A BATCH of Basotho working in South African mines was hailed by the community of Maputsoe on Wednesday as they crossed the border to return to their respective work places.
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Sept. 25, 2020
KABELO MASOABI
3 min read
Miners returning to SA hailed at Maputsoe border
The Maputsoe border gate
The locals who mostly included street vendors, bid farewell to the miners who will be carrying the hope to resuscitate Lesotho’s hard hit economy.
Scores of miners arrived earlier that morning at the Maputsoe/Ficksburg border in a bus all geared to go.
These are employees who had overstayed at home owing to travel restrictions which had been imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The returning miners could not hold back their excitement as they queued up to be cleared at the border.
“I can’t wait to see myself on the other side of the river (Mohokare). My family was starved for over four months without my salary after our mine closed down at the first lockdown in South Africa.
“I was now beginning to think that we would never go back to work as I watched time pass and cases of the disease sky-rocket in that country,” said Tankiso Seoaholimo who works in a gold mine in Rustenburg.
He added: “The reception we received here today from our fellow countrymen is amazing. It is something we did not anticipate and it shows that people are happy for us.”
Motebatsi Tleke of Berea said: “We cannot deny the fact that we are worried about being infected by the virus but the thing is we have to eat. It is better to face the disease than die of hunger.”
However, some local business owner especially street vendors were not as thrilled with the miners’ quick departure who they said had been supporting their ailing businesses since the lockdown.
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“Today, they could not wait to cross the border, they never even bothered to buy anything from our stalls,” complained Joyce Mokubane who runs a makeshift fast food along the main road to the border.
Local entrepreneurs called for the borders to open for all people, arguing that their businesses heavily rely on SA supply chain that has been disrupted by travelling restrictions.
They also said business was profitable at the Maputsoe border when more people travelled in and out of the country.
Lesotho has opened up some of its borders to speed up the return to work of migrant workers who had been entrapped in the country due to the ongoing pandemic.
The process was hastened by a request earlier made by the Minerals Council of South Africa (MCSA).
“We’ve resolved the issue and now we have three border posts opened for business,” MCSA Environment, Health and legacies Senior Executive Nikisi Lesufi was quoted saying on miningweekly.com.
He further showed that workers who are still at home, need to understand that the border posts are currently working with skeleton staff, and therefore they need to do pre-size scheduling.
They need to indicate which mine worker is coming on which day from which mine, Mr Lesufi said, adding that the workers will also be quarantined for 14 days upon their arrival at their respective workstations.
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