WeeklySA_AdminPACT: Free movement of Basotho into the Republic will have positive spin-offs for the two countries…
By Sekola Sello
There is this guy in the Lesotho parliament, one Tsepo Lipholo, who recently hogged the headlines in South Africa and probably in some parts of the African continent by claiming that it is time the tiny Mountain Kingdom reclaimed large swathes of land in the Republic.
The claim has been met with ridicule, derision and, to the more charitable towards him, uproarious laughter. Many South Africans cannot imagine part of their country parcelled to impoverished Lesotho. The South African government has predictably dismissed the claims. Being Mosotho with roots in Lesotho and South Africa, let me give my cents’/lisente worth on the matter. I would not be surprised that many of those South Africans who have ridiculed the call by Lipholo have no sense of the history of Southern Africa. Of course, not everyone is guilty of this. Sunday Times columnist Mike Siluma has displayed a measured and sober understanding of the dilemma faced by Lesotho. To those South Africans who may not know the basis of Lipholo’s call for certain parts of South Africa to be ceded back to the Mountain Kingdom, I will summarise it by saying this is no different from the call made by those who were forcibly removed from Sophiatown, District Six or those communities throughout the length and breadth of South Africa.
Historic fact
Thousands of Basotho were also removed at gunpoint by the Boers, in collusion with the British, across Mohokare from what is now called the Free State. This is a historic fact which happened less than 200 years ago. If the removal of our people from Sophiatown was considered a criminal act and the seizure of the lands of our ancestors all over South Africa was a crime against humanity, this holds true for the people of Lesotho.
While history is on the side of Basotho, facts on the ground speak a different language. Lipholo’s call is dead in the water. There are many reasons why no South African government can accede to this. The African Union and the South African Development Community hold that colonially inherited borders must stay inviolate. Giving land to Lesotho would open a veritable Pandora’s box. Botswana would stake its claim to parts of North West and Northern Cape. So, would
Eswatini to parts of Mpumalanga.
Since the African National Congress came to power nearly 30 years ago, a negligible amount of land has been restored to black South Africans. To all practical purposes, the white man still controls nearly 80 percent of the country’s land mass. And the white man has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that he is not willing to give up ill-gotten assets. This must be a sobering reality to Afrophobes such as Operation Dudula, Gayton McKenzie’ s Patriotic Alliance and the likes of Herman Mashaba of Action SA, whose forebears I believe came to South Africa as illegals from Mozambique. They may strut around like latter-day little Mussolinis wanting to expel so-called illegal immigrants, but South Africa still belongs to the white man. They are nothing but useful idiots.
‘Gordian knot’
Decent South Africans should not take them or their ilk too seriously. They are having their proverbial 15 minutes of fame and, like Mussollini, will come to an ignominious end. Against this background of Lesotho’s justified quest and the hard realities on the ground facing any black government in South Africa, the question is,” What must be done”. I do not think this Gordian knot can be untied to the satisfaction of Lesotho. But it is also an issue of festering sore which any black majority-led government in South Africa can ignore forever. This is not even a question of Big Brother being sympathetic to a poverty-stricken neighbour. It is also out of self-interest. Realpolitik, if you will.
Former Deputy President and ANC heavyweight Kgalema Motlanthe has wittingly or not given what I believe could be a win-win strategy out of this dilemma. Motlanthe has suggested that, in order to give the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) a kick-start, Lesotho and South Africa could ease travel restrictions between the two. He did not go into the details of how to go about this, but I think the first step would be to allow nationals of the two countries to move freely across their borders. All that would be required being identity documents. Free movement of Basotho into the Republic will have positive spin-offs for the two countries. Here is an example. A family friend from Lesotho, the late Ntate Mosoampha Monapathi had a white business partner in the Free State who allowed him to do cattle farming on the sly across the border. I believe there are a number of Basotho who have been doing the same as Ntate Monapathi. Let us legalise this reality. Business on both sides would boom.
Here is another spin off: a Lesotho with an improved economy is a benefit to South Africa. It can mean, among other things, fewer undocumented Basotho crossing over Mohokare. Hopefully there would be fewer Zama Zamas coming into the country and the many forms of criminality associated with these individuals would also be reduced. Another great benefit to both countries is that the garrison towns along Lesotho would have their economies revived. The last time I passed through the Van Rooyen border-gate, the nearby town of Wepener was a dying expanse. In the wake of the 1990’s political upheavals in Lesotho, Ladybrand looked like a ghost town without Basotho coming to the area. I was in Fouriesburg a few years ago, and this dorpie, which also depends on custom from across the border, was struggling. Ficksburg is just keeping its head above the water. The economic viability of Lesotho has a direct impact on these garrison towns.
Free State towns dying
Here is another reality which many of my South African compatriots may well be unaware of. Several Free State towns are in dire straits. Poverty is rampant. Ntha township (Lindley) is a bleak, desolate place where you can see people have been thrown there to die.
In recent years, the township has exploded in numbers. One can say the same about those workers evicted from farms around Clocolan/ Hlohloloane. This brings back the haunting memories of the book by anti-apartheid priest, Father Desmond Cosmas, The Discarded People. It was a harrowing tale about the tragedy of the people of Dimbaza in the Eastern Cape. A tragedy brought about by the evils of apartheid. It is a tragedy that can befall many dorpies in the Free State, owing to – among other things – water scarcity, which impacts on farming negatively in this province. Nowadays, it is a common sight to see poor farm dwellers and white farmers (men and women) in queues holding water buckets.
Yet, these farming communities in the so-called Caledon valley should not be experiencing these problems. I do not know much about engineering, but believe that the waters from the Mohale and Metolong dams – less than two hundred kms away – should be enough to supply towns such as Ladybrand, Marquard, Senekal, Botshabelo, right up to the capital Bloemfontein. Closer ties between Maseru and Bloemfontein would most likely speed up the provisioning of this commodity. Politicians on both sides of Mohokare should not tear their hairs unduly. I think what Tom Thabane once told me, long before he became Prime Minister, that the matter of Lesotho’s lost or conquered will solve itself naturally, could well be prophetic.
Me thinks the ACFTA’s free movement could hold the key
Comment
SALARY HIKES SHOULD BE ON MERIT
Annual salary increases for office bearers including Cabinet ministers and judges should strictly be based on performance and not on titles or merely because there is a budget available for such payments. It is therefore concerning that at a time when South Africa’s masses are living under extreme levels of poverty and the unemployment rate especially amongst the youth, is standing at nearly 33 percent, there is a proposal by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office bearers that officer bearers should receive a 3,8 percent salary increases.
The recommended salary hikes can only be implemented if President Cyril Ramaphosa rubber stamp the proposals. Should that happen Ramaphosa’s salary and that of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo would be around R3,2 million per annum. Constitutional Court judges and premiers would earn about R200 000 a month. While we do not have problems with office bearers earning decent salaries, we however are concerned that while government is reluctant to pay their own public servants at least inflation-related salaries, they can afford to pay senior office bearers huge salaries. The President, while considering the recommendations, should also be reminded that these office bearers are already earning above-average salaries at a time when the country’s economy is on its knees.
We reiterate that salary hikes should only be implemented on merit and nor mere titles. The country is daily experiencing violent protests by communities complaining about lack of basic services such as water, electricity and roads. Schools are dilapidated, there are no signs of the energy crisis coming to an end, our young graduates are unemployed and the housing shortage crisis continues. All because of nonperforming premiers who care less about delivering services to their people.
There are also problems in the judiciary where certain judges are accused of dragging their feet in pronouncing their judgments timeously. There are currently calls from certain quarters that action be taken against certain judges who have failed to perform. And these are some of the officers who must earn huge salaries – at the taxpayers’ expense – while millions are struggling to make ends meet.
The mooted salary hikes have rightfully been rejected by trade union federations who have been fighting – with little success – for years to have their members earn decent wages. Spokesperson from the Presidency, Vincent Magwenya, has assured all and sundry that President Ramaphosa was still looking into the recommendations.
We hope he will also look onto the plight of the millions who go to bed hungry daily and without jobs while others are looking at enriching themselves simply because there is money available in the kitty to push their salaries to above-average remuneration. Approval for the implementation of these proposed hikes will be a slap in the face of South Africa’s masses. The President is urged to listen to the voice of the poor.
Published on the 97th Edition
