South Africa denies agreement on passport-free entry for Lesotho citizens

Home Affairs dismisses reports of ID-only border crossing after ministerial meeting in Cape Town.

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has denied reports that citizens of Lesotho may now enter the country using only national identity documents, stating that no such agreement has been reached between the two nations³⁴.

The denial followed media reports and social media posts claiming that Lesotho's Minister of Home Affairs, Lebona Lephema, had announced the policy change after meeting his South African counterpart Leon Schreiber in Cape Town on 17 April¹²³. The reports stated that children under 16 would continue using passports, and that Basotho barred from South Africa for overstaying would receive amnesty if they registered with Lesotho's immigration authorities¹².

Home Affairs said in a statement issued on Wednesday that allowing entry without a valid passport would violate section 9 of the Immigration Act of 2002, which requires all persons entering or departing South Africa to possess a valid passport³⁴. "No such agreement has been reached between the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho," the department stated³.

The ministers met in Cape Town to receive a study report from a joint task team examining the development of a new migration model³. The Bi-National Commission between the two countries had directed the ministers to undertake the study³. This was the first presentation of the study's outcome to the ministers, with recommendations to be considered by the Bi-National Commission³.

Home Affairs clarified that any such change would require a legislative process involving Parliament to amend existing immigration laws, and no such process is currently underway³⁴.

Earlier reports had described the proposed reforms as a solution to Lesotho's passport crisis and quoted Puleng Mbangamthi, Director of Legal Affairs at Home Affairs, saying "we want these processes to begin on a clean slate"¹².