Ukraine and Lesotho Landlocked Existence

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Maseru Bridge, one of the border controls between Lesotho and South Africa. Online pic.

Lesotho and Ukraine, sister countries? Not at all, one is in Africa, south of the continent. The other is in Eastern Europe, where it is joined at the hip with the Soviet Union and other countries.

The sisterly connection is being landlocked, surrounded by other countries, and not free geographically like Australia or England. Canada and U.S. are joined but are not landlocked as such, because they have access to oceans around them.

Lesotho is totally surrounded by South Africa. The Royal Kingdom is smaller now. Apartheid governments invaded it and seized land to give white settlers from Holland and Germany, massive farms maintained with black prison labour. Most of the Free State Province was built on land seized from Lesotho. Africans there speak Sesotho, the language of Lesotho.

Vladimir Putin, is using language as one of the reasons why he endorsed Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that broke away from Ukraine. The Soviet Union President says they belong to Russia historically. That is why Russian is the principal language in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Because Lesotho is a landlocked country, there are two entry points. You get out of the car and show your passport on the South African border control. You then drive a few kilometers then reach the Lesotho border gate. You park and enter the building to show your passport and fill in immigration forms.

Will the Soviet Union erect passport controls like Lesotho and South Africa? Or do Donetsk and Luhansk residents drive in and out Russia without producing passports, because Putin’s government regards them as Russian? I don’t know.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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