Members of parliament in Lesotho they discussed on Wednesday whether the country should seek to reclaim large swathes of land from powerful neighbors South Africa.
The motion tabled by opposition MPs aims to have parliament declare all of South Africa’s Free State provinces, which border Lesothoas well as the other four regions are part of the small mountain kingdom.
“I hope that after the debate, our country will return to us as it has been for a long time,” MP Tsepo Lipholo of the Basotho Comfort Movement (BCM) told AFP ahead of the debate.
Land comes from Lesotho
The disputed area has historically been inhabited by the Basothos, a people from the southern African Bantu ethnic group, who represent the majority of the area. Lesotho.
Lipholo is the lone BCM MP in the LesothoThe National Assembly has 120 seats.
Restoring their land to the Basothos was the party’s main campaign issue ahead of last year’s national elections and was a popular topic among the opposition.
The government appears unlikely to pick a war with Pretoria but has yet to comment on the issue.
If the motion is passed in the assembly it will start a process that could see the territorial claim become law.
The movement was based on a 1962 United Nations resolution that recognized the right to self-determination and independence for the people of Basutoland – as Lesotho then called.
Lesothowith a population of about two million, it is completely surrounded by South Africa, population 60 million, and its economy is highly dependent.