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SUMMARY
OF
EVENTS
IN
LESOTHO
Volume 9,
Number
1, (first quarter 2002)
Summary
of
Events
is
a
quarterly
publication
compiled
and
published
by
Prof.
David
Ambrose
since
1993
at
the
National
University
of
Lesotho
in
Roma.
Local Government Act
1997 comes into Operation
Environment Act 2001 Gazetted
Parliament
Passes National Assembly (Amendment) Act 2001
Death of George Lieta
Leon Commission Report
becomes Available
Directorate of Disputes Prevention and Resolution Established
New Primary Atlas
Introduced into Schools
University Embarks on
Transformation
Budget Speech for
2002/3 Delivered in Parliament
Western Lesotho Rocked by
Earth Tremor
NUL Student
Participates in Mission Antarctica
Africa Day, 25 May,
Becomes Lesotho Holiday
Terrorist
Attack on National Convention Centre Simulated
Political Parties Multiply; BAC is Back; LPC Avoids Further Split
Co-op Lesotho Collapses for
a Second Time
Death of First Registrar of
UBBS and UBLS
Vigilante Groups Involved in Warfare with Police and Villagers
15
Years in Gaol for Man who Assaulted NUL Girl Friend with Axe
Prime Minister’s Son Murdered
Former Vice-Chancellor Seeks
Damages
JC and COSC Results Published
Lesotho
Cellphone Numbers now Exceed Fixed Lines Numbers
BNP Publishes List of Candidates
Parliament Prorogued
Taxi Feud Results in Injuries
and Death
Dr Michael
Sefali, Vice-President of the Senate Dismissed
Speedy Trials Bill Before Parliament: Some Murder Cases Take 11 Years to reach
High Court
Cor van Haasteren Dies from Rabies
Tele-Com Lesotho Increases Tariffs
Radio France
Internationale Launched in Maseru
Principal
Chief of Phamong Killed in Shoot-Out with Police
MS to Close in Lesotho
Lesotho Observers
Report on Zimbabwe Elections
Vice-Chancellor Addresses the University Community on AIDS
Denim Mill and Garment Plant
Progresses
Wettest Summer for Over 100 Years
The Local Government Act 1997, wrongly called the Local Government Act 1996
when published in the Lesotho Government Gazette in 1997, was finally brought
into force on 10 December 2001. This was announced in a Lesotho Government
Gazette Extraordinary of 7 December 2001, although since the Government Printer
in recent times has often been at least a month behind in producing issues of
the Gazette, few knew about it until well into 2002. The local press also did
not notice what had happened, and Government did not take the trouble to
advertise this important development in newspapers which are read by the general
public. The move largely regularises what has been happening in the Ministry of
Local Government which has been acting in relation to Community Council
elections as if the Act was already in place. In the case of urban areas, the
Minister had relied on the Urban Government Act 1983 to create Urban Boards,
which had by the end of 2001 come into existence in all proclaimed urban areas
except Maseru, which is still without a Maseru City Council.
One problem with bringing the Local Government Act 1997 into force is that it
automatically repeals the Urban Government Act 1983 and thus consigns the newly
created Urban Boards to limbo. However, the Local Government Act 1997
(Commencement) Notice 2001 contains an exception so that the statutes repealed,
although they include those relating to development councils, specifically
exclude the Urban Board Act 1983. The members of Urban Boards are therefore for
the time being still in office.
Further attempts to sort out the confusion relating to local government
appeared as ‘Local Government Directives’ in Legal Notice no. 210 of 2001,
published on 11 December 2001 in another Lesotho Government Gazette
Extraordinary. This referred to the Local Government Act 1997 having come into
force on 11 December 2001 (actually it was 10 December 2001), but more
importantly it referred to the Constitution of Lesotho 1993 requiring that the
Independent Electoral Commission holds and manages local government elections
when it clearly was not the body which had done so. The Minister of Local
Government in the notice used two sections of the Local Government Act 1997
which empowered him to make transitional arrangements, which arrangements were
to be those already made in relation to Urban Boards and Community Councils.
In relation to the Independent Electoral Commission being responsible for
holding and managing local elections, the Minister in his Local Government
Directives seems to have been in error. There is no mention of the Independent
Electoral Commission in the 1993 Constitution, but it was provided for in the
Second Amendment to the Constitution in 1997. However, this gives the IEC
responsibility ‘to ensure that elections to the National Assembly and local
authorities are held regularly and ... are free and fair’ and ‘to organize,
conduct and supervise elections to the National Assembly in an impartial and
independent manner’ (§66A(1)(a)&(b)). The logical implication is that even
though the IEC has a role to play in seeing that local elections are held
regularly and fairly, it is not necessarily the body that organizes and conducts
these elections, and this could well be the Ministry of Local Government.
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The Environment Act 2001 was published in a Lesotho Government Gazette
Extraordinary dated 27 December 2001, although not in fact available for sale
until February 2002. The Act, which still has to be brought into force, occupies
more than 100 pages of the Gazette and makes provision for a National
Environment Council and a Lesotho Environment Authority, and sets out provisions
for environment impact assessments, environmental quality standards, pollution
control and environmental management.
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An Act of Parliament to amend the present National Assembly Act 1992, and to
make provision for the decisions of the Interim Political Authority was
published in a Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 31 December 2001
although it was not printed until January 2002. According to a later Gazette it
came into operation on 7 January 2002.
The National Assembly (Amendment) Act 2001 makes provision for a 120 member
Parliament of which 80 members will be elected for constituencies and the other
40 members will be elected by proportional representation (p. r.). Voters will
in fact have ballot papers of different colours, one for the constituency vote
and one for the party vote, and the party vote will compensate parties
disadvantaged by the constituency vote, although a party which has gained more
seats in the constituency vote than the p. r. vote would allocate it, will get
none of the 40 additional seats. For the purposes of the proportional
representation seats each party has to submit a list in order of preference of
not less than 40 and not more than 120 candidates. Constituency candidates can
also appear on the p. r. list.
Schedule 5, which occupies 6 pages, explains the arithmetical calculations to
determine which proportional representation candidates are elected. Essentially,
the p. r. votes will be divided by 120 (or a lesser number if a constituency
election fails, as can happen in the case of the death of a candidate). The
number resulting from the division is rounded up to the next whole number (this
is then called the ‘quota of votes’), divided into the votes cast for each party
and the results, neglecting decimal places, determine the number of seats out of
120 which each party is allocated. It is extremely unlikely that the number thus
obtained will be exactly 120 (this could only happen if all the divisions along
the line gave whole number answers). Most likely the total will be 119 or 118 or
even less if there are numerous competing parties. The number is made up to 120
by successively adding one seat to the parties with the highest decimal
fractions in the previous division until the total of 120 is achieved. We now
have each party’s ‘provisional allocation of the total number of seats’.
This is only stage one, because the constituency results of course now have
to be taken into consideration. Some party or parties may already have the
number of seats or even more seats than their provisional allocation entitles
them to. They cannot get any more, but they do not lose any of the seats that
they have gained from the constituency election. A list is made of the
additional p. r. seats each party is entitled to, taking the constituency seats
away from the p. r. entitlement. The answer may give seat entitlements which add
up to 40 seats, but will likely exceed this by one or more seats when a party
has done very well at constituency level, but less well in the p. r. election.
In such a case the p. r. calculations are redone excluding the party which has
won more constituency seats than in the provisional p. r. allocation. Again
decimal places might be needed to decide an additional seat.
Whether the voting public will understand the whole arithmetical procedure
remains to be seen. Also whether they will have it satisfactorily explained to
them is also in the realms of the unknown. Electoral literature is usually
bilingual (the electoral statutes seem to be an exception), but translating
Schedule 5 into Sesotho will provide an interesting challenge. It is significant
that no newspaper seems so far to have digested the Amendment Act and explained
its technical details to its readers, even though journalists had the
opportunity to attend a two day workshop from 4 to 5 February 2002 at the Hotel
Mount Maluti in Mohale’s Hoek, where the Independent Electoral Commission
explained the electoral system which will be used. Amongst its three members,
the IEC has a holder of a mathematics degree, Mafole Sematlane.
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Kokobela George Lieta, a former policeman and owner of a well known security
firm in Maseru, died on 23 December 2001. Born in 1925 at Majaheng in Berea
District, he joined the Basutoland Mounted Police in 1945 was promoted to
sergeant in 1956 and after a course in Hendon in England to superintendent in
1966. In 1968 he attended the Tullialan Scottish Police College, and on his
return became Commandant of the Police Training School, retiring in February
1971 with Long Service and Good Conduct medals. He then began a second career as
a security officer with the Holiday Inn and Sun International, eventually
founding his own BB Alert Security Guard Services. He was not afraid to share
the secrets of security management with others and in about 1985 (the book is
undated), he published Basic industrial security guide.
George Lieta was well known also for his success on the tennis court, for his
ability to bring traditional groups to come to perform in Maseru, and for his
love of music, which on one occasion took him to Llangollen in Wales where he
was a member of the Maseru Teachers’ Choir which created a sensation by
performing in traditional dress.
There is a detective thriller by the writer K. E. Ntsane, Nna Sajene Kokobela,
C.I.D. published in the early 1960s. Possibly it was modelled on Kokobela Lieta
because he did indeed serve in the CID. In any case, Kokobela Lieta, was himself
engaged to assist with the production of a television series which bore the same
name as Ntsane’s book, but was also apparently based on George Lieta’s personal
experiences. The series was screened on the television channel SABC 2 during
2001, and proved quite a talking point in that it departed from the usual fare
of Sesotho soap operas and historical dramas.
Appropriately, Kokobela Lieta was laid to rest on 5 January 2002 at the
Cemetery adjoining Kokobela Village, which is named after him. Kokobela Village
is a group of small houses in Maseru West which George Kokobela Lieta had
himself helped to establish.
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The Leon Commission Report ‘into the events leading to political
disturbances’ in 1998 became available for general sale to the public in
January. It could be purchased from the Government Printer for M20.
The Commission, consisting of three South African judges, had been set up by
Legal Notice no. 33 of 2000 with 13 terms of reference of which the first was
‘to investigate, probe, examine and analyse the background to political
instability and disturbances which occurred in Lesotho between 1 July, 1988 to
30 November, 1998’.
Evidence by certain witnesses is quoted in some detail, a summary being given
of each of their interpretations of recent (up to 50 years) Lesotho political
history. These witnesses are Meshu Mohau Mokitimi, Kelebone Albert Maope,
Motsoahae Thomas Thabane, Vincent Moeketse Malebo, Mofelehetsi Salomone Moerane,
Azael Makara Sekautu, Tšeliso Makhakhe, Majara Jonathan Molapo (‘a great deal of
Mr Molapo’s evidence was hearsay, was not objective and displayed great
bitterness’); and Shakhane Robong Mokhehle.
In relation to the 1998 election, there is a summary of evidence about the
actual 1998 election by Mamello Morrison, Moletsane Monyake and Sekara Mafisa
(Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission) regarded by the Commission
as ‘a most impressive witness and manifestly an honest one’. There follows a
critical summary of the Langa Commission Report on the 1998 election..
In Chapter 3, the report identifies the BNP, BCP and MFP as spearheading and
participating in the demonstrations at the Royal Palace and describes evidence
against a number of different persons.
In Chapter 4, evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the Lesotho Government is
presented. In relation to those responsible, it is stated that a very large
number of persons could be identified but that the names (in no particular
order) of Majara Molapo, Black Jesus (Harebatho Musa), Father A. Monyau and
Thesele ’Maseribane can be mentioned as particular persons who made a major
contribution to instability which might merit action to be taken against them.
In chapter 5, the role of the Lesotho Defence Force is considered and a long
list of named soldiers who engaged in obstructive roles, and attacked and burned
houses and attacked police stations is provided.
In chapter 6, the role of the Lesotho Mounted Police is investigated, and
little fault is found except in their behaviour when shops were looted at
Mohale’s Hoek, which amounted to dereliction of duty. In chapters 8 and 9,
various incidents involving elements of the Lesotho Defence Force and the police
are described, including incidents at Masianokeng, and at Roma, Morija, and
Mafeteng Police Stations.
Chapter 10 deals with the army mutiny, and discusses evidence which ‘amounts
to a strong prima facie case of incitement to mutiny and murder against Father
Monyau’ and goes on to say that the Director of Public Prosecutions should
‘investigate further whether Father Monyau is guilty of treason or sedition or
some other related offence’. Apart from Father Monyau, seven other persons are
named as inciters and ringleaders of the mutiny.
Chapter 11 describes the burning of premises in Maseru, Mafeteng and Mohale’s
Hoek and identifies some of those alleged to have been involved.
Under the term of reference ‘To investigate, appraise and evaluate any other
issue relevant to and which may impinge on the foregoing’ the Commissioners
state that the formation of the LCD played a role in angering ‘the rump of the
BCP and the other political parties, adding to the political tensions which
existed’. There is considerable discussion of the SADC intervention and whether
it was legal and followed constitutional requirements, quoting in particular
statements by the Prime Minister, B. P. Mosisili, in a book by I. Rotberg and
others.
In Chapter 13, the Report provides recommendations regarding particular
individuals, listing detailed allegations against Father A. Monyau, Majara
Jonathan Molapo and Mamello Morrison and possible charges against 27 other
individuals. An oddity of this section is the statement ‘if it is feasible,
consideration should, in our view, be given to deporting Father Monyau from
Lesotho’. In fact, Father Monyau is a Lesotho citizen born near Nazareth Mission
in Maseru District, so it is difficult to see how this recommendation came to be
made.
In the final chapter, eight further recommendations are made relating to such
matters as army and police recruitment and retraining, the need for widespread
education on the role of the army and police, on elections, and on the
composition of the Judicial Service Commission. As far as amnesty is concerned,
the Commission does not believe it advisable, although it is in favour of
reappraisal of some of the sentences imposed on mutinous soldiers by the Court
Martial.
The opposition Basotho National Party issued a statement about the Leon
Commission Report in the party newspaper, Mohlanka, of 19 January 2002. It found
it a ‘strange paradox’ that the Commission should have been set up unilaterally
when the Interim Political Authority was the body set up to bridge political
differences. Moreover it noted that the three members of the Commission, all
South Africans, had not followed the lead of their own country, which had opted
for the path of reconciliation through its Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
‘At best the BNP sees the report as an instrument of victimisation which pours
cold water on the joint efforts of Lesotho Political Leaders to seek a free and
voluntary path towards a lasting political solution.’
Of the particular individuals selected by the Leon Commission Report for
possible charges, Father Monyau, the priest at Our Lady of Victory Cathedral,
Maseru, managed to receive the highest publicity in the next few weeks. Moeletsi
oa Basotho, the Catholic newspaper, on 10 March 2002 came out with an
extraordinary headline Monyau, Bin Laden oa Lesotho (‘Monyau, Lesotho’s Bin
Laden’) complete with photographs of Father Anthony Monyau and Osama bin Laden
himself. The report came after Moeletsi had interviewed Father Monyau on 4 March
2002. The newspaper reporter asked Monyau about current suspicions that he was
plotting to kill a cabinet minister, more specifically the Foreign Minister and
Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, Tom Thabane. Monyau replied that just
as in America anything that went wrong had been blamed on Osama bin Laden, so in
Lesotho, it was him that was blamed in the same way.
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A new body, the Directorate of Disputes Prevention and Resolution made its
debut in January 2002, with Maseru offices on the 8th Floor of the Post Office
Building, and two other regional offices in Hlotse and Mohale’s Hoek. The new
body is set up under an amendment to the Labour Code with help from the
International Labour Organisation and the Swiss Government and is designed in
relation to industrial relations ‘to introduce a new system which is
independent, fair, effective, quick, less formal and affordable’. The DDPR plays
a role in conciliation and if this fails in arbitration, it being noted that
whereas workers normally have a right to strike, this is not the case for those
in essential industries and for them seeking arbitration is the only possible
action. The regulations governing the DDPR were published in a Lesotho
Government Gazette Extraordinary of 12 December 2001, which stated they came
into force on that date, although it was apparently not circulated to
subscribers until the new year.
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A colourful new Primary atlas for Lesotho was introduced into primary schools
throughout Lesotho in January 2002. 205000 copies were printed for distribution
through the School Supply Unit. These copies are for the use of pupils in
Standards 5, 6 and 7, the top three classes of primary school and state on the
cover, like other SSU books, ‘This book is the property of the Ministry of
Education, Lesotho’. However, the publishers, Longman Lesotho, have also printed
3000 copies of the book for sale to the general public without this message.
The new atlas includes maps of national bus routes and of Maseru bus routes;
maps showing the mines where Lesotho migrant labourers work; a map of the
Lesotho Highlands Water Project; a map of the Lesotho electricity grid; a map of
parliamentary constituencies; a map of the villages and areas of principal
chiefs; a map of clans and languages; and four new maps showing Lesotho history.
There are also one page maps and summaries of information relating to each of
the fourteen SADC countries. Only 12 out of the total of 63 pages of maps are
devoted to the parts of the world outside Africa.
The new Lesotho maps were drafted by David Ambrose of the National University
of Lesotho Institute of Education, but some of the text and photographs were
developed in-house by Longman and not checked locally. Unfortunately this has
led to errors which should not appear in a school textbook, in particular the
appearance of ‘cubic litre’ at a point where ‘cubic metre’ was intended. A pie
chart of water consumption in Qacha’s Nek which is pure fiction has also made an
appearance: it appears to have been fabricated to fill a gap on a page.
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The report of a Task Force of university staff at the National University of
Lesotho which had been engaged on a new Strategic Plan became generally
available in January and was being debated at various levels in university
forums.
The plan proposes a radical transformation and restructuring of both the
administration and the academic faculties. It proposes two separate
Pro-Vice-Chancellors, one responsible for Academic matters and the other for
Administrative & Financial Matters, the latter replacing the office of
Registrar. It is proposed to reduce the academic faculties from seven to three.
This would be achieved by combining the present Faculties of Science &
Technology, Health Sciences and Agriculture into a single Faculty; combining the
Faculties of Humanities and Education; and combining the Faculty of Law & Social
Sciences.
A Basic and General Studies Programme is proposed to redress the problem that
many students have little knowledge outside the subject areas they are studying
and lack many basic communication, logical reasoning and basic mathematical
skills.
The plan includes proposals to combine the research institutes, and to place
the existing documentation centres under the library.
Although a time frame is proposed for the changes, some of them are beyond
the University’s immediate control. Changes to the Statutes and Ordinances of
the University require the decision of the University Council, and for some of
the more radical changes in the administration a new or amended University Act
is required. In fact a quite different National University of Lesotho
(Amendment) Act 2002 (although it received the Royal Assent in 2001) was
published in the Lesotho Government Gazette on 8 January 2002, and came into
effect on that date. This gave the Government quite wide powers to overrule even
the University Council, since §4 reads that ‘The Minister may give general or
special directives to the Council regarding the administration and management of
the University, and the Council shall comply with such directives and report the
compliance to the Minister’. The Chairman of the Council is also less secure in
his post, because he may (§5) ‘at any time, be removed from office by the
Chancellor acting on the advice of the Prime Minister’.
It is now required for the National University of Lesotho’s Auditor’s Report
and Statements of Account to be laid before each House of Parliament. Also a
number of senior staff members of the University are forbidden to be members of
trade unions. These include the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Members of
Council, the Registrar, the Bursar and the Librarian.
Amongst other changes brought about by the NUL (Amendment) Act 2002 is that
the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor must be advertised and that he shall serve for
four years, while the period of office of the Vice-Chancellor shall be five
years. As far as the posts of Registrar, Bursar and Librarian are concerned,
there is now a statutory requirement that their performances must be reviewed at
least once in four years by the Council or by an appointed team of experts, and
where performance has been found unsatisfactory any of the three may be removed
from office.
It was announced in the NUL Gazette of 14 March 2002 that the University
Registrar, Ms A. ’Masefinela Mphuthing had proceeded on end of contract leave
and that Mr J. Maemela Hlalele had been appointed as Acting University
Registrar.
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It had become common for budget speeches, which should be delivered in
advance of the financial year which begins on 1 April, to be given close to or
even quite often after that date. The new Minister of Finance, Mohlabi Kenneth
Tsekoa surprised everyone, except perhaps those who know him personally, by
delivering his budget speech for the 2002/3 financial year in exceptionally good
time. Perhaps he was anticipating the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the
General Election. His speech was delivered in Parliament on 25 January 2002.
Reviewing the past two years, the Minister noted that the Lesotho economy
grew by 3.3% during 2000/1 and the same level of growth was expected in 2001/2,
although for the coming fiscal year a slightly lower growth of 2.8% was
projected after factoring in some of the impacts of the events of 11 September
2001. Although migrant labour had continued to decline, during 2001/2 seven
thousand new jobs in manufacturing industry had been created increasing
employment in Lesotho National Development Corporation industries to 36000.
The 2002/3 budget envisages a total expenditure of M3.5 billion against
revenue of M3.1 billion, the deficit being expected to be mainly made up by
grants from development partners (as donors are increasingly called). The 2002/3
budget is 8.7% up on the 2001/2 budget, slightly ahead of inflation which is
currently at about 7%. Combining allocations for capital and recurrent
expenditure, the largest share of the 2002/3 budget goes to the Education sector
with M777.2 million or 22.0% of the overall budget. Even allowing for inflation,
this is a significant increase over the 2001/2 financial year, most of the
increase helping to defray the cost of free primary education which has moved
into Standard 3 of primary in 2002. The M115 million allocated to the National
Manpower Development Secretariat, which administers loan bursaries might well be
considered to be part of the education allocation, and if so it increases the
allocation to 25.3%. The subvention of M116.6 million to the National University
of Lesotho is 15% of the Education sector budget.
The second largest allocation of the budget is to Public Works (9.2%),
followed by Health (8.2%), Finance (7.8%), Defence (5.0%), Agriculture (4.8%),
Natural Resources (4.7%), Development Planning (4.4%), Home Affairs (3.9%),
Foreign Affairs (3.7%), Local Government (2.9%), Industry, Trade & Marketing
(2.8%), Justice & Human Rights (2.0%), the Prime Minister’s Office (1.9%),
Gender, Youth & Environment (1.9%), Communications (0.9%), while Tourism, Sports
& Culture receives a mere M36.4 million or 1.0% of the total budget.
Civil servants, who have received only a single 2% salary increase since the
troubles of 1998, will have been heartened by a promised 8% rise in the 2002/3
financial year. However the Minister indicated that in future all salary
increases other than those related to inflation adjustments will be performance
related, and plans to implement a system for this purpose had already started.
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Just before midnight, at 11.50 p.m. on the night of 27-28 January 2002, an
earth tremor shook western Lesotho, with a second tremor reported by some people
a few minutes later. Everyone awake at the time was aware of the tremors, and
spoke of rumbling as well as shaking and some spoke of hanging lights beginning
to swing. Many of those who were asleep were woken up by the event, although
quite a few slept right through it. The tremor was felt in Maseru, Morija and
Roma and places farther afield.
According to Mrs Hlompho Malephane, Trainee Seismic Analyst with the Lesotho
Highlands Development Authority, the tremor measured 4.7 on the Richter Scale, a
magnitude which normally results in not more than slight damage. The epicentre
of thetremor(thepointatground level immediately above the focus of the
earthquake) was at 29º 46S, 27º 50E, which is high abovetheMakhaleng valley
south-east of Ramabanta. LHDA at present has a total of five seismographs
installed at points near the Katse Reservoir,
at Ha Poli, Mapeleng, Ha Soai, Ha Suoane and at the LHDA Operations Centre at
Katse. It is planned to install others near the Mohale Reservoir, the dam and
transfer tunnel for which are currently close to completion, so that impounding
is expected to begin within the next 12 months. The tremor at magnitude 4.7 was
significantly (in fact more than 10 times) more intense than thereservoir-induced
tremors at Katse, which are typically of magnitude 3.5 to 3.6 on the
Richter Scale. Five years ago, as the Katse Reservoir filled, there was a
succession of such tremors at the village of Mapeleng situated on the
south-eastern shore of the reservoir. After complaints by villagers, the village
was relocated to a new site, approximately a kilometre distant. Mapeleng is now
one of the sites for a seismological station.
The Richter Scale is a logarithmic scale, so that shocks of magnitude 4 are
10 times as powerful as those of magnitude 3, and those of magnitude 8 are 10
000 times as powerful as those of magnitude 4. On this scale, earthquakes of
magnitude 6 are moderately destructive, while a major earthquake is of magnitude
7 or higher. In the past century, earthquakes in Assam in 1950 and Chile in 1960
were over 9 on the scale. When a major earthquake hits a densely populated area,
the death toll is horrendous. Over half a million people died in the magnitude
7.9 Tangshan earthquake in eastern China on 28 July 1976.
Fortunately southern Africa is much more stable. The most damaging earthquake
recorded in South Africa was the Ceres-Tulbagh earthquake of magnitude 6.3 in
1969 which caused 12 deaths and did considerable damage. In Lesotho the largest
recorded seismic event seems to have been one of magnitude 5.0 at Mokhotlong on
18June1966.
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Believed to be the first Mosotho to have visited Antarctica, Edwin Lesoetsa
Makafane of Lithabaneng, Maseru, was back at the National University of Lesotho
at the end of January after three exciting weeks of travel. He had been chosen
to be a participant in Mission Antarctica, and had received sponsorship from an
Australian, Garry Lubner as well as receiving financial support from the Lesotho
Government and a number of Maseru firms.
Mission Antarctica was set up by one Robert Swan of Darlington in the United
Kingdom, following the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, to enable international
teams to travel together to get to know the Earth’s least-known continent and at
the same time to undertake its environmental protection by helping to remove
refuse left at bases and by expeditions. It thus plays a part in ensuring that
the Continent is restored as far as possible to its pristine state. Mission
Antarctica has the use of Motor Yacht 2041, stationed at Bellingshausen Base on
King George Island, and another boat, the Anne Boye, which can transport rubbish
back from Antarctica to the UK for recycling.
How does one get from Lesotho to Antarctica? The map helps to explain.
Members of the expedition assembled in Santiago in Chile which was fiendishly
hot, but when the expedition reached Punta Arenas at the southern end of Chile
it was bitterly cold. From Punta Arenas the next hop was by Chilean Army charter
flight (a Twin Otter such as used to fly into the airstrips of the Maloti) to
Bellings-hausen on King George Island, north-west of the tip of the Antarctic
Peninsula.
King George Island is a unique place. No-one owns it, although Argentina,
Chile and Britain have all claimed it as their territory. There are five
permanent settlements, all officially scientific research stations, with
Bellingshausen belonging to Russia adjoining the Chilean station. Other stations
belong to Poland, Argentina and China. That some of these nations are serious in
their claims to the island is reinforced by the Chilean base including a school,
hospital and supermarket, so that today there are children born in Antarctica.
The Russian claim is being reinforced in a rather different way, because while
Lesoetsa was there a Hercules transport arrived on the much used airstrip and it
turned out (would you ever have guessed?) to be full of Russian Orthodox priests
who had come to bless the foundation of a church there.
The expedition was soon aboard 2041 learning the basics of sailing and of
surviving in the harsh climate. Apart from the crew of 4, those on the
expedition were 1 Australian, 2 British, 2 Canadians, 1 Ecuadorian, 1 Finn, 1
Mosotho and 1 Russian. After training sails, more serious trips were taken to
Enterprise Island and Deception Island (a volcanic eruption had forced the
British base which was once there to be evacuated), as well as to the Antarctic
Peninsula itself, down which glaciers flowed and broke off to form icebergs
which dwarfed the ship. Landings were made by dinghy often through ice floes,
and highlights included penguin rookeries on land, and Minke Whales at sea. On
one occasion, the dinghy was able to approach right up to a whale asleep on the
surface of the sea.
Back to Lesotho was via Punta Arenas, Santiago, São Paolo in Brazil and
Johannesburg in time for Year III Political & Administrative Studies on 29
January. A unique experience indeed.
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It was announced in January that with effect from 2002, 25 May would become a
public holiday in Lesotho. The Organisation of African Unity was founded on 25
May 1963, and in December 2001, the OAU, now restructured as the African Union,
declared that all member states should observe 25 May as a holiday to be known
as Africa Day. In the case of Lesotho, Africa Day will replace Heroes’ Day on 4
April, which will cease to be a public holiday with effect from 2003. Lesotho
will then have eleven public holidays in the year, New Year’s Day, Moshoeshoe
Day (celebrated in recent years on 11 March), Good Friday, Easter Monday,
Workers’ Day (1 May), Ascension Day, Africa Day/Heroes’ Day (25 May), King’s
Birthday (17 July), Independence Day (4 October), Christmas Day and Boxing Day
(26 December). Parliament was dissolved before the necessary legislation to
revise public holidays could be passed, so that in 2002, Heroes’ Day, 4 April,
remained (presumably for the last time) a public holiday. The King, however, has
the power to declare (but not to remove) public holidays, and so Africa Day
(also Election Day and a Saturday in 2002) was in fact so proclaimed as a public
holiday.
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Mid-morning on Wednesday 30 January, lessons at schools in the vicinity of
the National Convention Centre were interrupted by the sound of explosions.
There was nothing seriously amiss, however. The new Indian-trained Commandos of
the Lesotho Defence Force were using thunderflashes to simulate gunfire and were
practising an attack and rescue bid, which included a landing on the roof of the
building by helicopter. It was an exercise for what might be necessary should
terrorists ever seize the NCC during an important international conference. The
exercise was observed with interest by members of the cabinet.
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Apart from the 12 political parties represented in the Interim Political
Authority, by early in 2002, there were 7 additional parties on the political
scene. The most recent party had been formed by the rump of the BCP led by
Molapo Qhobela, which having lost on 17 January 2002 a court case to Tšeliso
Makhakhe was in fact no longer a part of the BCP, and had decided that it should
now be known as the Basutoland African Congress. This was the original name of
the Basutoland Congress Party, when it was founded in 1952 and was in use until
the name Basutoland Congress Party was adopted in 1959. The Qhobela faction
decided to adopt the archaic name Basutoland African Congress at a meeting on 26
January 2002.
By late January 2002, the 19 political groupings with their present leaders
and dates of foundation were: Basutoland Congress Party (Tšeliso Makhakhe,
1952); Basotho National Party (Justin Metsing Lekhanya, 1959); Marematlou
Freedom Party (Vincent Malebo, 1962); United Democratic Party (Charles D. Mofeli,
1984); National Independent Party (Anthony Manyeli, 1984); Popular Front for
Democracy (Lekhetho Rakuoane, 1991); Kopanang Basotho Party (Pheello Mosala,
1991); Lesotho Labour Party (Mthuthuzeli Tyhali, 1991); Lesotho Education Party
(Thabo Pitso, 1991); United Party (Makara Sekautu, 1991); Sefate Democratic
Union (Bofihla Nkuebe, 1994); National Progressive Party (Peete N. Peete, 1995);
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (Pakalitha Mosisili, 1997); Christian Democratic
Party (N. Ramokoena, 1997); Social Democratic Party (Masitise Seleso, 1998); New
Lesotho Freedom Party (P. Khoabane, 1999); Lesotho Workers’ Party (Billy Macaefa,
2001); Lesotho People’s Congress (Kelebone Maope, 2001); and Basutoland African
Congress (Molapo Qhobela, 2002).
A comment on the proliferation of political parties by the veteran
politician, Mokhafisi Kena, appeared in the LPC paper Nonyana of 6 February
2002, in which he said Mekha ea lipolitiki Lesotho e runya joaloka koae ea
makhoaba kamor’a lipula (Political parties in Lesotho are emerging from the
ground just like mushrooms after the rains).
The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy held its annual conference on 25 to
27 January 2002, and in the run-up to this, there were rumours of yet another
split, it being speculated that certain cabinet ministers belonging to a faction
known as Lepheo la Ntsu (‘Ntsu’s Wing’). Ruling party factions have in turn
chosen to associate themselves with the party founder Ntsu Mokhehle, the group
who split recently forming the Lesotho People’s Congress having been known
before the split as Lesiba la Ntsu, (‘Ntsu’s Feather’), ntsu being popularly (if
not ornithologically correctly) being considered to be an eagle.
However at the conference the LCD survived the conference intact, and chose
the Minister of Education, Lesao Lehohla as Deputy Leader, and the Minister of
Tourism, Sports & Culture, Sephiri Motanyane as Secretary-General. The position
of Deputy Prime Minister is still vacant, but it was predicted after the
conference that Lehohla was the most likely candidate.
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Cooperatives in Lesotho have had a chequered history, although they were
often a favourite of donors so that they survived for long periods as long as
external funds were providing support. A serious problem is that cooperatives
lend money to members who fail to repay the debts, and indeed often treat them
as grants rather than loans.
The apex society, Co-op Lesotho, which is a co-operative joint venture of
Government and producer communities, became insolvent in 1993, but was revived
in 1997 with a M3 million loan from the Lesotho Government. It also had a M4
million loan from Lesotho Bank. According to Public Eye of 15 February 2002, by
2002 Co-op Lesotho had incurred debts of M10 million and the Commissioner of
Cooperatives, Moshoeshoe Sehloho, used his powers so that it went into
liquidation with effect from 1 February 2002. On that date Co-op Lesotho ceased
operations in Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek, Qacha’s Nek, Leribe and Mafeteng Districts,
and nearly 100 employees were dismissed, most of whom had not been paid since
November.
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The death occurred on 7 February 2002 of John Murray Normand, who was first
Registrar of the University of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and
Swaziland.
Murray Normand, although of Scottish descent, was born in 1918 at Poona,
India, the hill station near to Bombay where his father was Professor of
Chemistry. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Balliol College, Oxford, the
same college as the University’s second Chancellor, Sir Seretse Khama, who took
office during Murray Normand’s period as Registrar. While still at Balliol in
1939, Murray was one of a party of undergraduates travelling from Cape Town to
Mombasa overland. War broke out, and he immediately enlisted in the King’s
African Rifles serving in East Africa from British Somaliland down to the
Tanganyika Protectorate and also in Ceylon and India.
He returned to Oxford in 1945, completed his degree in Politics, Philosophy
and Economics in 1946 and then enrolled in the Colonial Service ‘Devonshire’
course which took him also to the London School of Economics and the School of
Oriental & African Studies. He was appointed in 1948 to Kenya, where he became a
competent Swahili linguist, and served as District Officer and District
Commissioner in many rural areas. In 1952-4 he was seconded to the Defence
Department of the Federation of Malaya and on his return to Kenya increasingly
took on more senior responsibilities with the central government, in particular
in relation to higher education. He became secretary to the preparatory meetings
leading to the establishment of the University of East Africa and was Secretary
at its First Council meeting. By this time he was married to a fellow Scot and
they eventually had four children. However, he managed in Nairobi to have a
number of spare time activities, one of which was the running of a Troop of Sea
Scouts. Nairobi is more than 450 km from the sea, but there was a convenient dam
not far from Nairobi where a mixed group of colonial, Indian and African
children honed their nautical skills.
Experience with the University of East Africa stood Murray Normand in good
stead when he was appointed the founding Registrar of the new University in
Lesotho which took over from Pius XII College in 1964. He arrived on 4 March
1964 and on arrival cut a tall and impressive figure, sandy haired and
unflappable in crises. He had not at the time of his arrival missed a day off
work from ill health in the previous 20 years, but unfortunately he did have to
lose some such time soon afterwards. In those days, Basutoland (for it was not
yet officially Lesotho) did not have any international air links, and new staff
had to be fetched from the airport at Bloemfontein. The arrival of one new staff
member coincided with the heaviest snowfall of the 20th Century on 18 June 1964.
The road to Bloemfontein had been recently tarred, but at the Modder River it
narrowed to a single lane bridge. Driving in the falling snow with hardly any
visibility, Murray Normand hit the side of the bridge, as a result of which he
found himself briefly in the care of Dr Martha Sigmund at St Joseph’s Hospital,
Roma.
The late 1960s were a period of student-staff tension when there were few
local staff, and the expatriate staff were often seen as hangovers from the
colonial past. Murray Normand, with his colonial background might well have been
a prime candidate for such a designation. However, his quiet efficiency and lack
of bias provided equilibrium in the Registry, and when there were tensions
between University and Government, he was not afraid to take a firm stand on
what he felt was right. Twice during his period of tenure there were serious
incidents. In December 1966, a number of staff members were imprisoned without
charges being laid, and he worked to secure their release. Even more seriously,
in January 1970, numbers of both staff and students were imprisoned for longer
periods during the State of Emergency. British police had played a major role in
making the coup possible, but Murray Normand was in no way prepared to be
associated with their support of an illegal regime. He worked hard and with some
success to obtain the release of those who had been held, some of whom now hold
the highest positions in the land.
Later in 1970, after a six-year term of office, Murray Normand and his family
moved to the Isle of Mull where they were supported by the Scottish Highlands &
Islands Development Board in establishing a group of holiday cottages which were
available for rent adjoining their own house. This became their place of
retirement and Murray died there after a lengthy period of illness at the age of
83. He leaves his wife, Elizabeth; children Charles, Rona, Hugh and Peter; and
five grandchildren.
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The failure of police to take effective action against stock thieves has led
to the formation of armed groups, who in some cases have themselves engaged in
killing alleged thieves and burning houses of suspects.
According to a report in Southern Star of 18 January, on Thursday 3 January
2002, police officers at Pitseng stopped and searched a group of about 43 men on
horseback, who claimed they were an anti-stocktheft vigilante group. They were
searched and found to have eight different firearms. However, during the search,
another group of armed men appeared and opened fire on the police allowing the
first group to escape.
A series of serious incidents took place near Roma early in February. A
vigilante group aimed at combating stock theft had apparently been formed which
became known as Mokhatlo oa Ha Mokhou (‘the Ha Mokhou group’), after a small
village of less than 100 people 2 km north of Ha Moitšupeli. Although its
founders were originally from Ha Mokhou, the group gathered adherents from
numerous other villages including those in the Roma and Mokhokhong valleys, and
it called itself Lebotho la Toantšo ea Bosholu (the Corps of Theft Fighters).
Around sunrise on the morning of Tuesday 5 February, the group, partly mounted
and partly on foot decided to attack Popa Ha Maama Aupolasi, a village where
there were allegedly many thieves. They targeted Moshoeshoe Mokoma, who had a
local reputation as a cattle thief. He was captured at his house, his hands
fastened with a rope behind his back, and another rope was placed round his neck
and fastened to a horse. He was later found dead three kilometres away above the
village of Ha Meshaka.
Two nights later, there was another attack late at night. Because it was in
darkness, the attackers could not be identified. The target this time was
apparently Kelebone Mokoma, a relative of Moshoeshoe Mokoma who had been killed
two days earlier. Both Kelebone and his son fled from the house before the
attackers struck. The attackers then shot and killed his wife ’Makabai Mokoma,
shot a horse, a donkey and cattle belonging to the family, and made off with
about half of the family’s goats. Village opinion was that this was probably not
an attack by the Mokhatlo oa Ha Mokhou, but probably an attack by one group of
thieves on a rival thief.
Although these incidents had shaken the village, worse was to come. At
daybreak on Sunday 9 February, the Mokhatlo struck again. It began its work at
Ha Kuili a small village on the escarpment above Ha Maama where the alleged
thief Stofolo Thuube had managed to slip away. His house was set on fire and his
wife and her younger brother were shot and killed as they fled from the house.
Shortly afterwards the village of Ha Maama was alarmed to see the Mokhatlo oa
Ha Mokhou descending the pass from Ha Kuili in broad daylight in two mounted
columns while others were accompanying them on foot. Their first target was the
chief’s residence where they broke windows and set fire to a rondavel and a
heisi (rectangular thatched building). The group then moved on to the house of
Paolose Matona with the demand re fe mor’a hao (give us your son). When he said
that his son was away at a funeral in Berea District, they stabbed him in the
head and beat him across the shoulders and neck. He fell down as if dead, but in
fact survived and was later taken to hospital. Two of his three houses meanwhile
had been burnt down. The group then moved on to the residence of the Mokoto
family where more houses were burnt. Mokoto himself was generally considered an
upright man, but his son ’Molou had a reputation in the village of being a
habitual thief, unable to stop himself stealing anything from chickens to a loaf
of bread.
At this point, there was a commotion from across the valley, when a rival
group of men from the Roma side of the mountain appeared at Ha Matobo and were
better equipped with firearms. They decided to take on the Mokhatlo oa Mokhou,
and a battle ensued. Most of the Mokhatlo oa Ha Mokhou members decided
discretion was the better part of valour and beat a hasty retreat. The Roma
group shot one member of the Mokhou group and left his corpse in the river.
Another was captured and beaten. He was left on the roadside and later died in a
police vehicle taking him to hospital. On the Roma side of the hill, two other
members of the Mokhou group were captured, beaten to death and their corpses
thrown down the cliffs into the quarry at Ha Tlapana above Thorns’ Store.
Altogether eight people had died by Sunday morning, and the villagers of Ha
Maama understandably became distraught about what was happening so suddenly to
their large and hitherto mainly peaceful village. Ha Maama had had over 1000
people, a Lesotho Evangelical Church Mission and a primary school as well as the
Manonyane High School. On Sunday and Monday, however, the population was
beginning to dwindle rapidly as people left the village carrying possessions to
go to live with relatives and friends. They went both to nearby as well as to
more distant places ranging from Maseru in one direction to Ha Mofutisi beyond
Nyakosoba in the mountains, Ha Mofutisi having been founded by the people (by
clan, Matebele a Ha ’Mea) of the Ha Mokoma section of Ha Maama a hundred years
earlier. There was general dissatisfaction with the police, who although less
than 5 km away by road at Roma had done nothing to stop the fighting. Ideas were
floated that the local women should toyi-toyi outside the police station to
force the police to take action. Chief Masupha Maama appealed on Radio Moafrika
later the same Sunday for police protection and for tents for those whose houses
had been burnt. In the case of the two houses at his residence which had been
set alight he was fortunate, because the fire was put out before much damage was
done.
In the event, the police did take some action, and from Monday 11 February, a
detachment of police from the Ha Mabote Station in Maseru was stationed on the
outskirts of the village for the night hours. On Wednesday the police were
replaced by a detachment from the Lesotho Defence Force which established a
tented camp on the outskirts of the village. This helped to stem the flow of
emigrants, and to reassure the remaining residents that they might be better off
staying than leaving. It appears that the police also arrested a number of
persons suspected of taking part in the attacks, and by Wednesday, according to
the newspaper, Moeletsi oa Basotho of 17 February 2002, some 43 were said to be
in custody in Maseru.
Incidents at Roma, although they received more publicity were unfortunately
not the only ones of their kind. In the early hours of 5 February 2002 at
Mauteng, 9 km north of Matsieng, a fierce fight broke out between factions in
the village leaving 3 men dead and 16 houses burned and destroyed. According to
Leseli ka Sepolesa of 14 February, the police arrived while the fight was still
proceeding and a number of the suspects fled into the hills behind the village.
The cause of the fighting was said to be over fields and stolen cattle.
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Lentsoe la Basotho of 7 February 2002 reported the outcome of serious case of
assault in a women’s hostel at the National University of Lesotho which had left
a woman student, Nthabiseng Mohapi, permanently disabled. The attacker, Moepa
Thaanyane of Roma, aged 27, was sentenced to 15 years in gaol in the Maseru
Magistrate’s Court.
The attack had taken place after a concert at Netherlands Hall on 10
September 2001. In his evidence, Moepa Thaanyane, a married man, who had been
working in Maseru, stated that Nthabiseng Mohapi had been his girl friend and
that on the night in question she had given him M50 in Maseru to encourage him
to accompany her to the concert. He admitted that he became drunk and after the
concert had picked a quarrel with a male student when he had come and talked
with Nthabiseng. The two men had been separated by security guards. After a long
and apparently acrimonious discussion between Moepa and Nthabiseng, she left him
and went to her room in the hostel. He then fetched an axe which he hid in his
clothes. On arrival at her room she derided him because he no longer had work or
money. At this point, he took out the axe and struck her several times even
after she had fallen. After that he went to Maseru to buy poison, there being no
point in his living further, because he knew he was HIV positive. However, the
shops were not yet open, and after hiding for a while, he went to Ha Mabote
Police Station and confessed to what he had done.
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Maile Mosisili, the youngest of the four children of the Prime Minister was
found murdered on Kingsway, Maseru, late in the evening of Monday 11 February
2002. He had apparently received a cell phone call at about 9 p.m., and gone out
to meet someone. However, shortly afterwards a security guard found him with a
bullet wound, the bullet apparently having passed through his body from his
shoulder to his chest. He was found on Orpen Road which leads from the Basotho
Hat to the Maseru Sun Hotel, near the new bridge over Mpilo Boulevard, and was
taken to Queen Elizabeth II hospital, where he died shortly afterwards,
apparently as a result of excessive bleeding.
When found Maile’s cell phone was missing. There was, however, a 9 mm
revolver and two rounds of ammunition next to him, and according to a report in
The Mirror of 20 February 2002, the gun belonged to the family.
Maile Mosisili, aged 22, had graduated in 2001 with a BA (Law) degree, and at
the time of his death he was enrolled in Year I of the postgraduate LLB
programme at the National University of Lesotho. The body was transported by
helicopter to his father’s village of Waterfall near Qacha’s Nek, where he was
buried on Saturday 15 February. In a speech at the funeral, King Letsie III
implored the law enforcement agencies in Lesotho to apprehend and bring before
the courts the perpetrators of Maile’s brutal killing.
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Professor R. I. M. Moletsane, who was from 1997 to 2000 Vice-Chancellor of
the National University of Lesotho had late in 2000 instituted proceedings
against the President of the Lesotho University Teachers’ and Researchers’ Union
(LUTARU) and 19 other defendants who were academic staff of the university,
alleging that they had made defamatory statements by which he suffered injury
and damage to his fair name, good character and reputation. The damages claimed
were M500 000 and the case began before the High Court on 12 February 2002.
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14975 candidates sat for the Junior Certificate Examination in October 2001,
a 13.2% increase on the previous year, reflecting the rapid increase in
secondary education in Lesotho. The Junior Certificate examination is sat after
three years of secondary education, and is used by many schools as a criterion
for admission into the last two years of high school leading to the Cambridge
Overseas School Certificate.
The Examinations Council of Lesotho for some reason never prints enough
copies of the results list for sale to the public. The 2001 pass list was
already out of print a few hours after it was issued on Tuesday 22 January 2002.
One enterprising young man capitalized on this situation and set up a business
near the bus station in Maseru allowing anyone willing to pay M1 to look at the
results of any particular school. He apparently managed to recover the M10 paid
for his copy ten times over within a few hours.
6876 candidates sat for the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate in November
2001, a 17.5% increase on the previous year, the increase being mainly due to
larger numbers of candidates per school, rather than more high schools entering
candidates, because the number of recognised high schools had only increased
from 127 to 130. The results were published on 15 February 2002.
At COSC level there were 169 First Class passes (2.4% of candidates), 937
Second Class passes (13.5%) and 2009 Third Class passes (29.0%) which means that
approximately 45% of candidates obtained a certificate, the best result for many
years, helped no doubt by a relatively calm period with no teachers’ strikes and
no national unrest. However, the growing practice of high schools entering their
poorer students as private candidates in order that the overall school results
look better than they really are, also introduces a distortion upwards in the
overall time series for school results.
Seven schools in Lesotho had 90% or more of their candidates achieving a
certificate in the November 2001 examinations, topped by Kingsgate High School
in Mafeteng with 100% passes, followed closely in second place by Sacred Heart
High School at St Monica, Leribe District, with 98.4% passes. Third place went
to Tšakholo High School in Mafeteng, a relatively remote rural school which
nevertheless achieved 98.0% passes. In fourth place was the National University
of Lesotho International School with 95.3% passes, and in fifth place St
Stephen’s Diocesan High School in Mohale’s Hoek with 92.9% passes. Kingsgate was
a new school at the head of the table. The other four schools, Sacred Heart,
Tšakholo, NULIS and St Stephen’s have maintained consistently good results and
each has occupied one of the top six positions in the table for the past three
years. The largest school in the country, Lesotho High School, was 16th in the
league table, but amongst its 154 candidates, 23 obtained first class passes.
Other schools with large numbers of First Class passes were Sacred Heart with 19
and St Stephen’s with 14. At the bottom of the table, in 21 high schools, less
than 20% of candidates obtained a certificate, and in two of these, there was
just one successful candidate with a Third Class. As has happened in recent
years, candidates found English and Mathematics the most difficult subjects.
Only 8% of candidates secured a credit in English and only 9% secured a credit
in Mathematics.
Overall performance at COSC level over the past 30 years is given by the two
charts provided. which however only show school and not private candidates. The
second graph, showing numbers of school candidates, shows the enormous increase
in high school education since Independence, from less than 200 completing
pupils to nearly 7000, the monotonically increasing sequence being interrupted
only in 1976 (the year following 1975 when two age cohorts wrote COSC
simultaneously because the total years of primary and high school education had
been contracted from 13 to 12 years); and in 1999, following the serious
disturbances which had occurred in Lesotho the previous year. The first graph
showing percentage passes also shows the impact of national events: the decline
in the early 1970s following the loss of some of the best teachers to gaol or
exile, while more recently the dip in 1995 followed a prolonged teachers’
strike, and the dip in 1998 resulting from the interruption to schools because
of the serious disturbances in September shortly before the examination was
written.
At Junior Certificate level, a total of 209 officially recognized schools
wrote the examination, although there were numerous other unrecognized schools
which entered their pupils as private candidates. Overall 1.2% (176) of school
candidates obtained First Class with Merit, 5.1% (767) obtained First Class,
46.4% (6978) obtained Second Class, 14.8% (2213) obtained Third Class, and 32.5%
(4841) failed the examination. The proportions passing the examination are
approximately constant each year, because of the standardization which is
applied to the raw scores on the examination. The actual raw scores were very
low, averaging for example 38% in English, 35% in Science and 31% in
Mathematics, although in Sesotho the average raw score was 50%. Unsurprisingly,
the same schools did well at JC as at COSC. Of the 176 First Class passes with
Merit, more than half went to just four schools, St Stephen’s Diocesan High
School (38), Lesotho High School (31), Sacred Heart High School (13) and NUL
International School (12).
It is known to historians of the Lesotho examinations system that Junior
Certificate standards have dropped over the years. The most dramatic drop
occurred in 1971 when the carelessly implemented introduction of normalized
scores to an examination previously based on raw scores resulted in Junior
Certificate grades being devalued so that the examination became considerably
easier to pass. A similar process occurred at the same time with the primary
school leaving examination, so that pupils entered secondary school with a lower
level of achievement, and thus inevitably performed more poorly three years
later at Junior Certificate. However, this was not detectable in the results,
because the normalized scores resulted in fixed percentages passing, so there
was a further devaluation.
If Junior Certificate is used as a predictor for the Cambridge Overseas
Certificate, a JC candidate with a First Class with Merit can be expected to
obtain a First Class in Cambridge Overseas School Certificate two years later, a
JC with an ordinary First Class will most likely obtain a COSC Second Class, and
of those with a Second Class JC, less than 10% are likely to get a COSC Second
Class pass. About a third of those with a JC Second Class pass will obtain a
COSC Third Class, while the rest, more than half of the JC Second Class
certificate holders, will fail to get a classified School Certificate
altogether. The table shows actual figures for two particular age cohorts, those
who wrote JC in 1998 and 1999 and who therefore wrote COSC in 2000 and 2001. The
school system is unfortunately biased against the poorer JC achievers, because
many of the best schools in Lesotho refuse to admit Third Class JC holders, and
their only chance for further education after JC is to attend a school which has
a poorer success record.
A conclusion is that those with Third Class JC passes have a very poor chance
of obtaining a classified School Certificate, and would be best spending their
time acquiring other more achievable skills which would help them to find or
create employment for themselves. The national and regional development needs
are for skilled artisans and technicians rather than for pupils who have taken
and failed academic courses inappropriate to their educational backgrounds and
skills. There does exist a Technical & Vocational Education Department within
the Ministry of Education, but so far its impact has been to get schools to add
vocational subjects to their offerings (at least one subject suitable for boys
and one for girls) rather than to create institutions mainly dedicated and
devoted to developing practical and technical skills at secondary and post-JC
level. The situation is no better at tertiary level and large numbers of Basotho,
realising that their chances for employment are better with technical
qualifications, are now attending or seeking to attend South African Technikons.
Another feature of secondary education in Lesotho, is the very large numbers
of private pupils who attend unrecognized schools. Such mushroom schools with
alluring names (Destiny Secondary School, Royal Academy High School, Advanced
Technology High School, Shakespeare High School etc) are mainly staffed by
unqualified teachers and offer the same academic curriculum as recognized
schools, although usually without the practical subjects. There are
unfortunately no parallel mushroom schools offering technical training, although
a recent development has been a number of computer training schools in Maseru,
which help to provide a skill which very few high schools are yet equipped to
teach.
Unrecognized schools have to enter their pupils in the JC and COSC
examinations as private candidates, and their results are not included in the
published statistics, but are known to be generally very poor. The schools
continue as long as there are parents gullible enough to pay the school fees,
and it is not unknown for a private school to pass a pupil from Form C to Form D
even when he or she has completely failed JC. Ability of the parents to pay
school fees is more important to the school than the child’s ability to benefit
from the education provided at a particular level. The situation will continue
to exist as long as there is no proper system for certifying and accrediting new
schools, and as long as the educational system and employment criteria remain
excessively tied to an examination system which measures abilities more
appropriate for progress to formal academic studies, rather than measuring
skills needed to enable school leavers to become self-employed or to convince
employers that they have more appropriate skills than school certificate
holders.
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Figures given in Business Report of 15 February 2002 showed that Lesotho now
has 24000 fixed line telephone installations while the number of mobile phones
in use has grown from zero in 1995 to 30000 in 2002. The fixed lines are
operated by the privatized Tele-Com Lesotho, while the cellphone network is
operated by Vodacom Lesotho. However, under the privatization agreement,
Tele-Com will from April be able to have its own mobile network, and evidence
that this is being implemented was apparent when new masts reently appeared on
the skyline in Roma and elsewhere. They were not disguised as tall trees as is
often the case in South Africa. It is also written into the privatization
agreement that Tele-Com Lesotho must also install a further 15000 fixed lines.
In fact fixed lines in Lesotho in recent years have suffered a decline because
of theft of poles and wire, cutting off many rural communities. There is no sign
asyetthatthe process of reinstating these lines and dealing with a long waiting
list for fixed lines has begun.
The Lesotho Telephone Telefax Telex Directory has for many years maintained
the fiction that many named persons still have telephone connections and a rough
estimate of the number of names in the directory would seem to be about 24 000,
so in reality the true number of fixed lines in operation is considerably less
than 24 000. Many persons still listed in the directory have either left Lesotho
or have died (some as long as ten years ago).
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In the 16 February 2002 edition of the Basotho National Party newspaper,
Mohlanka, a first list of 50 out of its presumed 80 constituency candidates was
published. The leader of the party, J. M. Lekhanya, will stand in his home
constituency no. 72, Mantšonyane, while Bereng Sekhonyana will stand for no. 32,
Maseru Central. The candidate named for the Maama constituency is a former
Captain in the Lesotho Mounted Police, Leseteli Pius Malefane. In the 1998
election, there was such rivalry for this candidacy that a deadlock ensued and
no BNP candidate stood, even though it was likely to be one of the party’s
strongest hopes for success.
A surprise on the list is the omission of incumbent MP for Bobatsi, the BNP’s
only MP in the current Parliament. He does not appear on the list, and in his
place for constituency no. 80, Bobatsi, is one Sekhobe Letsie (not the same
person as the former military councillor).
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The National Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday 21 February 2002,
and it was formally prorogued, bringing the session to an end on Monday 25
February. Unless there is a need for an emergency session, Parliament will not
again meet before the forthcoming General Election, the date of which by
proclamation of King Letsie has been fixed as Saturday 25 May 2002 (the day
which the African Union has declared should be celebrated as Africa Day,
although it seems that this is merely a coincidence).
Meanwhile there was further evidence that the Independent Electoral
Commission was proceeding with preparations for the Elections, as it prescribed
a period from 4 to 10 March 2002 as a period for electoral registration by
persons who were currently 17 years old but would be 18 years old by 25 May. It
also advertised for 2500 Presiding Officers to be employed for the month of May.
They were required to apply by 18 March to any of the 80 Constituency Offices
set up by the IEC, and falling under the Constituency Returning Officers.
Minimum qualifications to be a Presiding Officer are being registered as
electors and having a Cambridge Overseas Certificate. A second advertisement a
week later was for Polling Officers. They were required to have the same
qualifications but to be also ‘elderly’ persons.
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A major confrontation between police and minibus taxi owners occurred on the
Main North Road at the junction with the Maputsoe road on the morning of Tuesday
19 February 2002. According to police reports quoted in Southern Star of 8 March
2002, the conflict resulted when an illegal demonstration was made by taxi
operators who sought to use unauthorized drop-off and pick-up points. One person
died and six police were injured when the police attempted to clear the road
block. Seven persons and eight taxis were taken into custody following the
mêlée.
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The Vice-President of the Senate, Dr Michael Malefetsane Sefali, as reported
in The Mirror of 27 February 2002, has been dismissed from his post by the
Senate. The decision was taken by the Senate after hearing evidence of a long
series of disputes between Dr Sefali and the President of the Senate, Chief
Lejaha. The disputes had culminated in attacks by Sefali on Chief Lejaha on
Radio Moafrika and Leseli Stereo radio. The President presented a series of
documented allegations against Sefali in the Senate (they can be found in the
Senate Hansard of Tuesday 19 February 2002) against which Sefali made only
verbal denials.
It is the second time that Sefali has been fired from a high profile
position. He was formerly a member of the Council of Ministers in the Military
Government and was dismissed without notice in February 1990.
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At the beginning of 2002, a Speedy Trial Bill was still being discussed by
Parliament. It would require the legal officers serving the crown to speed up or
drop cases which have dragged on for many years.
One such case was reported in The Mirror of 17 February 2002. It related to a
murder committed at Koro-Koro on 8 October 1990, a daytime shooting for which
there were four witnesses. However, three of these witnesses had died in the
period between the murder and the case being brought before the High Court.
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A well-known Maseru resident, Cor van Haasteren, who had been Manager of Epic
Printers, died on 28 February 2002 from rabies at the age of 51. He had been
bitten by his dog two months earlier, and although the dog had subsequently been
shot and the brain sent for tests through the Veterinary Division of the
Ministry of Agriculture, the results never reached him. Meanwhile he had been
treated with anti-tetanus and antibiotics but no anti-rabies vaccine, medical
personnel apparently thinking that since there had been no case of rabies in
Maseru for 13 years, it was unlikely that he could be a victim. When he began to
develop symptoms on 23 February and consulted a doctor in Ladybrand, rabies was
diagnosed and he was admitted to Hydromed Hospital in Bloemfontein. It was,
however, too late, and the disease took its course so that he died five days
later.
Cornelius Jacobus Maria van Haasteren, known to everyone as simply Cor, or
Ntate Cor, was born at Oegstgeest in the Netherlands on 2 February 1951. His
father was the local milkman, and he was the fourth of ten children. He trained
as a printer and in lieu of National Service went to the Philippines from 1974
to 1976, teaching printing. Subsequently he worked in Catholic mission presses
in the Seychelles and India. In 1986 he moved to Lesotho to work as Technical
Manager at the Mazenod Printing Works, where he helped to revive its client
base.
In 1991, Cor made the move to Maseru, becoming both a shareholder and manager
of Epic Printers in the Pitso Ground area, the other shareholders being Epic’s
founder, J. M. Nthongoa and Roberto Bornay from the Philippines. There were a
series of associated companies in which Cor was a shareholder, some of which
made little or no profit, but Epic was the star in the crown, achieving
sufficient profitability to support when necessary the others, amongst which
were Lesotho Ads, Khotso Printers, Sotho Publishers & Stationers, The Printshop,
Transworld Services, Riverside Lodge and Nirvana Corporate Farms, the last two
of which were registered in South Africa.
Cor’s arrival at Epic coincided with the beginning of the transfer process
from military government to democratic rule, a time when the number of weekly
newspapers in Lesotho was increasing as each of the main political parties
sponsored its own, while several independent newspapers also came into
existence. Epic Printers, conveniently placed near the offices of many political
parties, printed a large number of the papers, providing credit when they could
not pay, but eventually and reluctantly finally refusing to print if too many
back numbers were still unpaid for. It was Cor who juggled the finances,
ensuring that the business remained profitable without imposing too many
strictures on his clients.
As a result of his pivotal role managing Maseru’s best-known printers, Cor
had a wide circle of friends and business contacts. He seemed always to be in
the office, and always available to callers. An ascetic, Cor always walked to
and from work from his house on the main road at Motimposo, overlooking the
Maqalika Dam. On this site, he established an attractive garden, and played a
major role in the community by supporting boys from indigent families. Some of
these played a part together with Epic Printers’ own staff, by guarding Epic’s
premises during the 1998 riots, when immediately neighbouring businesses were
burnt. As a result many jobs were saved and an important service to the
community preserved.
It is a Dutch custom to celebrate 50th birthdays in style, when a person is
said to ‘see Abraham’, and Cor invited his parents, brothers and sisters, nieces
and nephews to a grand party at the Riverside Lodge, of which he was partial
owner. Little more than a year later, his parents and seven of his brothers and
sisters were in Lesotho for his funeral. This was conducted by Archbishop
Bernard Mohlalisi on Tuesday 5 March 2002 at the Catholic Cathedral, followed by
interment at Kokobela Village Cemetery in Maseru West.
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The former Lesotho Telecommunications Corporation was privatized as Tele-Com
Lesotho (Pty) Ltd in February 2001. It introduced new and mainly increased
tariffs one year later with effect from 1 March 2002, the previous increased
tariffs by LTC having been in August 2000. In an advertisement in local
newspapers it gave the reasons for the increase as cash flow problems: the
company it inherited had been running at a loss for an excess of five years,
financial records were not up to date, customer debts had escalated to an
unacceptable status, large amounts of capital were needed for developments to
meet customer demands, and equipment charges had soared as a result of the loti
exchange rate having sunk from M6.12 to the dollar in 2000 to M11.60 in 2002.
Under the new tariff, there will be a uniform national 45s per minute charge
for local calls at standard rate (08 00 to 19 00 on weekdays and 08 00 to 13 00
on Saturdays and Sundays) and 30s per minute charge for local calls at the cheap
rate which applies at other times. The charges for corresponding calls to South
Africa are M1.89 at standard rate and M1.13 at the cheap rate, although there
appears to be a concession for ‘cross-border’ (Maseru to Ladybrand) calls of
M1.13 at standard rate and 95s at cheap rate.
The new tariffs mean that a 10-minute call to one’s next door neighbour in
Lesotho has risen from M1.80 to M4.50 at standard rate, a rise of 150%. On the
other hand, because all calls in Lesotho are now local calls, a 10 minute call
from Maseru to Mokhotlong at standard rate is now also M4.50, down by 25% from
the M6.00 which it would have cost before March.
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A local FM station transmitting the programmes of Radio France Internationale
began operation in Maseru early in 2002. Its formal opening coincided with the
presenting of credentials in March 2002 by the new French Ambassador to Lesotho,
His Excellency Jean Cadet, who is stationed in Pretoria. The new station which
has a stronger signal in many places than the BBC World Service, can be found at
96.5 FM on the radio dial, closely adjoining Radio Moafrika which is at 97.0 FM.
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The Principal Chief of Phamong, by far the largest chieftainship in Mohale’s
Hoek District, Chief Bereng Letsie Bereng, was killed in a shoot-out with police
in the suburbs of Maseru late in the evening of 10 March 2002. Apparently he had
been travelling with others in a Toyota Twin Cab without number plates, which
was stopped by police near the Lakeside Hotel. An exchange of fire took place
and a policeman was injured. Subsequently the vehicle in which Chief Bereng was
travelling sped off chased by the police, and when the police cornered it a
second time between the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies and the National
Teacher Training College, there was another gun battle in which he was killed.
Chief Bereng was 39, and had been installed as Principal Chief of Phamong by
His Majesty King Letsie III as recently as 30 October 1999. His father Letsie
Bereng had died on 31 August 1992, following which his mother ’Masenate had
taken the place of her late husband for seven years, and had also served as a
Senator. Chief Bereng is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Chief Bereng was a second cousin of King Letsie III, both being direct
descendants, great-grandsons, of Paramount Chief Griffith. The Royal Family took
the unusual step of calling a press conference at the Royal Palace on Friday 15
March, and this was presided over by Chief Masupha Seeiso, uncle of King Letsie
III. Chief Masupha reviewed discrepancies between the police and Royal Family’s
understandings of what had happened on the fateful evening. He made it clear
that the body of Chief Bereng had sustained many gunshot wounds (a doctor’s
report later revealed that there were nine), and he called for an inquest to be
held so that the events that led to the shooting could be made known.
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The Danish Association for International Development (commonly known as MS
from the abbreviation of its longer Danish name, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke) has
been working with development activities in Lesotho and Swaziland since 1976. On
13 March 2002, after a six-hour long meeting in Copenhagen, the Board of MS
decided to shut down the subregional programme which has headquarters in Maseru.
The closure is a consequence of cuts in development aid imposed by the Danish
government, and the closure will be phased over a two year period with all
partnerships between MS and local bodies phased out at the latest by the end of
2004. At that point any remaining activities will be attached to MS Zambia.
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An Electoral Observation Mission sent to Zimbabwe to observe and monitor the
electoral process consisted of 21 members of the Electoral Institute of Southern
Africa (EISA) and included the Chair of Lesotho’s Independent Electoral
Commission, Abel Leshele Thoahlane, and also Sehoai Santho of the National
University of Lesotho. Quoted in the University’s periodical, Information Flash
of 15 March 2001, Mr Santho criticized the inadequacy of polling stations in
high-density urban areas, and said that the outcome of the results was
‘questionable’.
According to Public Eye of 22 March 2002, the IEC chairperson, Leshele
Thoahlane, had found the Zimbabwe elections to be ‘free’ but not ‘fair’.The
newspaper accused him of attempting to be neutral when he should have pronounced
the Zimbabwe elections fraudulent. Public Eye provided some twelve reasons why
the elections were fraudulent. It also questioned Thoahlane’s suitability to be
Chair of the IEC in the light of his observation on the Zimbabwe election.
Rather more forthright comment on the elections came from Molapo Qhobela,
Leader of the Basutoland African Congress. In a Radio Moafrika phone-in
programme on 20th March, the day after the Commonwealth had suspended Zimbabwe
for one year, Qhobela said that it was right that Mugabe had had his wings
clipped for his misdeeds. Molapo Qhobela and Robert Mugabe had been
contemporaries at Fort Hare University College some 50 years earlier.
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At a well-attended occasion on Wednesday 20 March, the Vice-Chancellor of the
National University of Lesotho, Dr T. H. Mothibe, addressed staff and students
on the problem of HIV/AIDS. He stated that Lesotho now ranked fourth in Africa
with an adult infection rate amongst adults of 23.6%.
Reference was made by the Vice-Chancellor to the increasingly common obituary
notices for staff and students which stated ‘he/she died after a short illness’.
He went on to say, ‘We are afraid to say that he/she died because of HIV/AIDS.
For all practical purposes we conduct ourselves as if the disease does not
exist.’
The Vice-Chancellor also announced that consultations were taking place to
set up an inclusive body within the University to implement a strategy to deal
with the AIDS crisis.
A 40-year old mother of two children, Ntilo Matela, representing the
organization ‘People Living with AIDS’ spoke about her own experiences of the
disease. The meeting was also addressed by the Acting Registrar, Mr J. M.
Hlalele and by the President of the Students Union, Mr Moea Makhakhe.
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Nearing completion at the end of the quarter were the main buildings for the
M800 million Denim Mill and Garment Plant for Nien Hsing International. The
plant occupies 26 hectares at the north-west foot of the Qoaling Plateau, and
will be the last large new factory within the Thetsane Industrial Estate which
is now full. The plant is described by Mr Ron Chu Chen, Chairman of the
Taiwanese Nien Hsing Textile Company in LNDC News as ‘Africa’s largest
vertically integrated denim and jeans facility, complete with spinning, weaving,
dyeing, finishing and sewing capacities as well as the most advanced machinery
and technical expertise’.
The plant takes advantage of the United States Africa Growth and Opportunity
Act which became law on 18 May 2000. Lesotho received official certification on
23 April 2001 under the Act having met the prescribed prerequisites which
included inter alia good economic and political governance and commitment to
elimination of trade barriers. As a result, for an eight year period, Lesotho
gets duty and quota free access to United States markets for textiles and
certain other products.
Some indication of the size of the project is that it will require 13 million
litres of water a day, compared with the whole population of Maseru (at least
300 000 people) who at present consume just 25 million litres of water a day.
Infrastructure (mainly water and electricity) to be provided by the Lesotho
Government for the project is costed at M41 million.
The new plant will produce 2 million metres of fabric and over 1 million
garments monthly. Nien Hsing currently employs 15000 people worldwide with two
existing factories in Lesotho, five in Nicaragua, and a denim mill and garment
factory similar to that being constructed in Lesotho in Mexico. Its United
States customers include K-Mart, Wall-Mart, JC Penney, Target, Sears, Bugle Boy
and No Excuses.
Lesotho’s choice as a location for these factory developments is undoubtedly
closely related to its minimum wage being significantly below that of its
immediate neighbours. Those engaged by the textile factories are usually
considered for the first six months as trainees (whatever their age or
experience) and are therefore employed at the minimum wage for this category of
M134.00 per week. Allowing for statutory holidays, this works out at M2.74
(US$0.24; UK£0.17) per hour for a ten hour day five days a week. If the garment
quota is not met within the ten hours, then extra unpaid time is needed to
complete it. The factories commonly work on two shifts a day, a day shift and a
night shift. Although there seem to be no hard figures, it appears that about
95% of the textile workers are women.
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The six summer months October to March 2001-02 appear to have been for most,
if not all of Lesotho, the wettest summer for over 100 years. Although figures
are not yet available for all rainfall stations, the Roma figures show that the
summer total of 1172mm is far in excess of the previous record summer total of
1035mm set in the summer of 1936-37.
Since rainfall records were first kept in Lesotho in 1886, the wettest
summers were 1933-4 (following a devastating drought the previous summer) and
1936-7, but it appears that the 2001 2 summer rainfall figures have exceeded
totals for those years by large margins. In Roma, all six summer months of
rainfall were above average, a feat only previously achieved twice in the past
70 years (in 1936-37 and 1995-96). Some months of the past summer were
spectacularly above the mean, for example November at 233mm was 119% above
average rainfall, and December at 264mm even wetter at 134% above average.
January at 251mm was 92% above the mean, and only in February (13% above) and
March (9% above), did rainfall begin to return to closer to the normal.
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