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SUMMARY
OF
EVENTS
IN
LESOTHO
Volume 8,
Number
4, (Fourth Quarter 2001)
Summary
of
Events
is
a
quarterly
publication
compiled
and
published
by
Prof.
David
Ambrose
since
1993
at
the
National
University
of
Lesotho
in
Roma.
Birth of Princess Senate
Auditor General's Report Published
Sefika Centre Opens
Green Berets Graduate
Death of Gordon
Hector, Former Government Secretary
Central Bank Completes
Monetary Policy Reforms
Morija Stages
Successful Arts Cultural Festival
Maseru Relief Road
Opened
Induction Workshop Held for
Urban Boards
LCD Dissidents Form New
Political Party
New Party Papers Hit the Streets as Mololi Becomes Nonyana and Thebe ea Basotho
Appears
Leon Commission Presents Report
New Principal Chief of
Ramabanta Installed
Creation of Lesotho
Revenue Authority Delayed
New US Ambassador Presents
Credentials
Maseru Private
Hospital to be Operated by Lenmed
LECAWU Sponsors Protest by
Factory Workers
920 000 Voters Register
LDF Air Squadron Acquires New
Plane
Alleged Stock
Thieves Killed and Their Bodies Burned
New Ministers Sworn In
Lesotho Arms Destroyed in
South Africa
Matsoku Tunnel Inaugurated
Sani Pass to be Tarred
Anthrax Powder roves to be Hoax
Lesotho
and Standard Bank ATM Cards Become Interchangeable
New Periodical Launched
New Ambassadors receive
their Credentials
Sehlabathebe
Finally Becomes a Legal National Park
Mololi Reappears
Interim Community Councils Elected
Loti Suffers Serious Devaluation
Textile Companies Expand; South African Companies Threaten to Relocate
New Textile Firm in Mafeteng Criticized for Unusual Recruitment Procedure
Two Men Charged with Medicine
Murder
Court Case over Ntsu Mokhehle's
Head
Police Newspaper
Reports Unusual Case of Assault
Woman Killed
by Lightning at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital
Roof of Africa Rally Held in
November
National Assembly
Elections Bill before Parliament
MFP First Off the Mark
with Party Manifesto
MCM Enterprises Buys Marakabei
Lodge
Ski Resort Planned for Mahlasela
Quadrant Group Sponsors Charity
Event
Bill
Presented in Parliament to Require Soldiers to Retire at 45
Biodiversity Project to
Fence Letsa la Letsie
Wedding of Prince Seeiso
Bereng Seeiso
Seven ANC Activists
Reburied in South Africa
Five Lesobeng
Women Apparently Killed by Vehicle Fumes
Record Rainfall in the First Three Months of Summer Katse Reservoir Overspills
Dam Wall
New Year Heralded with Fireworks
A daughter was born to King Letsie III and Queen Karabo on Sunday 7 October
2001, at Maseru Private Hospital, Thetsane. Traditionally the father of a girl
has the news announced to him by being doused with water. Even Basotho kings are
not exempt from this custom, and many women were waiting at the hospital for the
King to arrive on Sunday morning, 7 October, with buckets of water. His
bodyguards were little protection, and both King and bodyguards were dripping
wet before they could reach the hospital entrance. The first child of the royal
couple will be known as Princess Senate taking the same name as Senate, eldest
daughter of Paramount Chief Letsie I, who was a favourite granddaughter of King
Moshoeshoe I.
Queen Karabo will now be known as Queen Masenate, in accordance with the
custom of the Bakoena royal lineage that the mother is renamed after her first
born child. Senate, means sweetness , and on 10 November, the new princess also
acquired the Christian name, Maria. This was given to her, when she was baptized
at the Catholic church of St Louis, Matsieng during a mass presided over by
Archbishop Bernard Mohlalisi , Bishop Paul Khoarai of Leribe and the parish
priest, Father Lawrence Mokete Moeketsi .
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There had been public disquiet for some time that there had been no audit
reports on Lesotho’s public accounts since the restoration of democracy in 1993.
The report for the Financial Year 1992/3 had been published in 1995, and six
years had elapsed without even the 1993/4 report appearing. That there was every
reason for concern was confirmed when the next Auditor General’s Report did
finally appear during the second half of 2001. It covered a three year period
and the Audit Certificate, signed by the Auditor General, D. M. Lepitikoe,
states that “due to the seriousness of the observations raised in this Report, I
am not able to express an opinion on the fairness or reasonableness of the state
of the Public Accounts for the three years ended 31 March 1996 .”
The Introduction provides some background. Even though the Accountant General
is statutorily required to submit the annual accounts to the Principal Secretary
of Finance within six months of the closure of the financial year, and these
accounts must then be submitted to the Auditor General for examination and
certification, the 1993/4 accounts were submitted only in November 1995, and
then shortly afterwards withdrawn for corrections to be made. They were then not
resubmitted until February 1999. The accounts for the following two years were
not submitted until January 2000. No doubt the preparation of the accounts was
not helped by the fact that the Accountant General and his Deputy were
themselves implicated in serious fraud during the reporting period and
subsequently sentenced to long prison terms.
Throughout the report, there are indications of serious accounting errors and
irregularities as well as failure to keep proper records. Amongst particular
features noted was that, compared to estimated capital expenditure for the three
years M1,563 million, actual expenditure over the three year period amounted to
just M483 million, around 31%, which gives a negative view on the performance of
the country on its developmental and economic achievements. A similar shortfall
was shown in the capital revenue for the three years, averaging just 35% of
annual estimates. The most obvious reasons for the shortfall are non submission
of reimbursement claims from the donors and non accountal of receipts paid into
private project accounts . There were in fact major M308 million reimbursements
received from donors, which were not incorporated into the National Accounts,
and which would have raised the percentages of actual capital expenditure and
revenue compared with estimates.
Major irregularities were found in the UN-, UK-, US- funded Soil and Water
Conservation and Agro-forestry Programme SWaCAP Project in the Ministry of
Agriculture during 1992/3 and 1993/4. Although there was a loss of M2.5 million,
no action had apparently been taken against those responsible and government had
to make good the shortfall before donor funding resumed. M1.12 million was also
lost from the Compulsory Savings Scheme in 1990 to 1994 as a result of the
actions of five officers of the Treasury who colluded to defraud the scheme by
various nefarious acts of arranging to issue cheques from the scheme to
fictitious payees or to persons who were not contributors to the scheme.
Criminal charges against the five officers were laid, but by 2001, only one case
had been heard by the courts. This officer was gaoled for 8 years.
Similar fraud by government employees was reported from the Accountant
General’s Office (six employees, M158 939); the Department of Income Tax (five
employees, M342 888); and Postal Services Headquarters (three staff, M1 219
214).
The Report also notes that approximately M8 million was lost, which had been
paid by Chinese in Hong Kong for Lesotho passports, but which had never reached
Lesotho. On a smaller scale, it notes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs in
September 1994 [E. R. Sekhonyana] paid M10 772 for an air charter to Botswana by
personal cheque. This cheque was subsequently dishonoured by the bank, and the
government had to effect payment. However, meanwhile, the Minister had claimed
back the same amount, so that he benefited personally from his dishonoured
cheque by the amount of M10 722. The amount was never recovered by government.
Theft of government vehicles is reported from many ministries and departments
throughout the report, with few vehicles apparently ever being recovered.
A major fraud on which a more detailed report is promised in the next Report
was uncovered by a forensic accounting investigation in the Customs and Excise
Department. The investigation disclosed a massive fraud involving a loss of
millions of maloti in the form of customs duties, sales tax and other government
revenues through dubious practices of Customs officers in collusion with some
untrustworthy firms and businessmen.
The Auditor General occupies a suite of some 73 offices on the top floor of
Finance House, the most recently built of the three government office complexes.
In 1996, the number of auditing staff was 109, and he indicates in the Report
that he has made a request for an additional 130 auditing staff. Five years of
annual audit reports 1996/97 to 2000/01 remain outstanding, and it is clear from
the introduction to the Report that the Accountant General still has not
submitted the accounts for these years. He is urged to produce them as they are,
as soon as possible .
Chairman of Positive Action Society puts HIV Prevalence Rate at 25% Writing
in the Lesotho Defence Force magazine, Mara of September 2001, the Chairman of
the Positive Action Society of Lesotho, Mr Ingo Seifert, stated that in 2001,
Lesotho had the second highest HIV prevalence rate in the world, with over 25%
of the sexually active population infected with the virus. Only Botswana, with a
32% prevalence, had a higher figure.
The Positive Action Society was founded in June 1999, with the aim to help
the infected and to create awareness about the scourge of HIVAIDS in Lesotho.
Amongst its achievements have been issuing postage stamps and the installation
of AIDS awareness billboards, which up to September 2001 had displayed 44
different messages in English and Sesotho. The most recent one, Mooki, bua nete,
urges the nurse, the person who describes the circumstances leading to the death
of a person at a funeral, to tell the truth when someone has died of AIDS.
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The first shops in a new Maseru shopping area, Sefika Centre, began opening
in September, and by the end of the year, operations were in full swing. The new
shopping centre is located on former open a ground belonging to the Lesotho
Evangelical Church and situated west of the main Maseru church, between the
church and Moshoeshoe Road. The development was made possible through an
investment with funds from the National University of Lesotho, which was not
afraid to risk a large capital sum, when commercial banks were apparently not
prepared to take a similar risk.
The new Sefika Centre has a large Shoprite Checkers supermarket, and amongst
other shops are Furn City, Streetbeat Shoes, Verimark, Pep Stores, Dunns, Discom
and Frango's Chicken. A new bus station is under construction adjoining the
shopping area, and is expected to be brought into use in January 2002.
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In a Lesotho Defence Force ceremony on 1 October, 43 members of the Lesotho
Defence Force graduated as Special Forces Commandos and won green berets,
following intensive training. Speaking at the ceremony, the Indian Security
Adviser to Lesotho, Brigadier Jasbir Singh, said that the Special Forces would
greatly enhance the capabilities of the LDF and ensure that it always remains a
pillar of democracy, peace and justice .
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Gordon Matthews Hector , the last Government Secretary in the Basutoland
colonial administration before Independence in 1966, died in his native Scotland
at the age of 83 on 4 October 2001.
Educated at Oxford, where he read history, Gordon Hector served with the
King's African Rifles in Kenya and Burma during the Second World War, before
joining the Colonial Service. He had tours of duty in Kenya and Seychelles
before arriving in Basutoland in 1956. Hector served in Lesotho through the
constitutional changes which led the former colony to full Independence. During
the transitional period from 1960 to 1965, when the Basutoland National Council
gained new powers as the Legislative Council, he was Leader of the House.
It was his duty no less than seventeen times to call for the adjournment of
the House sine die. On 11 March 1965, Hector made a witty speech
recalling some incidents in the life of LegCo, before moving adjournment for the
seventeenth time. LegCo was then dissolved to be replaced by a newly elected
Parliament under a Constitution which gave Basutoland Self Government and
eventually Independence.
Gordon Hector frequently occupied the post of Acting Resident
Commissioner, and was later formally designated Deputy Resident Commissioner. In
such positions he gave addresses at Thaba Bosiu on Moshoeshoe's Day in 1962 and
1964 which revealed that his love of history had also encompassed a deep
knowledge and interest in Lesotho history. While working in the Seychelles,
Hector married Dr May Gray, a Scottish medical practitioner from his home town
of Aberdeen. He is survived by his wife and their three children, two of whom
also became doctors, while the third became a headmaster of one Scotland s most
famous schools. There are also nine grandchildren.
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A policy reform which had begun in 1998 was completed by the Central Bank of
Lesotho in 2 September 2001. The reform resulted in a shift from direct to
indirect instruments of monetary policy. Amongst changes are the abolition of
credit ceilings and the Minimum Local Asset Requirement (MLAR) which required
banks to keep assets of a certain proportion of total liabilities locally for
investment in private sector projects.
In practice, the banks had simply kept this money as excess reserves with the
Central Bank, and few private sector projects had been funded. Under the new
arrangements, banks would not have this guaranteed interest, and would have to
hunt for profitable projects in the private sector, not necessarily in Lesotho.
Banks will however still have to hold cash reserves equivalent to 3% of
admissible liabilities with the Central Bank at no return to the banks to meet
sudden cash needs. Such sudden cash requirements would, however, carry a penalty
interest rate‚ higher than the prevailing treasury bill rate, so banks would not
lightly make use of it, and would n probably borrow from one another instead.
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The third Morija Arts Cultural Festival , which made use of many different
venues in Morija, but had its major events centred on the Thabeng Football
Field, took place from 4 to 7 October 2001, in excellent spring weather. It was
judged by all who went to have been a great success, and it managed also in 2001
for the first time to be also a financial success. On the Friday and Saturday
nights in particular there were estimated to have been over 2 000 cars and some
25 000 people present in total, which is about as many as Morija could
reasonably accommodate. Cars waiting to be found parking spaces stretched back
from the centre of Morija to the main Mafeteng road, and also back along the
road towards Maseru for several hundred metres.
The festival was officially opened by the King with a mounted escort of
blanketed horsemen at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. Sesotho time) on the Saturday, following
which there was traditional music and dance as well as performances by local and
visiting choirs. Guest performers were the Jilin Traditional Orchestra and Dance
Group from China, who provided an oriental contrast to the main Sesotho cultural
theme of the festival. Around the main performance area, more than 40 large
tents offered a variety of side shows, providing refreshment or reflecting the
activities of a variety of organizations.
Meanwhile, the Thabeng High School Assembly Hall, the Thabeng Chapel, the
Lesotho Evangelical Church, the Museum Amphitheatre, the Morija Museum, the
Morija Primary School and the Mophato Hall were the venue for numerous dramatic
performances, film shows, traditional dance shows, a wire car competition, a
special children's festival and a morabaraba competition. Late night
attractions on the Friday night were a Gospel Concert at the Museum Amphitheatre
and a Famo Concert on the stage at the Thabeng Football Ground.
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Celebrations of the 35th Anniversary of Lesotho s Independence on 4 October
2001 were relatively low key. Amongst events was the formal opening of Maseru's
new inner relief road, which has been named Mpilo Boulevard, after a little
known name for the hill into the flank of which the new road cuts. The 3.8 km
dual carriageway Mpilo Boulevard begins near the University's Institute of Extra
Mural Studies on the South Road out of Maseru. It passes behind the new National
Convention Centre and cuts into the hillside, which requires elaborate
supporting structures, until it reaches the former High Court complex, damaged
during the 1998 riots. It passes between what was once the High Court, and Queen
Elizabeth II Hospital, and then descends to pass under Pioneer Road, rising
again to join, Kingsway between Maseru Club and the Basotho Shield.
The new road can be accessed from a slip road, at the main Traffic Circle,
and there are also slip roads at the Pioneer Road interchange, Lesotho's first
two level traffic intersection. Although the new road was officially opened at
the beginning of October, it was in fact far from finished, and various sections
were closed again later for further work to finish the road, which was in fact
not achieved until close to the end of the calendar year. The road, costing M65
million, has been constructed by Group Five Construction of South Africa.
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As reported in Southern Star of 5 October 2001, members of the Urban Boards
for the nine District Headquarters' towns and for Maputsoe, had recently
attended a three day workshop. Town Clerks and – District Secretaries were also
present. The Urban Boards had been elected and gazetted in August under the
Urban Government Act 1983, and the major towns of Lesotho, except for Maseru,
now had a form n of urban government for the first time since the 1960s. Maseru,
however, had no City Council, because its term of office had expired after
extension to August 2000, and there had been no election for a new council.
The Ministry of Local Government had been forced to use the 1983 legislation
to create the boards, because the Local Government Act 1996 still remains
dormant, having yet to be brought into force. When it is brought into force the
previous Act will be repealed and the new Urban Boards will disappear. Speaking
at the Workshop, the Principal Secretary, Mr Makalo Theko stated that Urban
Development Councils are the only hope of rescuing communities from abject
poverty. The Deputy Principal Secretary, Mr Matlamukele Matete stated that the
main functions of the Councils would be land allocation, chieftainship affairs
and community development. Other functions would be carried out jointly with the
Ministry of Local Government.
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The long expected formal split in the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy
occurred on 8 October 2001, when a new party, the Lesotho People's Congress (LPC),
was registered at the office of the Registrar General. The Interim Leader of the
new party is Mr Kelebone Maope, who had resigned as Minister of Justice and
Deputy Prime Minister as recently as 28 September. Other interim officials are
Mr Shakhane Mokhehle, who is Registrar General, and Dr Leketekete Ketso, who is
Treasurer.
For a long time, the LCD had been known to be divided between factions,
commonly known as Sehlopha (the group) and Lesiba (the feather),
the latter name reflecting the dissidents view that they were a part of Ntsu
Mokhehle's heritage, symbolized by the bird Ntsu, popularly regarded as an
eagle. It is the Lesiba faction which has now formed the new party, the
LPC. In Parliament, the members of the new party took seats as a formal
opposition party. The LPC could immediately count on support from 27 former
members of the LCD out of a theoretical 80 members. However, there are 4
vacancies because of unfilled seats belonging to members who have died, and 1
other seat is occupied by a member of the Basotho National Party.
In Parliament, the Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, on 14 October put on a
brave face and stated that he accepted the split as a healthy move in a
democratic society. Later in the week, when the House divided, voting went 36 to
27 in favour of the LCD, although LCD support was certainly more than 36 because
some cabinet ministers had not been in Parliament due to other commitments. A
week later the situation had clarified to the extent that 45 MPs were supporting
the LCD and 27 the LPC, there were 4 vacancies, 1 BNP MP, and apparently 3 MPs
whose party status remained uncertain.
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The weekly LCD party newspaper Mololi which had already been hijacked
by the Lesiba faction of the party, re-emerged as volume 1, number 1 of
Nonyana (The Bird) on 10 October 2001, featuring, like its predecessor, a
photograph of Ntsu Mokhehle on its masthead. Its first headline Mosisili
tloha tseleng (Mosisili, get out of the way) had the predictable attack on
the LCD leader. The second issue printed in Bloemfontein contained a list of the
27 MPs who had crossed the floor to form the new opposition. These included some
very long standing BCP members such as the veteran journalist, Mohaila Mohale,
as well as former Lesotho Liberation Army warriors such as Thebe Motebang. By
the third issue, there was a page of portraits of the 27 MPs under the caption
Bohanyetsi Paramenteng (The Parliamentary Opposition).
By the fourth issue, there was an article which began to show that government
policies were under attack. Muso o phopholetsa Puso ea Libaka (Government
is groping in the dark on Local Government) criticised the dissolution of
Development Councils without any new structures being put in their place. The
fourth issue also announced that the LPC flag would be red, black and green like
the BCP and LCD, but with red dominating, and that a photograph of the head of
Ntsu Mokhehle would be its symbol in the coming election.
The red, black and green colours have been retained by every party which has
so far been formed by a split from the original Basutoland Congress Party.
Originally the colours of the predecessor Basutoland African Congress, the
colours red, black and green had first been adopted by Marcus Garvey for his
Universal Negro Improvement Association founded in 1914.
Other parties were also making themselves known through newspapers. The
little known Social Democratic Paper managed to make itself better known through
a new fortnightly newspaper Thebe ea Basotho (The Shield of the
Basotho), published with articles in both English and Sesotho. The SDP leader is
Comrade Masitise Seleso, and in the newspaper he is described by the former
National Union of Mineworkers President, James Motlatsi, as the youngest NUM
activist who had a passionate conviction and iron will. The paper's editorial is
clearly directed to the youth of Lesotho, although it would apparently want them
all to become politicians. The primary objective of the SDP is education for the
citizenry, the preparation of the youth for careers in politics, equipping them
to discharge the obligations of democratic citizenship, which grows constantly
heavier in the modern world.
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The Commission of Inquiry into the 1998 Political Disturbances, which was
chaired by Mr Justice Ramon Nigel Leon, and had been established in 1999,
finally presented its 132 page report to the Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili,
on Friday 12 October 2001.
Initially, it was a report to government and later to Parliament, at which
point its contents became known to the press. However, a printed edition for
sale to the public had still not become available at the end of the year.
According to newspaper reports, and in particular that in Mopheme of 6
November 2001, it was recommended that there should not be an amnesty for those
who had broken the law by their acts in 1998.
Amongst other recommendations the Leon Report suggests that consideration
should be given to deporting Father Antony Monyau from Lesotho, whose acts of
incitement, particularly to murder, are irreconcilable with the tenets of
christianity, nor are they excusable in this kingdom. This reference to Father
Monyau, will surprise those who thought that he was a Lesotho citizen. Given
that since 1998 he has been facing other serious criminal charges unrelated to
his 1998 activities, some might feel that deportation would be a lesser penalty
than that which might be appropriate under the circumstances.
Others who are seriously implicated in criminal activity by the Leon
Commission include the politicians Majara Molapo and Mamello Morrison whom it
considers should be indicted on charges of treason, with alternatives of
incitement to sedition or public violence. A number of other persons are named
who might also be served with criminal charges.
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The new Principal Chief of Kubake and Ha Ramabanta , Chief Seeiso Griffith
Api , was installed by King Letsie III at a ceremony at Ha Ramabanta on Friday
12 October. Chief Seeiso replaces his uncle, the late Chief Mathealira Api
Ramabanta, who died in October 1989. Chief Mathealira s wife, Chieftainess
Mantsebo Api had been Acting Principal Chief since the death of Chief Mathealira.
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A new body, the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA), has been envisaged for some
time, and indeed its creation is one of the conditions for Lesotho to qualify
for the International Monetary Fund Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility PRGF.
Under the PRGF, the LRA had been envisaged to be in place by September 2001.
However, the Lesotho Revenue Authority Act 2001 was not in fact gazetted until
25 October 2001. The Act makes provision for a new corporate body to replace
existing Lesotho Government ¨ revenue collecting departments.
The LRA will be governed by a Board of Authority and headed by a Commissioner
General as Chief Executive. It will be responsible for collecting funds formerly
collected by the Customs Excise, Sales Tax and Income Tax Departments as well as
implementing the planned change from Sales Tax to Value Added Tax.
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The new United States Ambassador to Lesotho, Robert Geers Loftis, presented
his credentials to King Letsie III during the second week of October.
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Maseru Private Hospital, which was acquired by the Lesotho Government when it
went into liquidation, is to be operated for a two year period from October 2001
by Lenmed Hospital Management Services of South Africa. In a statement, the
Privatisation Unit indicated that it was Government's intention to return the
hospital fully to the private sector at the conclusion of the management
contract.
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A major demonstration took place in Maseru on 15 October, led by the
President of the Lesotho Workers Party, Mr Macaefa Billy. The protesters,
members of the Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union LECAWU rejected the
current Wages Advisory Board and asked that it be replaced with an Industrial
Wages Council. They also called on the Minister of Labour, Sello Clement
Machakela, to resign because he had implemented the 6.5% increment recommended
by the Wages Advisory Board, when in fact inflation was 8.5%.
However the workers were demanding a 12 to 15% rise. Reference was made to
Chinese factories in South Africa, who did not pay their workers less than R1500
per month. The protest march eventually proceeded to the Qhobosheaneng
Government Complex, where the demonstrators asked to see the Prime Minister.
According to a report by Thabo Motlamelle in Public Eye of 19 October
2001, the Prime Minister refused to address the workers because he was too busy.
The Principal Secretary of Public Service, Semano Sekatle, accepted the
workers petition, and a second petition was also handed to the Clerk of the
National Assembly. The demonstrators were eventually dispersed by police using
whips and tear gas. A police statement quoted in Southern Star of 2
November 2001, defended the use of tear gas, stating that the march was not
peaceful in that intimidation and assault had taken place directed at factory
workers who were not involved in the march. Moreover the protesters had sung
vulgarities about high ranking Government officials.
The whole incident did not do much for government popularity. The Catholic
newspaper, Moeletsi oa Basotho of 21 October 2001 carried the headline
Mosisili o lahla livoutu o t aba ho bua le basebetsi sefahla mahlo (Mosisili
loses votes; he is frightened of talking to the workers face to face).
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An announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission Chairman, Leshele
Thoahlane, reported in Mopheme of 16 October 2001, stated that the IEC has
registered 920 000 people for the forthcoming elections. Voters lists were being
made up and when these had been finalized in January, the next stage in the
registration process would be for voters to be issued with their voters cards,
which contain the photographs taken during the first stage of the voting
process.
The figure of 920 000 was achieved by extending the registration process.
Population figures for Lesotho are not reliable because of the flawed nature of
the 1996 census. However, most informed persons believe that the population is
close to 2.1 million people. The minimum voting age of 18 is very close to the
median age of the population, which implies a maximum of 1 050 000 potential
persons of voting age. The 920 000 figure means that close to 90% of potential
voters have in fact registered.
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A Spanish CASA C212 400 fixed wing plane was handed over to the Lesotho
Defence Force Air Wing on 17 October 2001. It replaces the CASA C212 300 which
was seriously damaged when it crashed without loss of life into a shop on the
perimeter of the Mokhotlong Airfield in poor weather on 16 December 2000. The
LDF normally operates two C212 planes as troop carriers, but their safety record
has not been good.
18 soldiers lost their lives in 1989, when one of the C212 planes crashed
shortly after take off at Qacha's Nek in 1989. The new plane was purchased for
US$4.4 million, a discount on the normal US$6.2, because the plane had been used
for 260 hours flying time as a demonstration model.
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Mob justice was meted out to three alleged stock thieves, who were seen by
villagers at Ha Ramaqhanyane driving a cow and a donkey up the valley of the
Manganeng Liphiring stream early on Friday 19 October 2001. The three young men
had apparently been driving stolen animals over night, and when called upon to
come over to the village, they took to their heels. Villagers from Ha
Ramaqhanyane, Ha Liile and Mahlabatheng villages gave chase, all three were
caught and beaten.
Their bodies were then burned, one of them being apparently burned alive. A
photograph of three charred corpses appeared on the front page of the Catholic
newspaper, Moeletsi oa Basotho of 28 October 2001, which also reported
that the three men, aged 26 to 29, were all from the village of Popa Ha Maama,
near Roma. While many people were shocked at what occurred, this was apparently
not the case amongst callers to a phone in programme three days later on Radio
Moafrika. According to a report in Public Eye of 26 October 2001, callers
praised the action of the villagers and stated they would like all cattle
thieves to die similar deaths.
Villages in the Ha Ramaqhanyane area are no strangers to mob justice. In the
past five years, two alleged thieves were lynched at Ha Liile, while other
alleged cattle thieves have been killed in the nearby villages of Khokhotsaneng
Ha Majara and Ha Ntsane. Not far away at Ha Seqoma in the Roma valley, there was
a further incident relating to cattle theft shortly after dawn on Saturday 24
November 2001. An armed group from a number of local villages who had lost
cattle and who believed them to be at Ha Seqoma invaded the village and in the
process three Ha Seqoma residents were shot and injured. They retaliated,
killing one of the invaders, who was from Mokhokhong.
The disputed cattle in the meantime were unharmed, and were taken into
custody by the police. Neither of these incidents was reported by the police
newspaper, Leseli ka Sepolesa, and it was not known whether anyone had
been arrested following the killings. The newspaper in its issue of 20 December
2001 did however report another incident at Likotopong in the Makhaleng valley
on 3 December 2001, when four people were killed in a fight between a vigilante
group and persons suspected of cattle theft. In this case it was stated that
police investigations into the killings were proceeding. In the same issue of
the newspaper, it was reported that after a request to police by villagers that
they could legally acquire weapons to protect themselves against cattle theft,
the police had carried out a three day training weapons course at Khoiti Ntle
village at Mohlaka oa tuka, Maseru District.
In the Roma area, uncontrolled cattle theft is a matter about which many
people have strong opinions, because of the way it has impacted on their lives.
Whole villages have relocated in the past two years to the valley floor from
positions on top of the plateau, where they had lost animals to thieves. At Ha
Thakholi, which two years ago had a population of 140 persons, all have left,
and Ha Thakholi and several adjoining nearby settlements are now ghost villages.
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Two cabinet vacancies had been created by the defection of the Minister of
Justice to the new Lesotho People's Congress, and by the resignation of Mr
Hlalele Motaung as Minister of Tourism, Sports & Culture. They were filled by
swearing in new ministers on Monday 22 October 2001. The new Minister of
Justice, Law and Constitutional Affairs is Senator Refiloe Moses Masemene, while
Sephiri Motanyane, already a Minister to the Prime Minister, becomes Minister of
Tourism, Sports & Culture. The new Minister to the Prime Minister is the MP for
Bela Bela, Matooane Mokhosi .
The new Minister of Justice is officially blind, having begun to lose his
sight at the age of 11, although he was able to continue with his education and
was eventually awarded a degree by the National University of Lesotho. He was
appointed to the Senate as a representative of disabled persons. Masemene is
probably the first visually impaired person to hold cabinet office in Africa,
although elsewhere in UK, David Blunkett has been successively Education
Minister and Home Secretary. In Sweden, Bengt Lindqvist, who is also visually
impaired, was appointed Minister of Social Welfare in 1985.
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According to a report in Mopheme of 23 October, 2 800 Lesotho Defence
Force rifles and numerous other weapons were due to be destroyed at a recycling
facility in Benoni in South Africa the following week. Many of the rifles
were from Makoanyane Barracks which had been captured during the SADC operation
in 1998, although a significant number were also LDF rifles seized later over a
period by the Counter Crime Unit (CCU). A Mopheme reporter noted that
some of the arms were in a shipment box marked Agricultural Equipment. When
asked about this, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Thabane said that the
boxes were so designated to deceive the former apartheid government in South
Africa, across whose land they had had to pass in transit. According to the
article the 2 800 rifles (a similar report in Lentsoe la Basotho of 25
October 3 gave the number of rifles as 3 800) are in addition to the 26 000
rifles from Lesotho already destroyed by the South African army.
The strength of the Lesotho Defence Force in 1998 was about 3 000 personnel,
and these figures show that it apparently possessed about nine rifles per
soldier. Even during the 1998 intervention, the South African Defence Force had
commented on the LDF's extraordinarily large amount of weaponry, far in excess
of what it could conceivably use. Cloaked in mystery remains the source of
funding for this superfluity of weapons. If it was from local sources, then
major funding which might have gone, for example, towards the much needed new
hospital for Maseru, had obviously been squandered with probable kickbacks to
the squanderers on items worse than worthless, items which had brought pain,
suffering and instability to Lesotho.
The actual destruction of the weapons was reported in Public Eye of 23
November 2001 in what was described as Operation Sardien (Sardine) conducted at
the Metal Fragment firm in Benoni, South Africa. The destruction of 3 843
redundant small arms was watched by Lesotho's High Commissioner to South Africa,
Mr Mosuoe Moteane, representatives of the Lesotho and South African Defence
Forces, and the US Charge d'Affaires to South Africa. The USA has established a
fund to assist African countries to destroy surplus arms.
The government newspaper, Lentsoe la Basotho contained further detail
and photographs showing the weapons being picked up in an enormous scoop;
showing the machine which ground them to metal fragments; and finally the pile
of metal fragments itself. Lesotho was paid M140 per ton for the fragments of
scrap metal, and altogether there were 39 tons. Thus were many millions of
maloti of unnecessary expenditure reduced to a payout of just M5460.
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The first component of Phase 1B of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, the
Matsoku Weir and Tunnel, were inaugurated on 26 October 2001 by the
Lesotho Minister of Natural Resources, Monyane Moleleki and his South African
counterpart, the minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Ronnie Kasrils. The 19
m high Matsoku Weir is 180 m long. It diverts water from the Matsoku river into
the 5.6 km, long Matsoku tunnel, which links the Matsoku catchment to the Katse
Reservoir. The tunnel can accommodate a maximum flow of 55 m 3 s (cumecs) of
water, and is expected to achieve an average annual diversion of 2.2
cms, a quantity greater than Lesotho's total domestic consumption of water.
Following the construction of the Katse Dam, LHWP was capable of delivering
some 16.8 cumecs of water to South Africa, and the Matsoku diversion has
increased this by more than 13%.
Work on the Matsoku diversion project began in February 1998, and at its
peak, 400 Basotho were employed at the construction site. Construction was
undertaken by a partnership between three firms Hochtief of Germany; Impregilo
of Italy; and Concor of South Africa. During his speech at the inauguration of
the Matsoku Tunnel, Mr Ronnie Kasrils touched on a number of matters relating to
the Lesotho Highlands Water Project on which Lesotho and South Africa had now
come to an agreement. He also mentioned South Africa's willingness to
participate in a Lesotho Lowlands Water Project in which water in the Caledon
catchment would be appropriately used to meet the needs of Maseru.
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A Lesotho News Agency (LENA) report from Maseru dated 30 October 2001 quoted
the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Mr
Monyane Mathibeli to the effect that an agreement had been reached for the road
from Mokhotlong through Sani Pass to Himeville to be tarred. o The total cost of
upgrading the road is M170 million, of which M100 million is needed for the
technically very demanding construction on the South African side of the border.
It was stated that South Africa had already put aside sufficient money for this
work, leaving Lesotho to find the M70 million needed to tar the section from
Mokhotlong to Sani Top.
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Two cases were reported in which recipients of letters (a US citizen
headmaster in Quthing District and a Canadian doctor in Qacha's Nek District)
reported their being contaminated with a white powder. The Ministry of Health
arranged for the powder to be tested for anthrax. It was found to be harmless,
as was , reported by the Minister of Health, Dr Pontso Sekatle, at a press
conference on 30 October 2001.
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With effect from late October 2001, Automatic Teller Machine cards in the
possession of Lesotho Bank and Standard Bank customers became
interchangeable in the sense that each could be used in the machines of the
other bank. ATMs are now available at three points in Maseru, and at Roma,
Teyateyaneng, Maputsoe, Hlotse and Butha Buthe. Automated banking has yet to
penetrate the south of Lesotho.
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The Lesotho Monitor whose subheading says that it reviews, analyses,
builds on national development process was launched with a first issue
vol. 1, no. 1 dated October 2001. Its editor in chief is Dr Dan E Rakoro Phororo,
a veterinary surgeon by profession, and well known for his participation in a
number of national think tank exercises. He was, for example a member of the
Strategic Economic Options Study Task Force, and one of the four consultants who
edited the final report, Economic options for Lesotho 1997.
Rakoro Phororo has also been an inveterate writer of letters to the English
language newspapers, criticizing the ineffectiveness of, for example,
Government by Workshops . Articles in The Lesotho Monitor pull no
punches, particularly in the several articles by the editor in chief. He points
out that as far as employment is concerned, Basotho are worse off than at
Independence, with 45% now unemployed compared with 25% in 1966. He also
contributes some very detailed personal profiles of Basotho with quite diverse
lifestyles including the 87 year old Professor J. M. Mohapeloa, a model of
rectitude and pioneer in many educational areas; and by way of contrast, Mothusi
Bimbo Mashologu, whose freely admitted promiscuous lifestyle has left him HIV
positive, but a leader in a different way as an AIDS awareness campaigner, one
of the very few of those afflicted in Lesotho who has gone public about
his condition.
Phororo, who contributes about half of all the articles in the magazine,
manages to provide plenty of diversity in his writing and at times begins his
articles with opening sentences so arresting that, few will fail to read on. One
article begins "In Africa, where HIV and AIDS are rampant, nuns and other
virgins are seen as a safe target of priests and other males' sexual escapades
and gratification ..." The opening sentence, however, apparently is based on
reports from Zimbabwe, not Lesotho.
Amongst other contributors are Moeketsi Majoro on Ladybrand's competitive
edge over Maseru as a shopping destination; Hopolang Phororo on a young girl's
life scarred by sexual abuse at gunpoint at the age of 14; Stephen Gill on how
Lesotho politics has degenerated into coalitions intent on maximising benefits
for politicians, rather than meeting the needs of society at large; and John
Gay, writing from the United States and reflecting post September 11 on the
factors which lead so many people to hate America.
Printed on glossy paper, the 70 page magazine has a minimum of advertising,
and no Sesotho, which may limit its viability in a society where English
publications, other than textbooks, are not commonly purchased. The first issue
has a few typographical blemishes such as transposed text and a misspelling
three times over of the magazine's title. However, in general, it sets a high
standard of well – presented and engaging writing of a high standard.
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Two new ambassadors received their letters of credence from His Majesty King
Letsie III on Thursday 25 October 2001. They were Dr Thekiso Khati, a lecturer
in the Faculty of Education at the National University of Lesotho who is to be
the Ambassador to Denmark; and Ms Molelekeng Rapolaki, who was most recently
Principal Secretary for Economic Planning, who is to be Ambassador to the U. S.
A.
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It had not been generally known that the so called Sehlabathebe National Park
was not in fact a park at all. It had been proclaimed by Government Notice no.
34 of 1970 as a Wild Life Sanctuary under the Game Preservation Proclamation
1951, there being at the time no Lesotho legislation which could be used to
create a national park, although the 1970 notice had hopefully used the
description Wild Life Sanctuary and National Park for Sehlabathebe.
The anomaly meant that while certain wild animals were protected in the
Sehlabathebe Park although in fact there were very few large wild animals, none
of the vegetation was protected, except the few species which were separately
protected countrywide under the Historical Monuments, Relics, Fauna and Flora
Act 1967.
The process of removing the anomaly has been a long one. The National Parks
Act 1975 was only brought into operation as late as 12 years later by the
National Parks Act Commencement Notice Legal Notice no. 91 of 1987. However, the
notice required to make Sehlabathebe subject to the Act was not given, so the
Act made provision for a body corporate known as the Lesotho National Parks
Board of Trustees but without at the time any national parks to be administered.
This situation has now been rectified by the Declaration of Sehlabathebe
National Park Notice 2001 Legal Notice no. 181 of 2001, in Supplement no. 1 to
Lesotho Government Gazette no. 90 of 2001 (2 November 2001). Sehlabathebe is now
both a Selected Development Area under the Land Act 1979 this had already been
declared earlier in 2001, and is also a National Park under section 4 of the
National Parks Act 1975 . The new Legal Notice contains the original 1970
boundary description, made shortly before Lesotho metricated. More than a
quarter of a century after metrication, and when non metric maps are unlikely to
be available except in a specialized map library, the 2001 Lesotho Government
Gazette boundary description nevertheless makes reference to a 8,500 ft contour,
and states that the approximate area of the park is 25 square miles. The
management of the park in terms of the 1975 Act now falls under a Lesotho
National Parks Board of Trustees, which must submit an annual report on its
operations. However, there is no indication that this body has yet been set up.
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The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy ewspaper Mololi had been
controlled for a time by the dissident Lesiba faction of the party, and
then had disappeared to be replaced by Nonyana, when the faction formed
the new Lesotho People's Congress. It re-emerged as the LCD's official party
paper on 29 November 2001, and solved the dilemma of how it should be numbered
by going back to volume 1, number 1. The new editor of the newspaper is the
Minister of Natural Resources, Mr Monyane Moleleki.
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A serious local government vacuum had been in existence for some time in
rural areas. The Village Development Councils, elected in 1986, 1989, 1992 and
1995, at three year intervals, would in 1998 have ceased to operate without a
further election, if they had not had their powers extended by a further year.
However, after that, they ceased to have any legal existence, creating
uncertainty at village level as to who, for example, now had the power to
allocate land. This only exacerbated friction which had been created between
chiefs and councils, when following the restoration of democracy in 1993, the
new government had, in the eyes of many, unwisely deprived the chiefs of the
ex officio right to chair the councils in the areas where they were the
gazetted chiefs.
Government had promised before the 1998 general election that a new system of
local government would be introduced before that election. Parliament had passed
in 1997 the Local Government Act 1996 legislation which should have borne the
date of its enactment, not the date of the original Bill. This Act made
provision for democratically elected Municipal and Urban Councils in urban areas
and Community Councils in rural areas, although, like much legislation drafted
by expatriate advisers the principal adviser in this case was from Birmingham
University in UK it should have had careful scrutiny before enactment.
Possibly the subsequent awareness that there would have to be an amendment
act before the principal Act was brought into force had delayed the process of
introducing the new system of local government. Certainly, the disturbances of
1998, when the Ministry of Local Government headquarters building was burned,
could also not have helped the implementation process. The Ministry was faced
with the dilemma that there was no officially recognized local government, and
that bodies such as the Lesotho Fund for Community Development had had to be
created with an expensive central and district bureaucracy because bodies who
could be entrusted with community development at local level were missing.
By 2001, the Ministry apparently could wait no longer for the 1997 Act to be
brought into force, and it searched the statute book for alternatives. For urban
government, the 1983 legislation due to be repealed by the new Act, but still in
force pro tem was used. For rural government, there was nothing on the
statute book relating to the much needed Community Councils, except the new, but
not operating Act. As a result it decided to use the provisions of the Act, and
to create unofficial Community Councils to be known as Interim Community
Councils.
For the purposes of creating the councils, the provisions of the still
dormant legislation were used, even though some of these contained defects which
might have been modified by a Local Government Amendment Act . For example, the
provision for Community Councils was that there should be not less than 17 and
not more than 21 per district, despite great disparities between districts in
size and area Qacha's Nek District, for example has less than half the
population and less than half the area of Thaba Tseka, and only about one third
of the rural population of Maseru District.
Another difficulty is that a Community Council has to have not less than and
not more than 15 electoral divisions, requiring a complex delimitation by the
Minister [by Notice published in the Lesotho Government Gazette]. The logistics
of doing this nationwide, when the rural areas are so poorly documented even at
District Headquarters level, are enormous. More appropriate would have been to
create Community Council areas by combining the previous Village Development
Council areas, balancing the larger against the smaller by allowing them to
elect more councillors.
A third problem is the provision for the participation of local chiefs, which
the Act says must be not more than gazetted chiefs for each Community Council
who shall also be elected. The only conclusion here was that there would have to
be two sets of ballot boxes, one for chiefs and one for other candidates, but
what if a chief decided to stand in his own right as an individual? The Act
remains 8 silent on this and other detail, such as the reality that some half of
gazetted chiefs are at any time away, working in South Africa, Maseru or
elsewhere, and their administrative functions are performed by persons they
delegate to act on their behalf.
The District Secretaries were required by the Ministry to arrange for
Community Council elections in their districts over the period 26 to 30
November. Given the enormous resources and advance notice for the General
Election still more than six months away, there could be nothing but sympathy
for those who were expected to undertake a vastly more complex task at such
short notice, and without the benefit of the experience of the outgoing Village
Development Councils which officially had been dissolved two years earlier.
The task of holding the Community Council elections in a short period in
practice proved impossible, and District Secretaries and their staff were still
engaged in the exercise in mid December, and it was far from clear how much of
the country had in fact acquired elected Community Councils as a result of the
exercise. Meanwhile, the confused local government situation had not escaped the
opposition Lesotho People s Congress. In December it proposed a motion in
the National Assembly asking it to dismiss d attempts to hold the interim
council elections, which were illegal until the Minister had made the Local
Government Act 1996 operational.
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The exchange rate between the loti and major world currencies had remained
relatively stable throughout the year 2000 and the first part of 2001. The loti
is pegged to the South African rand and during this period it was trading in the
region of M6.50 to M7.50 to the US dollar, or around M10 to M11 to the UK pound.
From August there was a steady deterioration in the exchange rate, and in early
December the slippage accelerated, so that by mid December, a US dollar was
trading at times at over M12, and a UK pound at over M17. The implications are
that imported goods will be very much more expensive, although this is at
least temporarily offset by the global decline in the price of oil.
Inflation in Lesotho which had stabilized in the region 6% to 7%, now seems
certain to increase. Amongst the effects is likely to be a massive increase in
examination fees for the high school leaving examination, the Cambridge Overseas
School Certificate. In many schools, this fee is likely to be close to or even
exceed the cost of other school fees for the fifth year of high school, the year
when the examination is written.
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The US African Growth and Opportunity Act provides for reduced tariffs on
certain goods from African countries committed to the rule of law and a free
market economy. Throughout 2001, textile companies in Lesotho, taking advantage
of the Act, had expanded rapidly, so that approximately 1000 new jobs were being
created per month. In practice over 95% of these jobs were for women workers,
most of whom were paid at the minimum wage, and whose working conditions were
generally considered by the main labour union, LECAWU, to be unacceptable.
However, with no lack of job seekers, women had little scope for complaint,
because they could always be replaced by others. The gender asymmetry in
salaried work was also seriously problematic. Relatively few men in e Lesotho
now have salaried work, and the very high crime rate, ranging from stock theft
to vehicle robbery is obviously closely related to male unemployment.
In South Africa, factory working conditions were similarly bad, but factory
owners there were apparently not planning to expand, but rather to relocate to
Lesotho. As reported in Business Report of 9 December 2001, owners of 20 textile
factories in Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal were threatening to abandon up to 8 000
workers and to move to Lesotho. This occurred after an incident in which the
Taiwanese owner of a factory was taken to court after an employee had given
birth to twins at night on the dirty factory floor. It had been impossible to
summon medical assistance and the twins had died. It was apparently standard
practice to lock the workers on the night shift inside the factory after 5 p.m.
in order to protect their assets.
According to the story in Business Report, there are some 50 Taiwanese
factories in the Newcastle area, and the South African minimum wage for the type
of work they provide is R260 per week. However, according to the Southern
African Clothing and Textile Workers Union SACTWU some workers were in fact
being paid as little as R85 per week. The comparable Lesotho wages with effect
from 1 October 2001 are M183 per week for a machine operator and M158 for a
machine attendant, although in many factories making clothing, the lower wages
for sewing machine operators are likely to be applied, and these are M134 per
week for the first 6 months of training, and thereafter M140 per week.
As in South Africa, there have been complaints in Lesotho that workers are
often paid less than the minimum wage, but are afraid to complain lest they lose
their jobs. With the devaluation of the loti towards the end of 2001, there is
now potential for much higher profits for companies exporting from Lesotho. It
remains to see to what extent the additional profits will be translated into
better wages and working conditions, and indeed to what extent the Lesotho
Government will benefit from these higher profits, given the inefficiencies of
the taxation process.
The textile industry is a volatile national asset given its control by
foreign companies. While US legislation has given it a temporary boost, there is
a serious cloud on the horizon as a result of the November 2001 meeting in Doha
of the World Trade Organization. At this meeting, China was admitted to the
World Trade Organization WTO, and there was also a push to dismantle national
quotas. The outcome predicted by Neil Kearney of the International Textile,
Garment and Leather Workers Federation is that China and a few other major
exporting countries to the US and European markets will benefit, while countries
like Bangladesh and Indonesia will lose markets which might lead to job losses
of a million in each country, while in countries such as Lesotho a few ten
thousand jobs might be lost. As far as Lesotho is concerned, this would be the
loss of practically all the jobs in manufacturing industry.
In five years time, the factories might be thriving sources of export
earnings, or they might be ruined empty shells. There seems to have been no
Lesotho Government comment on the WTO meeting, and it is not known who, if
anyone, represented Lesotho at the meeting.
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Most of the new textile firms in Lesotho have been established at Thetsane
near Maseru, and at Maputsoe and nearby Nyenye industrial estates in Leribe
District. In November, a new textile firm opened in Mafeteng, and according to
Paul Makhabane and Mzamane Nhlapo, writing in Public Eye of 7 December 2001, it
used controversial methods to decide who should be employed amongst the vast
numbers of aspirant employees who besieged its gates from 3 a.m. onwards on the
opening day.
Apparently the aspirant workers were required to run a kilometre up a hill to
find out who was the most fit, although even after this only pretty women, with
magnetic smiles and flamboyant attires were hired. The owners of the firm, also
asked the people to divide into their local villages of origin and picked out a
quota from each, leaving those who came from more distant parts nowhere in the
competition for employment.
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A sequel to the finding of a mutilated corpse in May 2001, was that two men ,
Tsepang Khotso, aged 26, and Tsietsi Tamo, aged 32, of Lithabaneng Qoqolosing,
appeared before the Leribe magistrate on 20 November 2001 charged with medicine
murder. It was alleged that they had removed the windpipe, eyes and ears from
the corpse of the person that they had killed. According to the newspaper
Leseli ka Sepolesa of 20 December 2001, one of those charged had said that
he had carried out the murder because he suspected that dead persons were
stealing his cattle. However, he could not say what made him believe this to be
true. The two accused were remanded in custody.
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The use of the head of the late Ntsu Mokhehle, the former BCP and LCD leader,
as the electoral symbol of the new Lesotho People's Congress (LPC) party did not
go unchallenged. The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy, which felt it had a
greater claim as the successor party of Ntsu Mokhehle, took the matter to the
High Court. However, in his ruling on 6 December 2001, Mr Justice Tseliso
Monaphathi ruled that LPC was entitled to register a photograph of the head of
Ntsu Mokhehle as its electoral symbol.
There could be no confusion with the symbol of the LCD, which was well known
to be a bird in fact it is supposed to be a ntsu, popularly believed to
be an eagle and also representative of the former leader, Ntsu Mokhehle.
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The police newspaper, Leseli ka Sepolesa, does not need to cover lurid
stories in order to boost sales, because it is paid for by the Police Public
Relations Department. Nevertheless, perhaps as an escape from reporting routine
crime, it often includes unusual stories such as bestiality with a chicken
reported earlier in 2001 or, as happened in its issue of 16 November 2001, an
unusual case of assault by a man on another young man whom he accused of having
a love affair with his wife.
In this lead story in the newspaper of 16 November 2001, it was related that
the unfortunate victim, Tlatsang Mosikili aged 24, of Kholokoe near Matsieng,
was summoned by Thabang Jane, aged 39, to his house, ordered to strip at
gunpoint, and his sexual organs were then enclosed by a padlock. Mosikili had no
option but to seek help from men in the village, who took him to the Morija
Police Station, where in great pain, he was only finally released from the
torment when Jane was arrested and produced the key. In the subsequent court
case, Jane was sentenced to seven years in gaol for the assault, and to a
further two years or a fine M4 000 for having an unlicensed firearm. His wife
said in court that there was no truth in the rumours that Tlatsang had been her
lover it had been a case of her husband being unjustifiably
suspicious and jealous when he was away working in the mines.
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The wet weather late in 2001 included a number of severe electrical storms.
In one of these, as reported »V by Lentsoe la Basotho of 22 November 2001, a
young woman was struck dead in the compound of the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital
in Maseru. The unfortunate woman, was at the hospital in order to visit her
own mother, who had taken a sick grandchild to the hospital.
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The annual Roof of Africa Rally has changed very much in character since its
inception over 30 years ago. There are now just two classes, motor cycles and
quad bikes, which participated in the traditional Round the Houses Race although
on a modified route because of the new relief road and then across country, the
whole race taking place from 14 to 17 November 2001. The motorcyclist Alfie Cox
retained his title of King of the Roof, while the quad bike winner was Cornel de
Villiers. None of the Lesotho contestants in the quad bike event managed to
finish the course.
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The National Assembly Elections Bill 2001 was debated in the National
Assembly during November. It provides a legal framework for the forthcoming
elections based on earlier agreements with the Interim Political Authority.
As reported in Mopheme of 27 November 2001, the most controversial
section of the Bill turned out to be the Party in Power section. This inter alia
stated that the party in power, whether at the national or in the district or
districts concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint
that it has used its official position and privileges for the purposes of its
election campaign.
The section also barred ministers and councillors from combining their
official visits with the electioneering process, using official machinery and
government personnel, transport and public facilities in the interest of the
party in power. The section was debated at length and then unanimously rejected
by LCD Members of Parliament. As a result it will be deleted from the Act
of Parliament. Many will feel that its absence from the legislation has resulted
in a situation where the party in power is no longer required to provide a level
playing field for the forthcoming elections.
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The Marematlou Freedom Party , in anticipation of the 2002 General Election,
has been the first party to publish its election manifesto. With a cover in the
party colours of yellow, black and green, the 24 page manifesto includes a
handwritten introduction by the party leader, Vincent Moeketse Malebo, and a
summary of the party policies which include eradication of famine and poverty
and job creation; elimination of corruption in government; protection of
government funds and property; improvement u of the situation of
employees, teachers, informal sector employees, the poor , the youth, the
security services, education and the health of the nation; improvement and
development of the economy, particularly agriculture and industry; ending stock
theft; and fighting against HIVAIDS. The manifesto identifies itself as the
fifth MFP manifesto, others having been issued in 1965, 1970, 1993 and 1998.
Photographs illustrate some of the party's policies.
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The Marakabei Lodge, situated on the banks of the Senqunyane River, was
originally established as a result of an initiative of the then Maseru District
Council in the early 1960s. It was later managed by the Fraser company, which
owned the nearby Marakabei Store. More recently it had been an unprofitable
government owned enterprise, and indeed was non operational between 1992 and
1998. In April 1998, the lodge was leased to MCM Enterprises, a local company
owned by Mr Mosuoe Moteane. In November 2001, under the privatization program,
the lodge was sold to MCM Enterprises.
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A project to develop the Mahlasela area near Oxbow as a major skiing resort
was inaugurated on 21 November 2001 at Mahlasela. The area, which is on the road
to Mokhotlong, now has tarred road access, and as a first stage M14 million will
be spent on infrastructure and services such as electricity and water, both of
which are readily to hand, the area being on the 88 kV line which serves the
Letseng la Terae diamond mine, while water can be found in the many mountain
streams. It is planned to install artificial snow making equipment so that the
skiing season at Mahlasela will extend for an uninterrupted five months.
A Swiss style alpine village is planned by Afri Ski Leisure Pty Ltd , a
company whose chairman is the former South African athletics captain, Wessel
Bosman. Two ski lifts of length 900 m and 1.5 km are planned.
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The Quadrant Group, a computer supply and training firm in Maseru, on Friday
7 December 2001, sponsored its second annual charity event in the Lesotho
Sun ballroom, where the star attraction was the Cape Town based guitarist Jimmy
Dludlu and his band. M10 000 was raised for both the Beautiful Gate formerly
known as Little Feet Orphanage in Maseru and for the rebuilding of the Primary
Health Care Centre at St Joseph's Hospital, Roma, which had burned down in an
accidental fire earlier in the year. Amongst guests at the event was King Letsie
III, who surprised other guests by himself grabbing the microphone and proving
to the audience that he could himself also sing jazz lyrics melodiously.
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An Amendment Bill to the Lesotho Defence Force Act 1996, was presented to
Parliament in December 2001. The main effect of the Bill is to reduce the
retirement age of junior ranks in the army from 55 to 45. The stated rationale
of the Bill is to ensure that soldiers in these ranks are operational with a
high degree of fitness and capabilities, qualities which are compromised after
the age of 45. An unstated, but likely additional reason for the Bill, is that
it will also facilitate reduction in the size and therefore cost of the Lesotho
Defence Force.
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The Conserving Mountain Biodiversity in Southern Lesotho Project (CMBSL) ,
through advertisements in newspapers in December 2001, announced that it was
inviting bids to provide game fencing of 40 km perimeter for the Letsa la Letsie
area in Quthing District. The area, near the headwaters of the Quthing River,
adjoining the Ongeluksnek border crossing point, has in the past been used for
grazing, although it retains a small population of Vaal Rhebok. In recent years,
the number of animals being grazed there has been much diminished by the
constant risk of cattle raids from the South African side of the border, raids
which have led to the loss of hundreds of cattle and indeed loss of life in both
these raids and retaliatory raids mounted from the Lesotho side into South
Africa. One consequence of the area's reduced use as a grazing area has been the
recovery of the montane grassveld, which is now more lush than it has been for
over 100 years.
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Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso and Machaka Makara were married at the Sefika
Lesotho Evangelical Church in Maseru on Saturday 15 December 2001. Prince Seeiso
is the younger brother of King Letsie III, and at the occasion were not only
members of the Royal Family, but members of Government and other distinguished
guests. The new bride, whose home is in Khubetsoana , Maseru, is an honours
student in biomedical sciences at the University of Stellenbosch in South
Africa.
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Seven African National Congress members who had been killed during South
African raids on Maseru ‚ in 1982 and 1985 were exhumed on Wednesday 12 December
from their graves at Seputana, Maseru, and were reburied as freedom struggle
heroes in Port Elizabeth on the Day of Reconciliation , 16 December 2001, which
is the South African holiday replacing what was celebrated as the Day of the
Covenant and earlier as Dingaan's Day during the apartheid era. The five men and
two women who were exhumed and reburied were Alfred Marwanqana, Íh Mzukisi
Marwanqana, Tandiswa Marwanqana, Zola Nqini , Phakamile Mpongoshe alias Sidney
Mavimbela , Lindiwe Mdlankomo and Nomkhosi Mini .
Six of those reburied were victims of the South African Defence Force raid on
Maseru on 9 December 1982, when 42 people died altogether. The three Marwanqanas
from Queenstown were members of a single family who had arrived seeking
political asylum in Lesotho only the day before. Zola Nqini, aged 48, was
originally from Uitenhage. He had served 5 years on Robben Island for terrorism,
and before seeking asylum in Lesotho had served the South African Communist
Party in the Ilenge area of Glen Grey District. Phakamile Mpongoshe, aged 50,
originally from KwaZekhele, Port Elizabeth, had been granted political asylum
after arriving in Lesotho in August 1980. Earlier he had served the ANC at
Catengue in Angola and was also a former Robben Island prisoner. Lindiwe Walk
Tall Mdlankomo was also from Port Elizabeth. The seventh of those reburied was
Nomkhosi Mini. She was one of the nine people who had been killed in the raid on
Maseru on 19 December 1985.
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Lesobeng is one of the remotest valleys in Lesotho, and it lacks public
transport connecting it with elsewhere in Lesotho. According to a report in
Leseli ka Sepolesa of 31 December 2001, a number of women who had been
shopping in Maseru, on 22 December 2001 took the only transport available
between Mantsonyane and Lesobeng, a van the back of which was enclosed in a
canopy because of the wet weather. Ten women began the journey in the back of
the van, and five alighted at intermediate spots. However, after the last
section which crosses moorland without villages, when the driver went to the
back of the van, he found the remaining five women dead. They had presumably
been overcome by fumes because of poor vehicle ventilation.
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Rainfall in the months of October, November and December was throughout
Lesotho well above average for each month, and rainfall totals in many places
exceeded twice the average for the period. It was the wettest beginning to
summer since 1943 for many rainfall stations, and for others it was the wettest
start to summer since rainfall was first systematically recorded in Lesotho in
1886. Many stations recorded totals of over 500 mm for the three months and at
Roma the total was 653 mm.
The Katse Reservoir does not spill over the dam wall at all in an average
summer. However in very wet summers it may begin to spill over towards the end
of the rainy season in March or April, and this has happened twice, in March
1998 and April 2001. However in the summer of 2001, the reservoir surprised
everyone by spilling over in mid November. As a result, the usual procedure for
overspilling was put in place for the third time in the dam history. This
involves filling the plunge pool behind the 32 m high tailwater dam by low level
release through the dam wall, so that when overspill occurs the massive energy
of water falling over the 185 m high dam can be dissipated in the plunge pool
and does not cause erosion immediately downstream from the main dam wall. The
full surface level of the reservoir is considered to be at 2053.0 metres above
sea level and filling of the plunge pool begins when the reservoir level reaches
2052.9 metres.
The level of the reservoir was still at more than 2053.3 m at the end of the
calendar year, and those able to visit Katse could enjoy the magnificent sight
of vast quantities of water pouring through the ten spillway gates in a
waterfall higher than the Victoria Falls. Very few, however, in fact made the
journey because facilities for tourists at Katse are minimal. The return trip
over three major mountain passes is one that few drivers would care to make in a
single day, and the overnight accommodation available at Katse consists of a
small hotel, Katse Lodge, whose telephone number does not even appear in the
Lesotho Telephone Directory.
The hotel is reserved for water project staff on official business, although
available to a limited number of outsiders if prebooked. Despite the rains,
things were not quite so rosy on the agricultural front. Persistent rain made
ploughing very difficult, and downpours led to flooded fields and soil erosion.
The ground was often too waterlogged for tractors to be used, and although oxen
could sometimes be used in such circumstances and even to rescue bogged
down tractors, even those draught animals found the going heavy. Various
observers had different explanations for the large amount of fallow land still
remaining in the Lowlands in December, when it had become too late to plant and
sow most crops, although beans were still a possibility.
The excessive rainfall was often given as the main cause, but nearly as often
the lack of draught animals was mentioned, many people having lost theirs as a
result of cattle theft, while cattle thieves themselves were reluctant to draw
attention to their ill gotten gains by offering the cattle for hire. A third
explanation was the impact of AIDS. Many families during the past few months had
had the expense of burying a close relative, and the expense of the funeral had
left them with inadequate capital to pay for seeds, fertilizer and hire of oxen.
Winter wheat was however, generally very good, although the heavy rains were
making harvesting difficult, and much remained unharvested at the end of
December. In the Maloti, with better drained soils and greater availability of
draught animals, the crop situation was better, and relatively few fields had
apparently been left fallow in most areas.
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The entry of Chinese traders into the retail business has resulted in recent
years in fireworks being j widely available, and children were detonating these
from early December onwards. On New Year's Eve a storm and power cut occurred in
parts of Lesotho in the early evening. However, the weather cleared and at
midnight a display of pyrotechnics in several places heralded the New Year 2002.
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