The President of South Africa His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa sent his special envoy to Lesotho, to follow up on the recent political instabilities and on his previous visit in Lesotho in January 2020.

In his speech on Monday the 20th April 2020, the leader of the delegation to Lesotho Former Minister Jeff Radebe said their visit to Lesotho has been necessitated by the recent developments that have taken place in Lesotho, particularly the suspension of the Commissioner of Police, as well as the events surrounding it.

Mr. Radebe recalled that there was prorogation of parliament in March this year, and that arising from these two incidents, there were court challenges that culminated with the Constitutional Court of Lesotho setting aside the prorogation of parliament, as well as interdicting the prime minister from proceeding with the suspension or firing of the police commissioner.

As a result of these two incidents, particularly the suspension of the Commissioner of Police, Radebe said the temperature as they saw it from South Africa was high, with the deployment of troops on Saturday.

Radebe said His Excellency Ramaphosa was extremely concerned about the political developments in Lesotho, hence commanded them to come and see themselves what is happening.

In his remarks Mr. Radebe said the message of President Ramaphosa is that the people of Lesotho should focus primarily on the fight against coronavirus, other than fighting each other.

He also said the running threat in the meetings they had with various stakeholders since they arrived in Lesotho on Sunday, is that the decision of the Prime Minister which he announced in February this year, for him to retire from politics as the Prime Minister July this year should be implemented.

Radebe further said they also agreed with the Right Honorable Prime Minister and the Government of Lesotho, that there has to be joint collaboration and corporation between the two countries in fighting COVID-19 pandemic, and also assist Basotho nationals living in South Africa.