By Poloko Mokhele
The South African High Commission in Lesotho says plans are afoot the two nations to sign a new bi-national commission agreement, but could neither confirm nor deny whether free movement between the two countries will also be part of the agreement.
This comes after Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro’s last week statement that foreign affairs minister, ‘Matŝepo Molise-Ramakoae will meet with her South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor in June to sign a bilateral agreement which will pave way for free movement.
“I am proud to announce that in June this year, my minister of foreign affairs will meet with the South African minister to sign a free movement agreement for Basotho,” Majoro said.
In an interview with theReporter on Monday, the High Commission’s Political Counselor, Mark Reynhardt indicated that there is a bi-national commission agreement that will be signed, although the High Commission is yet to know the exact date since discussions are still ongoing.
“Discussions are underway between the two countries. However, I cannot confirm or deny if it will be done by June but there are discussions within the context of a bi-national commission which will be held.
We are still waiting for confirmation of the date for the bi-national commission which will replace the Joint Bilateral Cooperation Commission (JBCC); so at the moment unfortunately we cannot comment on that since there are discussions taking place. The state of the talks remains unknown,” Reynhardt said.
Reynhardt added that the High Commission is not part of the discussions and they are also waiting for official statements from the responsible ministers.
In November last year, Ministers Molise-Ramakoae and Pandor met in Maseru to discuss the JBCC between the two countries. Among others, the two discussed issues of mutual interest including measures to facilitate cross border movement of people, goods and services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
