Johannesburg — LESOTHO has not taken up SA's offer to develop its population register, making it difficult for SA to effectively secure its borders, International Relations and Co operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said yesterday.

In June, SA banned travel certificates from neighbouring countries. Forty-one foreigners who entered SA through Lesotho were sitting in jail, having been arrested between June and July , she said.

Responding to a question at a conference, Ms Nkoana-Mashabane said along with the gesture to clean up Lesotho's population register at no cost, SA had also offered to help its neighbour with the production of passports. Ms Nkoana-Mashabane was at pains to dismiss what she said was a widespread belief in Lesotho that SA had imposed a blockade on the country. Broad consultations had been held until the ban on travel certificates was imposed.

"This thing was not done out of the blue; it was done after thorough consultation," she said.

Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin said even during the struggle against apartheid, the underground movement always knew that the Lesotho border was the most accessible.