Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister, Monyane Moleleki on Wednesday led a delegation team of ministers and Army officials to inspect the readiness of facilities that will host SADC’s contingency forces arriving in Lesotho this week.
The exercise follows a Troika decision to deploy a contingency of 1200 military personnel and security expertise to guide Lesotho through implementation of SADC decisions.
An area will be transformed to host SADC troops from seven member states in the region.
Various other venues have undergone a facelift to host at least 274 army personnel’s from SADC.
Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki says, “They will be coming to assist in the training of various groups of the Lesotho Defense Force as well as the reform process, specifically security sector reform.”
Moleleki hopes this intervention can guide Lesotho out of perpetual security challenges, and hopes this exercise will yield tangible results.
He exclusively thanked Zimbabwe for keeping its word, despite their own transitional challenges.
“Zimbabwe, too, you will recall that General Chiwenga of Zimbabwe represented the defense chiefs at the funeral of the late General Motsomotso here and mentioned that they were going to help us here. So, we have to express a special word of appreciation to Zimbabwe that they have made good their promises despite other challenges back home in Zimbabwe. The Lesotho army is equally anxious to see this process bring about positive change.”
Logistics Coordinator Major Lehloholo Lichaba says, “Since we have been through a lot of challenges and we have seen a lot of many of the activities that we never really had an opportunity to work effectively as the Lesotho Defense Force, but now, we are expecting that SADC comes in and when they leave we will be seeing a difference.”
Lesotho had initially requested at least 300-400 boots on the ground from SADC. For now, an approval for a team of 258 officials will lead the process for at least six months.
This number may be reviewed accordingly as events unfold.
