Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT REGARDING THE CROSS BORDER STOCK THEFT AND MURDER INCIDENTS ON THE LESOTHO/EASTERN CAPE BORDER
Foreign Minister alfred Nzo, accompanied by the South African Ministers of Defence, Safety and Security, as well as the Deputy Ministers of Home Affairs and the Intelligence Services, will be meeting with a Ministerial Delegation from Lesotho in Matatiele on 12 May 1998, following an incident along the Lesotho/Eastern Cape border on 1 May 1998.
The South African Government has again noted with concern yet another cross-border incident of stock theft which resulted in the death of four South African citizens and injury to others. The incident occurred on 1 May 1998 at Sihlabeng, in the Maluti District.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Alfred Nzo, has extended his sincere condolences to the bereaved and has requested communities along the border to remain calm for the sake of good neighbourliness and future peace and cooperation.
Consistent with the Department of Foreign Affairs' commitment to facilitate cross-border policing, the South African High Commissioner to Lesotho, Mr Japhet Ndlovu, presented the South African Police Services and the Lesotho Royal Mounted Police with fourteen two-way radios and three repeater stations on 7 May 1998 in the Maluti district, near the Quacha's Neck border of Lesotho.
The South African Deputy Divisional Commissioner of Police, Xolisa Lavisa, and Lesotho Commissioner of Police, Major-General Bolutu Makoaba, also met last week to discuss a Joint Task Team Report, which focusses on the need to find solutions to the ongoing cross-border problems between the two countries. Both Commissioners agreed that the findings of the report should be implemented as soon as Major-General Makoaba and the South African National Commissioner, George Fivaz, have met on the matter.
The meeting also resolved to have the bodies of the deceased South African nationals released as soon as possible and that joint post mortems should be carried out without delay.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 11 MAY 1998