavy price for its support for the struggles of the South African people," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the University of Fort Hare.
Ramaphosa recalled the Maseru massacre of 1982, in which 30 South Africans and 12 Basotho were killed at the hands of the apartheid government.
The SADC, led by Ramaphosa as a facilitator, went to Lesotho to find a solution after an attempted coup by the military on 30 August.
He said SADC regional facilitation efforts had yielded positive results with the reconvening of parliament by His Majesty King Letsie III which took place in Maseru on 17 October.
The security accord, signed by Kamoli, Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao and Commissioner Khotatso Tsooana, was aimed at promoting harmonious relations between the leadership, officers and members of both the Lesotho Defence Force and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service.
The declaration further provided for parliament to discuss the budget and any other related matter to the general elections scheduled for February 2015 on a date to be set by the king, as well as the dissolution of parliament in December.
