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Evelyn Makatsa, 53, mother of six children who has been in SA since 1987 while her husband was a miner, was handed a notice of prohibition by the South African's Department of Home Affairs before she could be repartriated on the same day. Though she claimed to have been in possession of the South African Identification Document (ID), Makatsa said she was not given a chance to go home and collect the ID, but rather was taken to custody. The declaration of prohibition she was given did not have specific dates on which she was instructed to leave the post-apartheid Republic. "I did not know when I was going to be released. I was afraid we could be beaten up like they did to our fellow male deportees," she said. Makatsa was arrested when she went to the Home Affairs department to apply for a travel permit to come to Lesotho to visit her retrenched, sick husband who is looked after by relatives in Qacha's Nek. "We were released today (Thursday) and taken to Butha-Buthe border. I am leaving behind, six children, none of them is working and I do not know what they will be eating," she said. Makatsa also claimed one of the deportees did not even know if his relatives were still alive in Lesotho. She said the man told them he had been in South Africa since 1961 and has never visited back home since. Mopheme was not able to meet with the man as he was reported to have already been taken for the buses which will take him back to his village in Qacha's Nek, where he could not even remember well. In an interview with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Thabane, said while negotiations are continuing between the two countries, "it is wrong that such people are punished if it is true. Very wrong because they are not criminals," said the Minister. "They should have let us know through our embassy in their country," he said. Thabane insisted that SA should use human methods to repatriate people. He said SA only pronounced that Basotho who qualify to have residences' permit should apply for residences while the negotiation are ongoing. People who qualify for residence are those who have stayed for over five years. "We are investigating a case in which three Basotho were given treatment of such nature and that was raised by an MP in parliament. I am not aware of this latest one because they never reported to us," he said. Thabane, however, insisted and advised that people should make proper arrangements before they go to South Africa. It is common for Basotho to visit relatives in South Africa, which is Lesotho's only neighbour and end up being caught up by the vast greener opportunities like jobs, lifestyle or educational programs. A lot of them have come back home with documentation from the republic, which has made it even more difficult for the two countries to reach an easy settlement. In the past, during the apartheid South Africa, it was South Africans who came the Lesotho seeking for opportunities and even acquiring things like travelling documents which gave them full rights as citizens. By Thabang Matjama, Mopheme (Maseru, Lesotho)
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