The Prime Minister of Lesotho mentioned in a
conference in Johannesburg last week that his government, through the department
of Home Affairs, is working on steps to produce electronic passports for all of its citizens.
This new system is a response to the high number of people who fraudulently
acquired Basotho (citizens of Lesotho) passports during the previous government’s tenure, and are
committing crimes in other countries, thus tainting the image of Lesotho in
international eyes.
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| Mr. Thabane, on left, SA President Zuma on right |
Mr Thabane hopes that the
electronic system will reduce the number of fake passports produced, and to therefore restore
Lesotho’s name in the international world.
The number one victim of these crimes has been South
Africa, as it surrounds Lesotho, and many convicted criminals escape and
disappear into South Africa.
The principal secretary in the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Tebello Metsing said countries such as Britain, Ireland, India
and Malaysia had convicted numerous criminals who claimed to be Lesotho
citizens. “Many of those criminals were Nigerians,” he said. (side note from Kate: southern Africans tend to blame Nigerians for their problems.)
Random Thato Thoughts: Lesotho is a small and landlocked country
in southern Africa, and its economy heavily relies on South Africa because
everything that is going in or out of Lesotho has to pass through South Africa. Relationships with
other countries as well are very important since Lesotho imports most of its
commodities. This was a very clever move by the Prime
Minister, not only to secure peace but also to re-assure Lesotho that the
government is being proactive about this issue.
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