SA president pays for skipping wedding

Lavish celeberations marked Lesotho's royal wedding

South African President Thabo Mbeki is being fined one cow for failing to attend the Lesotho royal wedding in February and will have to present the fine in person.

The Star newspaper said King Letsie III had the right to fine the president because his mother was born there.

The paper quoted Mr Mbeki's spokeswoman as saying he would fly to Lesotho to deliver the cow, as tradition demands.

South Africa's high commissioner to Lesotho, Japhet Ndlovu, will meet a committee of farmers this weekend to finalise the details.

Plans a foot

In a breach of protocol, President Thabo Mbeki sent Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi as his representative to the 37 year-old king's wedding to to science graduate Karabo Motsoeneng.

Thabo Mbeki: Cowed by the fine?

The lavish ceremony was attended by thousands of people in the capital, Maseru - including former South African President Nelson Mandela - and cost the landlocked mountainous kingdom more than $1.5m.

Mbeki's spokeswoman Tasneem Carrim said a date for the cow to be delivered had not yet been finalised.

However it is planned that the president will fly to Lesotho, fetch the cow and deliver it on foot to the ancestral home of the royal family in Matsieng, about 30 km south of the capital Maseru.

Once a powerful force in Lesotho, the monarchy now plays a largely symbolic role.