President Cyril Ramaphosa: Second Session of the Lesotho-South Africa Bi-National Commission

Your Excellency Prime Minister Matekane,
Honourable Ministers,
Our respective High Commissioners,
Senior Government officials,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Your Excellency,

Thank you for your warm words of welcome.

It is an honour to co-chair with you the second session of the Bi-National Commission between our countries.

We are meeting here to further strengthen ancient bonds of geography, history, kinship, solidarity and common destiny.

In October last year, we were honoured to join His Majesty Letsie III and the people of this beautiful Mountain Kingdom to celebrate the 200th anniversary since the founding of the Basotho nation and the 58th anniversary of your independence.

As South Africans, we shall remain forever grateful for the unwavering solidarity and support this country extended to the oppressed people of South Africa during the dark days of apartheid.

We recall the selfless sacrifices you made in that journey of bravery and heroism.

As one of the trailblazer countries to achieve independence from colonial rule, the Kingdom of Lesotho has over nearly six decades contributed to the development of our region and the Continent.

Lesotho has sought to promote and support the institutions of democracy and good governance.

We commend your ongoing efforts to advance the political and constitutional reform agenda.

The relationship between our two countries is characterised by cooperation, good neighbourliness and a mutually beneficial relationship.

This BNC mechanism needs to ensure that the 45 agreements and legal instruments that have been signed are fully implemented.

We assemble in this session at a time of new global challenges and uncertainties.

These challenges are not insurmountable.

Working together, we should identify opportunities for progress in this rapidly changing environment.

As neighbours, we have great scope to deepen bilateral cooperation in many areas while maintaining political and economic engagements with all countries.

Cooperation in infrastructure development is a major priority.

South Africa and Lesotho are making strides in cooperation on water resource management.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is a good example of how two friendly countries can collaborate to the benefit of our peoples.

It is our hope that Phase 2 of this project is completed soon.

South Africa and Lesotho should work together in electricity generation.

We should align our country’s just energy transition agendas and projects.

Energy security is critical for our two countries.

It will play a major role in driving our manufacturing industries, powering our cities, towns and villages and enabling us to adapt to the demands of the new global economy. 

We need to redouble our efforts to establish bilateral and regional value chains that are sustainable and economically viable.

Our countries are both endowed with mineral resources and we need to beneficiate these minerals locally.

We should develop within our jurisdictions strategies for critical and rare minerals, which continue to attract global interest.

At the same time, we must diversify the products we produce and the services we provide.

In this regard, the establishment of logistics hubs, agro-processing facilities and data centres to support the emerging digital industry are some of the opportunities that South Africa and Lesotho should harness.

Lesotho hosts many South African companies and we appreciate the conducive environment in which these corporate entities operate.

Investments by Basotho companies in the South African economy need to be further promoted.

We need to work together to harmonise measures for the movement of our respective citizens across our borders.

We can strengthen immigration cooperation in a manner that is effective and secure.

We must address cross-border criminal activities that undermine the harmonious co-existence that our countries and peoples enjoy.

Our respective authorities should remain seized with the threats posed by global organised crime, which fuels illegal mining, drug and human trafficking, arms smuggling, wildlife destruction, illicit financial flows and money laundering.

Cooperation in education is fundamental to our shared future.

We should make it easy for young Basotho pupils, who live a stone’s throw away from schools on the South African side, to be able to go to school.

While this needs to be properly managed, bureaucratic impediments should not prevent the development of these young minds.

South African institutions of higher learning host many Basotho students, who provide the skills and capacity needed by the Kingdom of Lesotho.

During the days of apartheid, children of our exiled activists and young adults attended schools and institutions of learning in this country.

Many of our leaders attended the National University of Lesotho, famously known as Roma.

It is therefore only fitting and proper that we enhance cooperation in the field of education.

As South Africa undertook its transition to democracy and was grappling with the process of constitution making and state building, Lesotho was there to support us.

Now, as the Kingdom of Lesotho makes progress in its institutional reforms, we stand ready to share our experiences in areas such as strengthening the constitutional architecture, security sector reform, judicial capacity building and other areas of institutional development.

Our common heritage and shared destiny require that we be united in purpose and work towards the upliftment of our peoples.

Let us work together as peace-loving nations – within SADC, the African Union and the United Nations – to pursue a just global order founded on multilateralism, human rights and respect for international law.

Let us strive together to reform global institutions so that they are inclusive and advance the interests of the Global South.

As we open this Session, I join you in applauding the Ministers and Senior Officials for their hard work, 6 commitment in preparing the report of this Commission.

I look forward, Your Excellency, to fruitful deliberations.

I thank you.

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