Keiso Mohloboli
SOUTH African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, had to appoint a “high profile personality” to assist him in his role as the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) facilitator to Lesotho at the behest of the government delegation that attended this week’s SADC summit in Angola.
The decision to appoint an assistant to Mr Ramaphosa was announced this week by SADC in its communique which followed the regional body’s two day meeting in Angola to discuss the political and situation in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In the communique issued at the end of the summit on Tuesday, SADC said among other things, that it had approved Mr Ramaphosa’s appointment of “a high profile personality to support His Excellency (Mr) Ramaphosa as the facilitator to Lesotho on a continuous basis”.
The name of the appointee is however, yet to be revealed.
Although the SADC communique was very brief and did not explain why Mr Ramaphosa made the appointment, South Africa’s Minister of International Affairs, Lindiwe Sisulu, provided an insight into the behind-the-scenes discussions that led to the move.
Speaking in a television interview on Monday ahead of the SADC heads of state meeting that was held on Tuesday, Ms Sisulu said that the inter-ministerial meeting resolved to retain Mr Ramaphosa as the facilitator but the Lesotho delegation then requested the appointment of someone who would handle the facilitation on a full time basis.
“Lesotho has been in this situation (of instability) for far too long for a country of that size and we continue to be very concerned but uppermost in our minds is how we can help Lesotho get out of its situation and ultimately we decided we are going to recommend to the heads of state that we retain the facilitator,” Ms Sisulu said on Monday.
“But the team from Lesotho have suggested that he (Mr Ramaphosa) second somebody to Lesotho on a full time basis so that they are certain that they have easy access to the facilitator,” Ms Sisulu added.
Mr Ramaphosa was elected president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) during its December 2017 conference and he subsequently replaced Jacob Zuma as state president in February this year.
He also assumed the position of SADC chairperson and all this has cast doubts as to whether he can continue as the facilitator of the regional bloc’s efforts to achieving lasting peace and stability in Lesotho.
It was against the background of his new responsibilities that SADC executive secretary, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, told the Lesotho Times in February that the regional leaders would meet to discuss whether or not he would continue as SADC facilitator to Lesotho.
“We all agree that the facilitator, President Ramaphosa, has done a very wonderful job and as of now he is not only a facilitator but also the chairperson of SADC,” Dr Tax said during her visit to Lesotho in February.
“But those are the issues which will need to be looked into. He just assumed the (South African) presidency so it is premature to say whether or not he will continue as facilitator. But we understand that we need to discuss and see what the best way forward is.”
Mr Ramaphosa was appointed to facilitate the restoration of peace and stability in Lesotho after the 30 August 2014 attempted coup against the then government of Dr Thabane.
His facilitation has not been without controversy as a confidential report prepared by SADC ahead of the December 2017 deployment of the SADC standby force revealed that the government was not happy with Mr Ramaphosa continuing his role as the SADC facilitator to Lesotho and it wanted him to be replaced.
While the Thomas Thabane-led ruling coalition is not happy with Mr Ramaphosa, the report reveals that opposition parties are in favour of retaining him as facilitator.
“There have also been divergent views regarding the continued role of the Facilitator in that the government expressed the need to find a replacement while the opposition is in favour of retaining the current facilitator but to be assisted by a mediator preferably a Basotho national,” reads part of the document titled ‘Draft Integrated Mission Plan for the Deployment of the Contingent Mission to the Kingdom of Lesotho’.
