Pretoria - SADC Facilitator and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the SADC Double Troika’s decision to reaffirm the current terms of reference for the Commission of Inquiry into Lesotho.
The SADC Double Troika met on Sunday in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, on the side-lines of the annual summit of Heads of State and Government Summit.
During his visit to the Kingdom on 30 July 2015 and in his interaction with Prime Minister Phakalitha Mosisili, as well as members of the opposition political parties, proposals were presented to Deputy President Ramaphosa for SADC to consider amending the terms of reference for the Commission of Inquiry.
The Troika agreed that the SADC terms of reference as agreed to in July, in Pretoria, should stand as in their original form as they are broad enough to accommodate proposals raised with the SADC Facilitator.
As the SADC Facilitation mission, Deputy President Ramaphosa said they look forward to the SADC Commission of Inquiry beginning its work in earnest within the framework of the terms of reference as set out by the Double Troika Summit.
“We reiterate our call for Basotho to give the commission their unreserved support as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to their security challenges,” said Deputy President Ramaphosa on Wednesday.
Going forward the Lesotho government is expected to gazette the SADC terms of reference to enable the SADC Commission of Inquiry to continue with its work as soon as possible.
The independent Commission of Inquiry was established to look into the circumstances surrounding alleged assassination of the former Lesotho Defence Force Commander Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao.
At the time, SADC said the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry would, among others, include the question of whether the current army commander General Tlali Kamoli should have been reappointed to his position earlier this year.
This as Lesotho opposition parties and many members of civil society have pointed fingers at Kamoli as being responsible for the death of Mahao and other violent incidents. - SAnews.gov.za
