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His Majesty King Letsie III, in his New Year
Message, said that Lesotho was entering the New Year surrounded by a number of
problems. Amongst these was the increase in the unemployment rate, and linked
with this ‘poverty and hunger are increasing at an alarming rate’. ‘We must sit
together and draw up plans that will include the construction of dams that will
serve various places with the objective of improving the lives of our people and
minimise the rate of unemployment. The situation calls for immediate action.’
His Majesty also referred to the huge number
of people now infected with AIDS. ‘We are now aware that the end of each week no
longer marks days of rest and happiness, but are now marred by the burying of
our dead who have died because of HIV/AIDS. ... Though there is a noticeable
change, a lot of us still regard it as taboo to make public the cause of death
of a person who lived with AIDS.’ He went on to advocate stopping of practices
which could lead to infection and asked that there should be no discrimination
against infected persons, nor against AIDS orphans. ▲back
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The Catholic Church of St David, ’Mamathe was
gutted by fire on 2 January 2001, after a fire believed to have been caused by a
candle which had been left burning. St David’s Parish, as reported in Moeletsi
oa Basotho of 14 January 2001 has a total of 32 villages. The attractive
sandstone church which burned had seating for 940 persons. ▲back
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Toyota Venture minibus taxis have become very
much a part of the public transport scene in recent years. However, they do not
comply with regulations issued under the Road Transport Act 1981, which
specifies minimum dimensions for public service vehicles, including an inside
height of not less than 1.75 m as well as minimum distances between seats.
Lesotho’s Road Transport Act 1981 and Road
Traffic Act 1981 empower the Minister of Transport and Communications to make
subsidiary legislation in the form of regulations. Numerous such regulations
have been promulgated over the past 20 years and there is no conveniently
available consolidated version. Indeed, even the annual volumes of laws with the
regulations issued in the past ten years have yet to be printed. This perhaps
explains how public service vehicles which did not conform to the regulations
were licensed in large numbers over many years for use on Lesotho’s roads.
Understandably the owners of such vehicles, who presumably had been as unaware
of the regulations as the officials who licensed them, became extremely annoyed
when it was announced that from the beginning of the year 2001, their vehicles
could no longer be used for passenger transport.
On the first working day after the New Year
holiday, after the Commissioner of Traffic and Transport had refused to renew
operating permits for Venture taxis, large numbers of Venture owners staged a
demonstration and threatened to blockade Maseru roads. A lawyer acting on behalf
of the taxi owners took the matter to the High Court, where, according to Public
Eye of 5 January 2001 he obtained a ruling from Mrs Justice Guni that ‘the
Commissioner of Traffic should stop interfering with Venture taxi owners without
due process of law’. Traffic chaos was, at least for the time being, averted.
Meanwhile, it was not only Venture taxi owners
who were complaining about the Traffic Commissioner’s Office. Vehicles have to
be registered in person annually at his office, and as soon as the new year
opens, the police are swift to swoop on anyone without the necessary disc on the
windscreen. However, those who left registration to the last minute were in
trouble, because registration books had run out. The Traffic Commissioner, Mr
Tlali Khasu was interviewed on Radio Lesotho and stated that it was not his
department’s fault that the Government Printer had been unable to handle their
order for further registration books on time. ▲back
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The South African High Commissioner, Mr Japhet
Ndlovu, returned to South Africa at the end of 2000 after serving four years in
Lesotho. Although a new High Commissioner had been expected, it was announced in
March 2001 that the 63-year-old Japhet Ndlovu would be returning to his original
post and would re-present his credentials.
Appointed in January 1997, Japhet Ndlovu was
no stranger to Lesotho. According to Public Eye of 30 March 2001, Ndlovu had
been a commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe when he fled to Lesotho through Qacha’s
Nek to escape being arrested. He had remained in Lesotho until members of the
African National Congress were expelled by the new military government in 1986.
He then left for Zambia and was said to have been the last ANC refugee to leave
Maseru.
His stay in Lesotho had at times been far from
smooth, particularly in September 1998, when as a result of the SADC
intervention, there was a period of intense anti-South African feeling, which
necessitated the evacuation of South African citizens, including himself and his
staff. Nevertheless he has close connections with Lesotho and his three children
and his granddaughter all live there. ▲back
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On 2 January, students at the National
University of Lesotho began writing examinations held over from the first
semester because of strikes by both staff and students earlier in the academic
year. However, further delays seemed inevitable as both LUTARU (the Lesotho
University Teachers’ and Researchers’ Union) and NAWU (the Non-Academic Workers’
Union) mounted demonstrations demanding a 20% increase in salaries, which had
been frozen for four years, despite increased government subventions. A second
demand of the unions was for a commission of inquiry into the Bursary, and the
suspension of the Bursar and his Deputy pending such an inquiry. A press release
issued by the unions alleged that members of the Bursary had been seen taking
files from their offices and driving away with them over the holiday, presumably
to avoid being incriminated by the inquiry.
In fact, such an inquiry was somewhat overdue.
A management audit commissioned by the University Council and undertaken by the
firm Ernst & Young had reported in July 2000. It had been severely critical of
the operations of the Bursary, and had recommended that a forensic audit be
carried out. The Acting Vice-Chancellor, interviewed in Public Eye dated 12
January 2001, stated that Council had agreed to such an audit and it would be
carried out in February.
Both staff unions called a ‘go slow’, but
after a few days it was announced that a 4% salary increase backdated to
mid-2000 had been agreed, and the strike was called off for the time being.
Further demonstrations by staff began, however, on Tuesday 19 February,
following allegations by the staff unions that the university had reneged on
previous agreements.
Meanwhile, there was no news about the new
Vice-Chancellor who was supposed to have taken up his post on 1 January 2001.
Informed sources said that none of the three short listed candidates were
acceptable to government and that it was possible that the Government Secretary,
Mr Kenneth Mohlabi Tsekoa might be asked to fill the vacancy.
The outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor R. I.
M. Moletsane had in the meantime become Schools Secretary of the Lesotho
Evangelical Church. Although his four years as Vice-Chancellor had brought him
into conflict with the staff unions, some staff, such as an anonymous lecturer
interviewed in Public Eye, regarded his period of tenure in a more positive
light. It was said for example that during his ‘reign’ more structures had been
put up on campus than by any other previous NUL administration. ▲back
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Newspapers published by political parties, had
been very much a part of the publishing scene since the run-up to the elections
when democracy was restored in 1993, just as they had been in the 1960s until
the January 1970 coup resulted in their being banned. By December 2000, however,
all of the political party newspapers had again disappeared, but for financial
reasons rather than because they had been subjected to any publishing
restrictions.
During 2000, the paper of the ruling Lesotho
Congress for Democracy, Mololi (founded in 1997), managed 42 weekly issues until
it ceased publication in November, unable to find funds to clear its debts with
the local printer. Mohlanka (founded in 1992), the paper of the main opposition
party, the Basotho National Party, achieved 21 sporadic issues before giving up
the ghost for similar reasons in December. The Basutoland Congress Party did
even less well. There were just two issues of Makatolle (founded in 1960 and
revived in 1993) in 2000, and these were produced by the Makhakhe faction of the
party. The independent weekly newspaper, Mohahlaula (founded in 1999), which had
managed 38 issues during 2000, and which was generally sympathetic to the
Basutoland Congress Party, ceased publication in November. No other political
parties produced newspapers in 2000, the Lesotho Communist Party having last
published Mafube (founded in 1996) in 1997, and the Marematlou Freedom Party
having last published Masututsane in 1996, it having been founded in the same
year and achieved only nine issues before its demise.
As the new millennium began on 1 January 2001,
the Lesotho newspaper publishing scene consisted of four weekly independent
English-language newspapers, The Mirror (founded in 1988), Mopheme (founded in
1994, splitting from The Mirror), and two relatively new newspapers which have
set higher standards of production and journalism, Public Eye (founded
originally as a monthly in September 1997) and Southern Star (founded in October
1997) . There were also three Sesotho weekly newspapers, Lentsoe la Basotho
(founded to replace Mochochonono after the military coup in 1986), published by
the Government Department of Information; Moafrika (founded as The African in
1990, but only published as a regular weekly from 1992), an independent
publication; and Moeletsi oa Basotho (founded in 1933), published from Mazenod
by the Catholic Church. One other weekly newspaper, Setsomi (founded in 1999)
had been absorbed by its parent newspaper, The Mirror, in May 2000.
Apart from the seven weekly newspapers, there
were two fortnightly newspapers, one of which, Leselinyana la Lesotho, a shadow
of its former self and often only 4 pages, is the oldest newspaper in Lesotho.
It is published in Morija by the Lesotho Evangelical Church, the daughter church
of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, whose missionary-printer Adolphe
Mabille produced the first issue of Leselinyana on a hand press in the vestry of
the Morija Church in November 1863. Leselinyana advertises just below its
masthead that it is now in its 138th year, although it perhaps should be
claiming either to be its 139th or else its 134th, allowing for the fact that it
did not appear in the years 1866 to 1869, as a result of the missionaries being
expelled from Lesotho during the Seqiti War, and it also did not appear in the
year 1881 during the Gun War. In all other years it has appeared and for most of
the first half of the twentieth century it was a weekly.
The other fortnightly newspaper is Leseli ka
Sepolesa published by the Lesotho Mounted Police Service. It has appeared fairly
regularly since 1992, when it began as a monthly. It has the advantage that it
has correspondents in all of Lesotho’s districts and thus reports stories often
missed by the Maseru-based or church-based newspapers. ▲back
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As reported in Leseli ka Sepolesa of 25
January 2001, a feud between villagers at Koro-Koro Ha Mokuoane has now resulted
in 15 deaths and numerous injuries in a two year period. The latest violence
took place on Saturday 6 January at Ha Mokuoane, when a gang of about 16 men
arrived seeking their intended victim, Mokaloba Theko. They were sure he would
be present because it was the occasion of the funeral of his son, who had died
in Khubetsoana, Maseru, and had been brought home to be buried. Mokaloba Theko
in turn, sensing trouble, had asked for protection from the police, who provided
Sergeant Lehasa Makitlane of Mofoka Police Station.
When the villagers were returning from the
interment, a gang of about 16 men descended on the village with guns, sticks and
stones in pursuit of their intended victim. When Sergeant Makitlane intervened,
there was an exchange of gunfire. Villagers hid in houses, but one woman,
’Matieho Molise, was shot and died, while seven other villagers were injured.
Mokaloba Theko escaped.
The incident was just one more in a series of
battles which had so far left 15 people dead at Koro-Koro. The police newspaper
quoted Senior Superintendent ’Mamotlatsi Petlane as saying that the police were
now arresting suspects to bring them to justice. However, she expressed concern
that the courts were simply releasing on bail those who were charged. When they
went back home they killed the potential witnesses who might testify against
them. ▲back
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Queen Karabo had been noticeably absent during
the past six months at public gatherings attended by the King. As reported in
Moafrika of 12 January 2001, she had apparently been undertaking a course in
‘General Studies’ at Columbia University in New York City.
However, she had now returned and on 15
January 2001 was designated by the College of Chiefs as Regent. On Tuesday 16
January 2001 she attended a ceremony at the Royal Palace in which she took an
Oath of Allegiance to serve the country and to be faithful to the King and the
Constitution of Lesotho. She will now act as Regent when necessary. Until this
point, it had been the King’s mother, Queen ’Mamohato, who had acted as Regent
in the absence of the King. ▲back
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The Commission of the three South African
judges, under Mr Justice Leon, resumed its hearings on 15 January 2001. It had
already many times exceeded its original time limit, and indeed its broadcast
proceedings had become a regular fixture on Radio Lesotho, popularly known as
Bo-My-Lord, ‘the My Lords people’, deriving from the mode of address used to
address the judges by those giving evidence.
Meanwhile, the Commission’s hearings provided
a good diversion from otherwise tedious tasks in many government offices, where
a radio could often be found tuned in to listen to Bo-My-Lord. The convicted
mutineers, with long sentences to serve, were amongst those willing to appear
(presumably it also relieved the tedium of their lives). Amongst those who gave
evidence in February, was Corporal Khojane Makhele, serving seven years at the
Maximum Security Prison. He referred back to the events of 1994, when the Deputy
Prime Minister, Selometsi Baholo, had been murdered by soldiers, saying that
despite the testimony given by Molapo Majara that he, Makhele, had been present,
he had not been there and it was E Company of the Defence Force, commanded by a
certain Colonel Lekanyane, who had carried out the murder. Action had not been
taken against those responsible by the army commanders because they were
sympathizing and collaborating with the Basotho National Party.
Makhele also said that he had been with a
group of other soldiers travelling from Qacha’s Nek and drinking beer when they
came to Siloe where one of them called Fuma had said they should stop their
vehicle. Fuma said this is where we hit (shapela) Motuba and the others. In army
language shapela was explained as meaning that they had been killed. Edgar
Mahlomola Motuba was the editor of Leselinyana la Lesotho who was abducted from
his home in Morija with two others and assassinated in 1981.
However, as reported in Lentsoe la Basotho of
22 February 2001, shortly afterwards Lieutenant Emmanuel Fuma himself gave
evidence before the Leon Commission. He said that he only learned about the
place of assassination in Siloe in 1989 during the military government and
denied any involvement, and this evidence was supported by Warrant Officer
Gerald Nkhetše.
In Mopheme of 27 March 2001, an article by Dr
D. R. Phororo compared the Leon Commission with the South African Truth &
Reconciliation Commission. At the end of March, hearings were still proceeding
and there was still no firm indication of when the Commission would submit its
report. However, the Prime Minister, by notice in the Lesotho Government Gazette
of 30 January 2001, in the latest of several successive extensions of time had
prescribed 30 June 2001 as the date for submission of the Leon Commission
Report. This date is 13 months later than the date originally set for the
Commission to complete its work. ▲back
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A fire with an unusual cause broke out at the
National University of Lesotho Roma Campus shortly after noon on Wednesday 17
January 2001. Residents of the area known as Soweto, whose back gardens overlook
a stormwater dam, had been concerned for some time that their gardens were being
shared with a spitting cobra or rinkhals. When it was pursued, it retreated into
an area of bush, undergrowth and garden rubbish on the bank of the dam.
Unable to get rid of the snake by other means,
one of the residents started a fire in order to destroy it. However, this was
undertaken after a three week period when there had been very little rain. The
undergrowth was tinder dry and this resulted in a huge conflagration, which
fortunately largely burnt itself out without damaging any houses. The snake or
snakes are not likely to have suffered more than the inconvenience of having to
move house. ▲back
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An American couple who had made Lesotho their
home for 25 years finally returned to the United States in January 2001.
John Gay, who was born in the USA in 1928,
spent 16 years in Liberia as a lay missionary at Cuttington College, before
coming to Lesotho in 1975 to work as a sociologist with the Senqu Project. He
later worked for the Thaba-Bosiu Project and USAID, and was Fulbright Lecturer
in the Department of Sociology/Social Anthropology at the National University of
Lesotho from 1979 to 1982. From the mid-1980s, John and Judy Gay worked at first
part time and then full time for the Transformation Resource Centre in Maseru as
it struggled with the problems of transformation and development both in Lesotho
and in a changing South Africa. During his last ten years in Lesotho, John Gay
was closely associated with Sechaba Consultants, being the author or co-author
of numerous reports, amongst which were a series of World Bank-sponsored reports
on Lesotho, the most recent in 2000. A keen musician and conductor, it was John
Gay who played a major role in the Maseru Singers, which despite apartheid
restrictions on occasions managed to stage joint concerts with the Soweto
Symphony Orchestra.
Judy Gay made the study of women in a Mohale’s
Hoek village the subject of her Cambridge doctorate. Later she worked closely
with the Anglican church in Lesotho, and was the first woman to be ordained
priest in the Diocese of Lesotho. Two other Basotho women have followed in her
footsteps. ▲back
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The Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) had
for a long time suffered serious clashes in its senior ranks. Mohau Whitehorse
Thakaso, its former Public Relations Officer, had long been in dispute with the
President, Thabo Makakole. Thakaso had exposed what he believed to be financial
irregularities by members of the LEFA executive, and as a result had been
suspended by LEFA for bringing the association into disrepute.
By January 2001, Lesotho had two football
associations. The newly established Football Association of Lesotho (FA) was
headed by Thakaso as Acting President and he stated that sixteen of the major
teams in Lesotho had declared interest in joining, and that first division
fixtures would begin on 28 January. As reported in Southern Star of 17 January,
Thakaso was preparing an official launching ceremony for FA. He had in fact
already received a gift of a cow from the Principal Chief of Ha Maama as a
contribution to the ceremony.
Meanwhile the President of LEFA was standing
firm. He is also President of the Arsenal Football Club in Maseru, and was
adamant that Arsenal would in no way play any FA fixtures. LEFA in any case was
still responsible for the national team, Likoena, which celebrated its first New
Year international match with a 2-1 away victory over Zimbabwe Warriors in a
2002 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match.
However, a friendly fixture with the South
African national team Bafana Bafana on Sunday 14 January proved a disappointment
to fans. As a result of a dispute about payments, the South African team did not
turn up.
LEFA’s standing took a knock, when as reported
in The Mirror of 21 February 2001, Maluti Mountain Brewery (MMB), its chief
sponsor, announced it was temporarily withdrawing sponsorship of LEFA: MMB’s aim
was to unite the nation through sport, and the prevailing environment did not
enable them to achieve that objective. ▲back
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The National Convention Centre was the setting
for a major three-day gathering which began on Wednesday 17 January with the
intention of developing Vision 2020, a series of goals for Lesotho 20 years into
the future, together with the appropriate means to achieve these goals.
The ‘National Dialogue’ was opened by the
Prime Minister who stressed the need for socio-economic development but also
spoke of the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He announced that he was
establishing a Lesotho AIDS Prevention Coordinating Authority which could
execute an AIDS policy alongside the strategic plan to achieve Vision 2020.
Over three hundred delegates attended the
National Dialogue, which was addressed by a variety of speakers including Tim
Thahane, a Mosotho who is Deputy Governor of South African Reserve Bank; Stephen
Swaray, a Sierra Leonean who is IMF-sponsored Governor of the Central Bank of
Lesotho, and Kenneth Mohlabi Tsekoa, the Government Secretary. Newspaper reports
indicated a wide variety of opinions as to the priorities for the Vision
statement, ranging from putting God at the forefront of all plans to ridding
Lesotho of crime and to promoting fisheries through the construction of small
dams. Groups were asked to apply ‘SWOT’ analysis to determine the country’s
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The report on the National
Dialogue has yet to be published. ▲back
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The faction of the Basutoland Congress Party
(BCP) led by Tšeliso Makhakhe had in 2000 gained High Court recognition as the
legitimate owner of BCP assets. These included the well-known single-storey
office near the main traffic circle in Maseru. Painted in red, black and green,
‘Mosikong oa Thaba’ had been a Maseru landmark for over 35 years. On 22 January
2001, the Makhakhe group brought in a demolition gang to clear the site for
redevelopment. According to Sekoala Toloane, Treasurer of the BCP, shops and
rented rooms would be built on the site.
The destruction of this symbol of the party
was too much for members of the rival Qhobela faction. They moved onto the site
to prevent further demolition, there was fighting, and the two groups had to be
separated by the police.
The BCP held its annual conference at the
Cooperative College in Maseru from 26 to 28 January 2001. This also resulted in
clashes between party factions. Members of the Qhobela faction apparently forced
their way into the hall, and the Makhakhe faction withdrew to continue its
meeting outside. According to an interview with Makhakhe published in Southern
Star of 31 January, under the BCP constitution, the present Executive of the BCP
had been elected for two years and still had a year to run. However, other
reports indicated that the Qhobela faction had used the occasion to elect its
own new Executive Committee, with Qhobela Molapo as leader, Dr Khauhelo
Raditapole as Deputy Leader, Khotsang Moshoeshoe as General Secretary and Peo
Moejane as Treasurer.
It went almost unnoticed, that the lawyer,
Godfrey (‘G. M.’) Kolisang, had not stood for election and at the age of 77 was
now formally retiring from politics. He was retiring from being General
Secretary, the post which he had also held 35 years earlier at the time of
Independence. ▲back
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Meanwhile the ruling Lesotho Congress for
Democracy (LCD) was also suffering from divisions at its Annual Conference, and
after three days of deliberations (one day more than planned) at the National
Convention Centre, also beginning on 26 January, votes for office-bearers were
exceedingly close. For example the Secretary-General, Shakhane Mokhehle lost his
position to Sephiri Motanyane by 710 votes to 717. The former Minister of
Finance, Leketekete Ketso was elected party treasurer, beating his rival, Mpho
Malie by 711 votes to 702, 46 of the votes being spoiled. On the other hand, the
Deputy Leader of the party, Kelebone Maope, was re-elected unopposed.
Apparently a great deal of business was
unfinished at the end of the three days, and it was expected that a further
conference would have to be called to deal with this.
The outcome of the January vote for
office-bearers was not accepted by a number of members of the party. The former
Secretary-General of the LCD, Mabusetsa Makharilele and four others brought a
High Court action challenging the validity of the proceedings and asking as an
interim measure that the Court allow the old executive stay in office until the
court had ruled on the validity of the elections. Mrs Justice Guni refused to
allow the interim measure. ▲back
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The third major party in Lesotho, the Basotho
National Party was also hardly displaying unity amongst its office holders. As
reported in Public Eye of 26 January, the National Executive Committee of the
BNP had decided to call the BNP Secretary-General, Majara Molapo to appear
before it following personality clashes between Molapo and Major-General Justin
Metsing Lekhanya, the party leader. Molapo meanwhile was defiant. A translation
of a letter which he wrote to Lekhanya was published in Southern Star of 7
February 2001. In a long catalogue of Lekhanya’s shortcomings, Molapo claimed
that under Lekhanya the BNP leadership had gone from bad to worse, and that the
public gatherings of the BNP, which once attracted hundreds, were now a
‘political joke’.
When Lekhanya attempted to convene a special
meeting to deal with his secretary-general, Majara Molapo went to court and
obtained a ruling that such a meeting could not be held since it would be
unfair. Lekhanya should wait until the planned annual general meeting of the
party in two months time. ▲back
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As Minister of Defence and Internal Security,
the Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, has the duty to confirm or otherwise
decide on Court Martial findings. The Court Martial in which originally 41
soldiers were charged with mutiny lasted from December 1998 to December 2000,
and the sentences handed down, ranging from 2 to 13 years, needed to be
confirmed by the Minister of Defence. According to The Mirror of 31 January
2001, the case had been the longest running court martial in the world.
The proceedings of the trial were handed over
to the Prime Minister on Friday January 26, and consisted, according to Public
Eye of 2 February 2001, of 34 Lever Arch files containing no less than 13600
pages, covering the period 23 December 1998 to 13 December 2000. It was not
explained quite how the Prime Minister (or anyone else) was going to find time
to read through these in the 30 days before he gives his ruling on the case. A
normal reader can read about 30 pages an hour, and assuming an eight hour day,
five days a week, it would take over 10 weeks reading full time to complete the
reading of the record. The Prime Minister did say, however, that he would review
the record of the Court Martial with the help of the office of the Attorney
General. ▲back
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Second Lieutenant Thandi Mokotjo (now Nosipho
Sako) was on Friday 26 January 2001 found guilty before a Court Martial of
marrying without permission. She was dismissed from the army without benefits of
any kind.
The case arose after Thandi Mokotjo, a nurse
in the military hospital, married Private Hosana Sako, after he had been
convicted of mutiny and was serving a sentence in the Maseru Central Prison. The
authorities at the time seem to have had no objection to Father Jacob Salooe OMI
entering the gaol with Thandi Mokotjo and performing the ceremony. However, in
terms of military regulations, an army officer needs permission from the
Commander of the Defence Force to marry, and this had not been sought. ▲back
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According to reports in Lentsoe la Basotho of
18 January and 1 February 2001, Lesotho Bank is proposing to phase out the
Savings Books used by most of its customers for their accounts, and to require
them to use Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) cards instead. The timing of this
proposed change is not indicated. However, it is clearly something which cannot
be achieved quickly, since ATMs are only available at present in Butha-Buthe,
Hlotse, Maseru and Roma.
The move will probably be unpopular with many
of the bank’s elderly customers who are used to face-to-face contact with human
tellers, and are unfamiliar with computers and keyboards.
Learning how to use an ATM is not always easy
even for the young. Lesotho Bank ATMs swallow cards after a short period if the
keyboard is not used promptly, and these cards are in turn destroyed within a
few days if not reclaimed. Such a combination of events has caused inconvenience
even to significant numbers of university students using the bank, who have had
to make additional journeys to Maseru to claim their cards. Older people are
likely to suffer even greater problems. Moreover, a significant charge is levied
by the bank every time that an ATM is used. For most people such charges are
likely to be much greater than any interest which might accrue on the Savings
Account, which in any case already pays interest at rates far below the
inflation rate. ▲back
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Vodacom Lesotho, at present the only provider
of a cell phone service in Lesotho, announced in January that all numbers would
be changed. Numbers which begin with an initial 8, would in future have an
additional 8 added in front, so the number 84X-XXX would for example become
884-XXXX. It was announced however that old and new numbers would still be
usable until December 2001. ▲back
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The Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, on
Friday 2 February launched the Lesotho Fund for Community Development (LFCD) at
a ceremony at the Lesotho Sun Hotel. The fund, which exists to ensure that
revenues from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project promote community development,
replaces the Lesotho Highlands Revenue Fund.
The earlier fund had been criticized because
of problems which had arisen in the fair distribution of funds. With local
government not in place (the Lesotho Local Government Act 1997 has still not
been implemented), the earlier fund had used constituencies and their MPs as the
best way to distribute funds nationally. The fato-fato projects (mainly
labour-intensive feeder roads and soil conservation) had suffered because MPs
were often not effective administrators of rural development funds.
The new fund employs a large number of
persons, and has established offices in five different district towns. Quite
what proportion of the funds available will be spent on administration is not
clear.
The new Executive Director is Dr Tšitso
Monaheng, a 46-year old educationalist and specialist in Development Studies,
who has spent much of his working life outside Lesotho on the staff of the
University of North-West in Mmabatho, South Africa. He is responsible to a
9-person Board of Governors headed by the Minister of Finance, Kelebone Maope.
There are altogether six cabinet ministers on the board, together with
representatives of the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Lesotho
Council of Non-Governmental Organizations and the Lesotho Highlands Development
Authority.
An article in Public Eye of 15 March 2001 by
Thabiso Mlungwane claimed that when he visited the offices of the LFCD seeking a
job, he was told that if he could not produce a membership card of the ruling
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), he would not be able to get a job. ▲back
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The Deputy Speaker, Mr ’Nau Peter Khali, who
had been elected in October 2000 by the National Assembly to that office, was
deprived of the position on Friday 9 February, following a ruling by the
Speaker, Ms Ntlhoi Motsamai, that he was disqualified by virtue of his still
holding the position of Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly. His close rival
in the election, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Monare Thulo was similarly
disqualified. It appears that the Constitution requires candidates for the
Speakership and Deputy Speakership to have the same qualifications as Members of
Parliament, and that civil servants are disqualified from running for Parliament
unless they first resign. This disqualified the Clerk and Deputy Clerk from
running for the Deputy Speakership, unless they had also first resigned from
their positions. Mr Khali had presumably hoped for some kind of secondment and
therefore had not resigned.
To find a new Deputy Speaker, the National
Assembly would now have to cast its net beyond the Civil Service, or else would
have to appoint one of its own members. The Member for Maseru Stadium Area,
Litšitso Sekhamane, had previously indicated his willingness to stand, and
although defeated in the October election (he got 7 votes while Khali received
33 and Thulo 32) now considered he should assume the position, because the only
other candidates had been disqualified. However, the Speaker ruled that there
should be a new election.
The matter has raised an important issue in
national life, which also affects candidates for normal Parliamentary elections.
Some of those who might be most qualified for the Speakership are de facto
unavailable, because it is hardly reasonable to expect a senior civil servant
such as the Clerk or Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly to resign to contest
the election to the Speakership. If not elected, they would then have lost both
jobs. The National Assembly Act of 1978 provided that when a Speaker or Deputy
Speaker was elected, such officer was then deemed, if he or she held public
office, to have retired from that office from the day preceding the date of
assumption of duty of the Speakership. The 1993 Constitution rendered this
provision void. ▲back
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The Lesotho National Development Corporation
held a press conference in Maseru on 26 January 2001. It was reported that the
firm of PricewaterhouseCooper had been appointed as consultants and had
commenced in September 1998 a Human Resource Management project to assist LNDC
with its organisational review.
The consultants’ recommendations had
subsequently been approved by the LNDC Board of Directors, and this involved the
outsourcing of all non-core functions of the Corporation. The parallel staff
audit resulted in redundancies, but in order to ensure there was no loss of
jobs, LNDC was prepared to set up a company, 51% LNDC owned and 49% owned by
ex-employees, together with initial working capital. There was already a full
order-book for such a company for a year. However, it was reported at the press
conference that the 53 employees had turned down the proposal and they were
therefore being retrenched.
The employees so affected responded by taking
LNDC to court. Mr Justice Tšeliso Monaphathi ruled that LNDC’s actions were
unlawful in that they were part of a privatisation process which did not conform
to the requirements of the Privatisation Act. The workers should therefore be
reinstated.
LNDC in the meantime continues to publish its
Investors’ Guide, a folder with a set of leaflets intended to encourage new
investment. The various incentives to potential investors include the new (2000)
Cotonou Agreement (successor to the various Lomé Agreements) which provides
improved access to European markets for least developed countries such as
Lesotho for a period of 20 years; and the US Africa Growth Opportunities Act
2000 and Trade and Investment Act 2000 which afford duty-free and quota-free
access to USA markets for an eight year period.
The Investors’ Guide is a little economical
with the truth when it speaks of Lesotho as having ‘a stable social and
political environment which is investor friendly’. Obviously LNDC (like many
others) would rather forget the events of September 1998, and indeed these are
not touched on, because the folder conveniently includes LNDC’s Annual report
1997/8 as the latest report available. LNDC has a statutory obligation to
produce an annual report, but the Annual report 1998/9, which could hardly fail
to mention it was the most disastrous year in LNDC’s history, has yet to appear.
Despite the political instability and the
riots of 1998, the list of Existing Investors provided in the Investors’ Guide
is impressive. Dated September 2000, it lists 40 manufacturing enterprises
employing from 5 to 2500 persons, and employing altogether 20 989 people. The 14
largest enterprises, those employing 500 or more persons, are all involved with
clothing manufacture, ranging from shoes to jeans and T-shirts, for which in 11
out of 14 cases the main market is the USA. Most of these larger factories have
been set up with Taiwanese capital, although in three cases (two shoe factories
and one T-shirt factory), the capital has come from South Africa. The minimum
wage in South Africa is considerably higher than in Lesotho, which explains why
shoe factories relocate to Lesotho. The largest Lesotho-owned enterprise in the
list is Maluti Mountain Brewery, which employs 439 people, and is one of the few
industries whose main market is in Lesotho.
In terms of age, 20 out of 40 of the factories
have been set up since 1994, with the number increasing each year until 1997.
The number fell in the difficult year 1998, but recovered in 1999, and indeed in
that year, Taiwanese-owned Precious Garments, which manufactures T-shirts for
the American market, was established with a labour force of 2500, at present the
largest manufacturing enterprise in Lesotho. ▲back
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According to a report in Moeletsi oa Basotho
of 4 March 2001, 181 prisoners were granted amnesty and released from gaols
throughout Lesotho on 1 February 2001. The Assistant Director of Prisons, Mr
Nako Sefali, said that the Prisons Department had requested government to
release 567 prisoners who had only short sentences to serve, and this had been
intended to mark the 34th anniversary of Independence on 4 October 2000. As a
result of administrative delays, the release had only taken place in February
2001, by which time the majority of those recommended for amnesty had finished
their sentences.
Those released were from every gaol in the
country, with the largest number from the Maseru Central Prison (61) and the
smallest number from the Women’s Prison (2). ▲back
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The new Principal Chief of Tajane, Tlali
Mohale, was installed by King Letsie III on Saturday 24 February 2001. Chief
Tlali Mohale, the great-great-great-grandson of Mohale, younger brother of King
Moshoeshoe administers two areas detached from each other in Mafeteng and
Mohale’s Hoek Districts. Although the larger area is in Mohale’s Hoek District,
the Principal Chief’s village, Tajane, is in Mafeteng District near Ha Makhakhe.
The installation took place at Tajane and the occasion was marked by speeches,
songs by choirs and traditional dancing.
Chief Tlali Mohale’s father, Mohale Molomo
Mohale, had been succeeded by Tlali’s older brother, Nkhahle, but for the years
1987-97, Nkhahle had been suspended and his wife ’Mamonica had been Acting
Principal Chief. Nkhahle had been reinstated in 1997, but had died in February
2000. ▲back
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A Netherlands-based group, the Centre for
Research on Multinational Corporations, released in February its findings
relating to a study on the consequences and sustainability of foreign direct
investment in Lesotho.
The head of the delegation to Lesotho Mrs
Esther Dehaan as quoted in Southern Star of 28 February 2001, noted that the
garment industry is a fast growing industry and it was necessary to evaluate
whether its effects were positive or negative. Companies were attracted by cheap
labour, the experience and skills of the work force, lack of powerful trade
unions and labour law favouring investors. On the negative side, workers were
dismissed, and had difficulty in appealing against such dismissals; the minimum
wage was not adhered to and in any case was not a living wage; and workers were
working beyond normal working hours without receiving overtime payments. Unfair
labour practices included workers being threatened against joining trade unions
and the unions not being allowed to address workers in the work place. On 9
January 2001, the management of Sun Textile had warned workers from wearing the
caps of the Lesotho Clothing & Allied Workers Union (LECAWU). Eleven employees
who continued to wear the caps were dismissed and their names circulated to
neighbouring factories so that they could not find alternative employment. It
was further noted that the group had discovered that emergency exits were locked
in all factories visited.
As quoted, the study concludes: ‘Not much of
the profits made by the factories financed by this direct foreign investment are
reinvested in the country .... The industries are easy to move from one country
to another, and if the labour costs go up in one country they are quick to
transfer to another country.’
The same group is undertaking similar studies
in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. ▲back
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The production of annual reports by government
departments and parastatals has in recent years been irregular, even when in
some cases (mainly parastatals) there is a statutory duty to produce an annual
report. Amongst government ministries very few have produced annual reports in
recent years. For example, the last annual report traced for the Ministry of
Education covered the years 1994 to 1996, and its predecessor was in 1991. In
the case of the Ministry of Health, there appears to have been no annual report
since 1988. The last Statistical Yearbook was for the year 1994, and the last
Lesotho Official Yearbook was for the year 1996. Lesotho Bank last produced an
annual report in 1995, and the Lesotho Electricity Corporation for the financial
year 1994/5. Even the university has failed to produce its calendar, once
annual, since 1997.
Those departments and parastatals who have
maintained a fairly regular series of annual reports during the 1990s have
included Agricultural Information Services, the Central Bank, the Lesotho
Highlands Development Authority and the Lesotho National Development
Corporation, although as has been seen (see previous article) in this case the
issue for 1998/9 has not yet been published.
In fact, the problem of how to describe the
events of September 1998 has proved a dilemma for several writers of annual
reports, and possibly explains why the Annual Report of the Commissioner of
Police (relatively regular in recent years) for 1998/9 has yet to appear. On the
other hand, the Ministry of Defence Annual Report 1998/1999 is available. It
does not contain a detailed account of the events of September 1998, but
contains several references to what happened. For example the Prime Minister,
who is also Minister of Defence, states in his preamble: ‘It had been hoped that
the restructuring following the release of the 1995 Strategic Plan for Lesotho
Defence Force would lead to a professional defence and security outfit in the
country whose professionalism would ensure their non-involvement in events such
as those in 1998. This unfortunately was not to be as it is common cause that
some members of these organisations were involved in the unfortunate events’.
The same report gives the strength of the Defence Force as 2431, 145 of whom are
commissioned officers. In 1998 there were 21 retirements, 4 dismissals, 2
resignations, 3 desertions and 45 deaths although the causes of death are not
reported. Some of these must have been casualties during the SADC intervention
in Lesotho in September 1998. ▲back
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The Deputy Prime Minister, Kelebone Maope,
early in February gave evidence in the trial of seven members of the Lesotho
Defence Force charged with attempted murder and arson.
He described how in September 1998 his house
was attacked, his vehicles burned, and how he, together with his wife and
daughter, were subjected to a hail of bullets poured into the house. After
managing to call for help from another Cabinet Minister on his cell phone, the
firing stopped and he escaped with his family to the house of a former student
where he took refuge for four days.
He estimated damage to his house at over
M500000, and so far he had only been compensated by the government to the extent
of M350000. ▲back
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The statement by newly elected President
George Bush of the United States that he was prohibiting the use of US funds to
organisations that use the funds for abortion-related issues was attacked by the
Lesotho Planned Parent Association (LPPA) in a statement released on 12 February
2001.
LPPA, quoted in Southern Star of 21 February
2001, stated that ‘we wish to express our grave concern to the US Government
over the decision to reintroduce a policy that in its nature and intent worsens
the human suffering that the US Administration purports to be alleviating’.
Although the LPPA states that it does not promote the practice of abortion, it
does state that ‘it is an option for those who have fallen victim to unplanned
pregnancies, which in a number of cases have come as a result of rape, incest
etc’. In fact, this option does not exist as a legal right for women in Lesotho
where abortion is illegal, unless they have the very considerable financial
resources to travel to South Africa where women have the right to decide to
terminate their pregnancies. This option also does not exist in Lesotho for what
is now believed to be some 40% of pregnant women who are HIV positive, and
without perinatal drug therapy available are likely to pass the infection on to
their children, creating human suffering of immense proportions, the alleviation
of which is far beyond the resources of the health services.
The LPPA statement mentions HIV/AIDS only in
passing, but does mention that it is aware that there is an ‘alarming’ maternal
mortality rate at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru due to unsafe abortions.
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Lentsoe la Basotho of 15 February 2001 carried
photographs of shopkeeper Elliot Morojele of Mokhotlong receiving a cheque for
M181300 as compensation following the partial demolition of his shop when a
military plane had careered off the runway at Mokhotlong on 16 December 2000.
▲back
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The results of the November 2000 Cambridge
Overseas School Certificate were published by the Examinations Council of
Lesotho on 14 February 2001. 5767 candidates took the full examination, and of
these 137 (2.4%) obtained a first class, 696 (12.1%) obtained a second class
pass, and 1647 (28.6%) obtained a third class pass. 56.9% of those writing the
examination failed to obtain a certificate.
Performance varied greatly between subjects.
Amongst subjects with large numbers of candidates, performance was best in
Sesotho, with 47% of candidates obtaining a credit (equivalent to an O-level
pass in the old GCE examination). The worst subject was English Language with
only 4% obtaining a credit. Mathematics was little better, with 8% obtaining a
credit.
Amongst schools, there were few surprises at
the top, with the same eight schools occupying the top eight positions as in the
previous year, although within the eight the order changed considerably. 100% of
pupils at two schools (National University of Lesotho International School in
Roma, and Leribe English Medium High School in Hlotse) obtained a certificate,
while St Stephen’s High School, Mohale’s Hoek (31 out of 81 candidates) and
Sacred Heart High School, St Monica (21 out of 29 candidates) obtained the
highest number of first class certificates. A candidate at St Stephen’s High
School, Tefo Joseph Mohai, managed to score the best performance in the country
with an aggregate of just 7, one more than the best possible score, which is 6
(1 in each of the six subjects aggregated). Amongst other schools in the top
eight were two long-established schools in the Lowlands, St Catherine’s High
School in Maseru and St Mary’s High School at Roma. Two schools in relatively
remote areas also made it into the top eight. These were Tšakholo High School,
near Lesotho’s westernmost extremity, which was in fifth place for the second
year running; and St James High School at Ha Rafolatsane near Mokhotlong, which
retained a position in the top eight although it slipped from second to eighth
place.
At the bottom of the league table for schools,
four ‘high schools’ failed to present a single candidate who obtained a school
certificate. Two of these schools, Letsie High School at Thaba-Bosiu and Serutle
High School at Butha-Buthe had been among the four schools without a single
successful candidate the previous year. As yet, the Ministry of Education has
not taken action against such schools, and their teachers (at least those with
qualifications) are still part of the paid teaching force. ▲back
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The Voice of Education and Youth is a new
Maseru-published monthly newspaper, founded in December 2000 and edited by
Zimbabwean-born Benjamin Ndlovu. Its pages give extensive coverage to the
problems of independent and private schools in Lesotho. In the past five years,
new secondary and even high schools have mushroomed as income-generating
activities for their owners and seem to be immune from regulation by the
Ministry of Education. Like field mushrooms, however, they have often flourished
and disappeared within a short space of time.
Along the road from Roma to Maseru, for
example, Destiny Secondary School appeared (with sign advertising its presence)
at Ha Motloheloa in a building which seemed unlikely to be able to house much
more than one small classroom. Two years later it had become a glass works.
Similarly there was Selibeng ‘High School’ in two portakabins at Lithabaneng.
Not long after, the sign had disappeared and the school had become a training
establishment for security guards. Junction Secondary School at Mazenod, Good
Hope High School in a car port at Ha Abia, and Puritans High School and Thato
‘Tertiary’ High School had similar brief lives. Some however have survived,
including Dayo High School at Lithabaneng, which apparently began in a number of
single-room tenements (malaene), but some eight years later now has some
purpose-built classrooms on its congested site. The origin of the name ‘Dayo’ is
far from clear. A pupil, when asked, said quite emphatically that is means ‘Do
As Your Own’. Possibly the name means more to its West African proprietor.
Best known, perhaps, is Iketsetseng Private
School, established as an elite primary school in 1960 by the author Mrs
’Masechele Khaketla and Mrs Lebentlele, who were at the time teachers at Lesotho
High School. In its early days it received assistance through Harry Oppenheimer,
and its reputation was such that amongst its pupils were the present king of
Lesotho, King Letsie III. Later a major dispute broke out between the
proprietor, Mrs Khaketla, and the principal of the school. There were protracted
legal disputes, and even, according to The Voice, threats of violence. However,
the school does survive, 40 years after its foundation. ▲back
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Subscribers to the Lesotho Government Gazette,
were surprised to discover with their February issues, Indexes to the Gazette
for the year 1990 and for each of the years from 1992 to 2000. There was no
indication as to why 1991 was missing.
The indexes for the 1990s follow indexes for
1986, 1987 and 1988 which had been issued in the year 2000. Whereas the 1985
index had been issued shortly after the end of the year so that it could be
bound with the loose issues, in subsequent years such an index had not been
available. Librarians who bind the sets at the end of each year now have the
problem of how to incorporate the indexes. The indexes, in fact are a misnomer.
They are more like a table of contents, but even in this respect they fall
short, because they lack indications of both page numbers and the numbers of the
Gazette where each Statute or Notice can be found.
The Government Printer, who produces the
Gazette, falls under the Ministry of Law, Constitutional & Parliamentary
Affairs. He is also responsible for producing The Laws of Lesotho, annual
consolidations of new legislation. During 2000, The Laws of Lesotho 1989 volume
appeared, and so far during 2001, The Laws of Lesotho 1991 volume has appeared.
Quite what has happened to the 1990 volume is unexplained, and it is also not
known when the volumes for the years 1992 to 2000 will appear. ▲back
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As reported in Moeletsi oa Basotho of 4 March
2001, seven persons including the Chief of Mazenod, Tšiu Mopeli, appeared in the
High Court on 23 February 2001 in a continuing case in which they are charged
with abducting by force and killing Peter Groenewald in June 1997. The case was
adjourned and set down to be heard from 26 March to 6 April.
Groenewald, an employee of Group Five, which
constructed the Maseru By-Pass, was hijacked at gunpoint, taken to the
relatively remote village of Ha Tonki beyond Boqate Ha Majara, and after being
kept there for some days was shot in the local Khomo-e-Tšoana donga near Ha
Makhoathi. His vehicle was apparently sold by a Chinese person, one of the
accused, called Limming Ren, and was later found at Ha Rampai, near Butha-Buthe.
However, at an earlier hearing Limming Ren had been granted bail, and he was now
believed to have skipped bail and gone home to China.▲back
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Considerable media coverage was given at the
end of February to the demolition of shacks at Botšabelo, commonly known also as
Lepereng.
Botšabelo was created 90 years ago as a Leper
Settlement with an area nearly as large as Maseru itself. This large space has
remained largely in government control ever since, which has enabled parts of it
to be used for other purposes including the Makoanyane Barracks of the Lesotho
Defence Force, the Mohlomi Hospital, the SOS Children’s Village, and other
miscellaneous activities ranging from a dairy farm to a site for dumping
night-soil, a practice now discontinued.
There still remains a relatively large open
space at Botšabelo, and with sites for houses so scarce, the area chief took it
upon himself to allocate part of it as building sites, a process which was no
doubt financially beneficial to him, because land allocations rarely take place
without some reward to the local chief concerned. However, the process was
illegal because the area fell within the Maseru City Council area, and was also
a declared Selected Development Area.
In fact there is at present no Maseru City
Council, because the term of office of the old council expired in 1999. Although
there had initially been an extension of its period in office, this extension
had now expired, and government has not set in motion the machinery to elect a
new one. Council affairs are at present in the hands of an Interim Town Clerk,
Paul Qobo, and he was interviewed about the demolition of shacks at Botšabelo in
Southern Star of 21 February 2001. He stated that the chief had illegally
allocated the sites, a Task Force had been set up to explain to the people that
they were occupying the sites illegally, and when they ignored this, they were
charged in court, found guilty and ordered to remove the structures. When they
failed to do this, a court order was obtained by the Department of Lands,
Surveys & Physical Planning to the effect that all illegally constructed
buildings should be demolished. ▲back
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An announcement from the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) was carried by newspapers late in February. It stated that the
registration of voters for the forthcoming election (the date of which is as yet
unknown) would begin on 13 August 2001.
The actual registration system to be adopted
had not yet been decided, but three systems had been considered. The first
involved using ink that remained on a person’s finger beyond the period of
registration; the second captured fingerprints and stored them in a database;
and the third, the Automated Fingerprint Information System (AFIS), allowed for
the comparison of fingerprints as well as their capture and storage. The IEC
believed that a combination of the first two systems created a system which was
affordable and easy to implement and would allow the conduct of registration
within a reasonable time frame. However the actual system to be used was still
to be decided after discussions with government and the Interim Political
Authority (IPA), and the final decision was due to be made on Monday 5 March
2001.
In terms of costs, the indelible ink system
would cost M34 million, while the captured fingerprints system would cost M36
million. A combination of the two would cost M53 million, and this was less than
half the cost of the full AFIS which would cost M112 million.
It was noted by the Chairman of the IEC, Mr
Abel Leshele Thoahlane, that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution Bill was
still being debated in Senate. Depending on the outcome the country would either
proceed to elections or to a referendum to determine changes to the
Constitution. In either case, vote registration would be necessary. If Senate
backed the Lower House’s proposal of 80 National Assembly constituency seats and
40 proportional representation seats, then elections could follow without a
referendum. On the other hand, if Senate backed 50 proportional representation
seats as proposed by the IPA, or if it adopted a compromise of 45 seats then a
referendum would be necessary. The Prime Minister in a speech to Parliament on
Thursday 22 February stated ‘I should point out ... that if the Honourable
Members of Senate once again wish to support the IPA and throw away the views of
the representatives of the people, there is quarrel. But they should do so very
much aware that they have made a decision for a national referendum, and
therefore delaying the general elections.’ ▲back
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A press conference was held in late February
(as reported in Southern Star of 28 February) and was addressed by the Secretary
and Counsel to the Law Reform Commission, Mr S. P. Sakoane, and by the
Commission Researcher, Ms Susan Mpesi.
The background to the Bill is that the Lesotho
Constitution guarantees the right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.
The reality was quite different, because of inefficiency at all levels of the
legal system, some of which were described in detail at the press conference.
The Draft Bill would provide for rights for awaiting trial prisoners to demand
that their cases be tried and would introduce sanctions against those who cause
unjustifiable delays in the conduct of cases. ▲back
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The new bill was described as the Speedy Trial
Bill 2000, although the fact that its title belonged to a previous year
suggested that the processing of the bill was itself proving far from speedy. It
provides that a charge or an indictment has to be filed within thirty days of
the arrest of the accused. The trial has to commence within three months from
the date of the filing of a charge or from the first day of a remand. If for any
reason the trial cannot commence within three months, the court can extend the
trial date, but for a period not exceeding another three months.
The impact of the bill, if it passes through
Parliament and becomes an Act, has yet to be felt. It is to some extent a test
of whether one can legislate to improve efficiency. If the Ministry of Justice
had developed, implemented and maintained efficient procedures in the past,
there would have been no need for legislation on the matter. ▲back
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The independent radio station Joy Radio
commenced broadcasting 24 hours a day on 106.9 kHz from a 1 kW transmitter on
the hill above the Lesotho Sun. Its mix is 60% Sesotho and 40% English, although
this may soon change as a result of a deal with Voice of America. In return for
agreeing to transmit VOA broadcasts, Joy Radio will receive a satellite dish,
receiver and decoder. ▲back
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Intervarsity games between the Universities of
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland rotate between the three countries, a fixture
which survives, even though it is now more than 25 years since Lesotho seceded
from what had once been a regional university. In February 2000, the games had
been hosted by Botswana, which in fact managed to take 17 out of the 18 trophies
on offer. Lesotho won the remaining trophy, the Ladies’ Lawn Tennis, and
Swaziland did not win any at all.
During the half-term break (the week of Monday
26 February to 2 March 2001) it was Lesotho’s turn to host the games. It had
last hosted the games in 1998.
The Roma campus has only limited sports
facilities so that certain sports were held in Roma and others in Maseru, and
the football match between Lesotho and Swaziland was held on the Monday at the
Setsoto Stadium in Maseru. According to the account of the game in Public Eye of
2 March, in the second half, when Swaziland was leading 2-1, a red card was
shown to a Swazi player for foul play and he was sent off the pitch. Shortly
afterwards the referee produced a second red card, and the Swazis believed that
another of their players was being sent off, when in fact it was a Lesotho
player ‘who got an early shower’. According to Public Eye, the Swazi supporters
started throwing missiles on the pitch, following which Lesotho supporters
started throwing missiles at Swazi supporters.
One consequence of the fracas was that the
Swazi students boycotted the official opening of the games by Queen Karabo,
which rather curiously was held at the stadium on the second day of the games,
Tuesday 27 February. Some Swazi students also left for home early.
The games ended on Thursday 1 March, and
although newspapers (even the university’s own newspaper, Information Flash) did
not cover the full results of the 25 different events, Lesotho is known to have
won the athletics, soccer, taekwondo, volleyball and men’s and ladies’ tennis
competitions. ▲back
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The Central Bank of Lesotho Economic Review
for February 2000 published the latest Economic and Financial Indicators for
Lesotho.
Of these, perhaps the gloomiest is the Gross
National Product per capita, which is recorded as having dropped by 10.6% in the
riot year of 1998, dropped again by 3.8% the following year and preliminary
estimates show will experience a further drop of 1.5% in the year 2000.
Government budget balance is shown as a deficit equivalent to 1.4% of Gross
Domestic Product in 1998, deficit equivalent to 12.4% of GDP in 1999 and
preliminary estimates show it will be a deficit equivalent to 3.5% of GDP for
the year 2000.
The sectoral accounts show agriculture to be
fairly stagnant with a 0.5% drop in 1998, a 4.0% rise in 1999, and a projected
0.7% rise in 2000. The construction industry dropped 12.0% in value in 1998, but
was 7.7% up on the 1998 figure in 1999 due to reconstruction following the
riots. In 2000, the projected rise is 1.0%. Like agriculture, service industries
are also relatively lack-lustre, but less subject to the vagaries of the weather
than agriculture. They have overall growth rates of 0.8% in 1998, 0.5% in 1999,
and according to preliminary estimates are projected to have risen by 1.1% in
2000. The best sectoral growth rate is shown by manufacturing industry,
projected to rise by 9.0% in 2000, although as a result of the 1998 riots, it
was down 3.3% in 1998 and down another 1.5% in 1999.
Lesotho’s official foreign reserves, once a
matter of little serious concern because they were boosted by aid projects, are
now dwindling. In 1998 they were equivalent to 9.8 months of imports. By 1999,
they had dropped to 8.4 months, and for 2000, and the preliminary estimate for
2000 is that they had dropped slightly further to being equivalent to 8.3 months
of imports. ▲back
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The new Vice-Chancellor of the National
University of Lesotho is Dr Tefetso Henry Mothibe. He assumed office on Thursday
1st March.
Born in Matsieng, Mothibe is by profession a
historian and a former Head of the History Department at the University of
Lesotho. He was educated at the National University of Lesotho, the University
of Oxford and the University of Wisconsin from which he obtained his doctoral
degree with a thesis on a study of labour relations in Zimbabwe. Most recently
he has been a Research Fellow at the NUL Institute of Southern African Studies
working on a biography of King Moshoeshoe II. He and his wife, ’Mamokete, have
two daughters.
In an interview with Moeletsi oa Basotho
newspaper (reported in the 4 March 2001 edition) Dr Mothibe stated that his
first priority was to bring stability to NUL. This would be done in the context
of the Transformation and Restructuring Plan. He stated that he would promote
mutual trust, transparency and accountability (tšepano, ponaletso le
boikarabello). Also that he would construct cordial ties with the staff unions
and end the poison which had created divisiveness.
Moeletsi oa Basotho’s extensive interview with
the Vice-Chancellor was something of a journalistic scoop. Although always dated
as if published on a Sunday (because of its distribution through Catholic
churches), Moeletsi is actually available on sale each week at bookstores on the
previous Thursday. It thus carried news and detail of the new Vice-Chancellor a
day ahead of the University’s internal newspaper, Information Flash, which in
fact simply announced Dr Mothibe’s assumption of duty in large letters, stating
also that Dr Mothibe had been appointed by His Majesty King Letsie III pursuant
to §16(3) of the National University Order 1992 and that His Majesty had wished
Dr Mothibe success in his new assignment. No further detail was given. ▲back
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It was announced on 6 March 2001 that the firm
of PricewaterhouseCooper had been appointed to undertake the forensic audit at
the National University of Lesotho, and to investigate in conjunction with the
police, alleged financial impropriety in the University Bursary. A preliminary
investigation began on 28 March and the full investigation was scheduled to
begin on Monday 9 April 2001. ▲back
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Maseru Private Hospital, situated in the
Maseru suburb of Ha Thetsane was reported in Lentsoe la Basotho of 8 March 2001
to be in grave financial difficulties. It could neither pay its debts nor its
workers and had been sued by its former Medical Superintendent for money owing
to him, as a result of which a vehicle, computers and an ultrasound machine had
been seized by court order. It was reported that the hospital owed M15 million
to Lesotho Bank, and that patient numbers had often declined to as few as two
per day.▲back
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Advertisements which appeared in newspapers
early in March for The Money Store (TMS) invited investors to take advantage of
its ‘low risk’ opportunities for the highest return on capital. Although the
Central Bank of Lesotho licences banks and credit Institutions, TMS claimed that
as an investment institution it was exempt from registration under the Financial
Institutions Act.
Quite where the 30% interest mentioned in its
advertisements would materialise from if TMS did not itself have a means of
getting an even higher return, was not explained in the full page
advertisements. Advertisements also appeared in newspapers to state that the
accounting firms KPMG, PMB and Lesotho Management Services have no connection
with TMS and any material which states otherwise is completely erroneous. This
second advertisement apparently was a sequel to an interview given by Arthur
Majara, the ‘TMS Project Leader’ on the Radio Lesotho programme Seboping on 22
February, when it was alleged that one Tony MacAlpine of KPMG was a member of
the TMS management.
The only personal name associated with TMS in
its advertisements is this same Arthur M. Majara said to be BEI project leader.
BEI is not explained (possibly it stands for ‘Basotho Empowerment Initiative’).
TMS is said to be physically located at BEI House no. 467, below the National
Stadium, but no telephone number is given. In the 21 March 2001 issue of The
Mirror, TMS advertised 21 different posts to be filled by ‘indigenous Basotho
persons’ defined to be ‘persons born of African parents with traceable roots to
the Basotho nation’. All of the posts required experience, including, for
example two consultants with stockbroking experience. Given that Lesotho does
not have a stock exchange, it seems doubtful that such posts will be filled.
Salaries are not given for the posts. ▲back
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A festival in which the public was invited to
celebrate and dress according to their Basotho cultural traditions was held at
the Cooperative College Hall in Maseru on Saturday 10 March. The MoAfrika
Cultural Festival had been advertised for many weeks in the MoAfrika newspaper
and also on Radio MoAfrika. It was co-sponsored by Vodacom Lesotho, Lesotho Bank
and Lesotho Brewing Company., the parent company of the Maluti Mountain Brewery.
The festival was a great success, with
standing room only for many spectators as they listened to and watched numerous
groups performing songs and dances. The owner of MoAfrika newspaper and radio
station, Candi Ratabane Ramainoane, dressed in his own innovative version of
traditional attire, with a patterned lower garment separated by his naked torso
from a matching headband which was gathered around his dreadlocks. ▲back
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With the passing by Senate of the Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution Bill early in March (it began operation on 16
March 2001), the way became open to proceed to elections which the Chairman of
the Independent Electoral Commission, Mr Abel Thoahlane said would ‘most
definitely be held around April/May 2002’. The method of registration would
include the recording of both a fingerprint and the application of indelible ink
to prevent double registration. The registration would take part in 1300
registration centres countrywide from 13 August to 9 September 2000.
As quoted in Southern Star of 14 March 2001,
the Co-Chairmen of the Interim Political Authority said that everybody was happy
that the Amendment had been passed. They said that they had had enough of being
told that they stretched the election period for purposes of making money.
Under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution
Act, there will be a 120 member National Assembly, with 80 members being elected
in Constituencies by the familiar ‘first past the post’ system. The remaining 40
members will be elected by proportional representation so that the overall
Parliament reflects the proportions of voting overall. ▲back
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A previously postponed friendly match between
the Lesotho and South African teams, Likoena and Bafana Bafana, was finally held
on Tuesday 13 March 2001. It resulted in a triumphant 1-0 victory for the
Lesotho team under floodlights at the Setsoto National Stadium. The single goal
was scored by a Lesotho player, Tšepo Hlojeng, from a free kick in the 83rd
minute of the game. However, it was claimed by Tom Mapesela, writing in Southern
Star of 21 March 2001, that there had in reality been two Lesotho goals, and an
earlier goal by Kutloisiso Nthonyana had gone straight through a hole in the
goal net, as a result of which there was a goal kick and not a goal. The Lesotho
Football Association (LEFA) and the Stadium Board had been negligent in not
maintaining state property.
Not everyone in Lesotho was delighted by the
game. Disgruntled Members of Parliament, who thought they had been invited to
the match, found that they had to pay at the gate for grandstand seats at M40
each. A motion that they were not given their deserved respect was tabled the
following day in the National Assembly by Sello Maphalla, MP for Hlotse. The MPs
were particularly annoyed when they discovered that Members of the Senate had
each been given an individual VIP ticket. ▲back
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The Minister of Environment, Gender and Youth
Affairs, Mrs ’Mathabiso Lepono, collapsed in Parliament while tabling the
Environment Bill 2000. Parliament was temporarily adjourned while Mrs Lepono was
taken to Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.
The Environment Bill 2000 has been long in
gestation. A national working group was established to draft a framework law as
long ago as 1995. Hassan Partow, who contributed a chapter to the book, State of
the environment in Lesotho 1997, stated in relation to the proposed law that
‘however comprehensive legislation might be, it does not necessarily guarantee a
better environment .... Ultimately the determinant factor is the political will
to implement the law as well as the effectiveness of monitoring systems and
enforcing mechanisms applying it’.
Currently, environmental matters fall under
the National Environment Secretariat (NES) which is a component of the Ministry
of Environment, Gender & Youth Affairs. NES has suffered in the past two years
from lack of continuity of leadership, having had five different directors or
acting directors in the space of two years. ▲back
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Following a lengthy trial, Second Lieutenant
Phakiso Molise of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service and five other policemen
were found guilty in March, of murdering Lieutenant-Colonel Marabe Penane and
Major Karabo Chabeli and shooting with intent to kill three other police
officers who were wounded in a shoot-out at the Maseru Central Police Station
Charge office on 31 October 1995. Following the incident and a Commission of
Inquiry, Molise had evaded arrest, led a rebellion against the Commissioner of
Police, taken over the Police Headquarters, leading to its being stormed by the
Lesotho Defence Force on 16 February 1997, resulting in much damage. He had
subsequently disappeared in South Africa with one of the other accused Sergeant
Thabang Makateng. Although Molise had been captured in South Africa and deported
back to Lesotho, Makateng was still on the run.
Molise is already serving a prison sentence of
three years (one suspended) for high treason, sedition and contravention of the
Internal Security Act, following his role in the police rebellion in 1997.
Sentencing in the second trial was announced by Mr Justice Ntsabeng Mofolo to be
given on 19 March. However, no-one was sure that this date would be respected,
because the original judgment had been announced to be given on 28 September
2000, and was not given until six months later. ▲back
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