30 Oct 2022

New Lesotho prime minister, Mr Sammuel Matekane has been urged to unite the people in pursuance of peace, stability and development.

  The plea was made by SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation chairperson and  Namibia president Dr Hage Geingob at Mr Matekane’s inauguration on Friday.

   He also pleaded with the new prime minister to prioritise  national interest ahead of individual or  political party interests.

   Dr Geingob said for its part, the organ was fully committed to the realisation of ongoing political reforms aimed at consolidating democracy in Lesotho.

“The success in maintaining peace and stability in Lesotho is equally the region’s success, therefore please be assured that Lesotho can always count on SADC’s unequivocal support,” he said. 

 The Namibian president said the smooth and peaceful transition of power in Lesotho was a significant milestone in the country’s history and added to the ongoing momentum of peace and stability in the entire SADC region.

Dr Geingob commended Lesotho Independent Electoral Commission and the country’s political leaders for delivering a free and peaceful election as reflected in the SADC elections observer mission report and those of other international observer missions.

“It is befitting to once more congratulate the nation of Lesotho for successfully conducting peaceful elections when they went to the polls on October 7th 2022, which the SADC observer mission declared were held under calm and peaceful political and well secured environment,” he noted. He commended President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa for his contribution to Lesotho’s peace mediation talks during his tenure as the organ’s chairperson.

A lot of progress had been made in the peace talks when South Africa handed the baton to Namibia, he said.

Dr Geingob said other  milestones attained included the introduction of a SADC panel of elders and the Lesotho mediation reference group which ensured that the country’s peace project efforts bore fruit.

It was through such supportive structures that the regional political outlook had been stable and thus reaffirmed the organs’ commitment to successfully execute its mandate. ends