|
For Basotho, horses are normally a means of transportation
where there are no roads, although horse racing has also been established as a
local sport for over a hundred years. Showjumping is however a quite different
skill. It is nevertheless a skill that two Basotho are currently mastering at
the Schockemöhle Equestrian Centre and Sporting Centre in Bad Saarow in Germany,
a town which also happens to be the unlikely headquarters of the Royal Lesotho
Horse Riding Society.
As reported in The Observer, until last year, Elia
Ramolahloane, aged 28, used horses as his everyday transport as a member of the
Lesotho Mounted Police; while David Mokala, aged 26, was a pony-trekking guide.
At a talent spotting contest in Maseru watched by King Letsie III, where
horsemen were challenged to get their mounts to jump over piles of beer crates,
the two came out top. They also met the requirements of a South African-born
German film-maker and keen horseman, Steffen Gentis, who after a pony trekking
holiday in Lesotho went back to Berlin with the idea of helping to form a
Lesotho Olympic showjumping team. The Royal Lesotho Horse Riding Society was
formed in Berlin to gain sponsorship for such a development. More than 80 firms
have come up with support, and Ramolahloane and Mokala, who were initially
amazed at the luxury of German stables, have adjusted to the training and are
gradually jumping higher and higher.
▲back
to top
As reported in Likereke Ntlafatsong of January/February 2003,
Professor Ramoshebi Maboee Moletsane has been awarded the LeaRN Desmond Tutu
Footprints of Legends Award for 2002 for work amongst rural communities at Taung
in Mohale’s Hoek District.
LeaRN stands for Leadership Regional Network and is a Kellogg
Foundation sponsored partnership between the Christian Council of Lesotho, where
its offices are situated, and the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies of the
National University of Lesotho.
Professor Moletsane, who is also Chief of Liphiring in the
Taung Ward, received an award of US$30000, of which $20 000 will be devoted to a
number of projects in Taung while $10 000 is awarded to him personally.
In an interview in Likereke Ntlafatsong, Moletsane referred to
his work in education since 1958 at all levels from primary to university, where
he was the Vice-Chancellor of the National University from 1997 to 2000.
Thereafter, he was briefly Secretary for Schools of the Lesotho Evangelical
Church, and is now Director of the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS).
He referred to his achievements at the NMDS which have included rehabilitation
of the three-storey building near the British High Commission which once housed
the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Culture, and which had been abandoned after
being damaged by fire. Work at NMDS had included installation of more computers
(although many more were still needed), and extensive training of personnel.
Future plans for NMDS included reviewing the policies of student sponsorship;
and development of programmes which address poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS and
promotion of entrepreneurship at grassroots level.
▲back
to top
The death was announced on 10 January 2003 at the age of 64 of
Donald Nestor who had been Suffragan Bishop of Lesotho from 1979 to 1992.
Born in India on 6 October 1938, Donald Nestor moved as a
child to Britain. He was educated at the local grammar school in Halifax; Exeter
College, Oxford, where he read theology; and The Queen’s College, Birmingham,
where he trained for Holy Orders.
After two curacies in England, Donald Nestor came to Lesotho
in 1972 as Assistant Anglican Chaplain at the Roma Campus of the then University
of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. From 1974, he took over as Chaplain and also
as Warden of Ordinands at the Anglican Seminary at Roma, being the immediate
successor of its founder, Anthony Gann. In 1979 he was consecrated Suffragan
Bishop of Lesotho in St George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town.
Like Bishop Francis Balfour a century earlier, Donald Nestor
spent much of his episcopacy on horseback visiting many of the remoter missions
and outstations of the Anglican Church in Lesotho, thus making it possible for
Bishop Philip Mokuku to concentrate on the capital and urban areas and to play,
with the heads of other churches, a conciliatory role in the crises which arose
in national politics.
When Donald Nestor left Lesotho in 1992, there were already
signs of the cancer against which he subsequently fought bravely for a decade.
Despite illness, he nevertheless continued to live as nearly a normal life as
possible serving as parish priest of Bretherton near Preston in the Diocese of
Blackburn in England. For many years an associate of the Society of the Sacred
Mission, in 2001 he moved to the SSM’s St Antony’s Priory in Durham. He had made
a five year commitment with the SSM shortly before he died.
▲back
to top
The United States Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has
resulted in 36 countries in Africa which meet certain democracy and human rights
conditions gaining tariff-free access to US markets for their exports. Some $4.8
billion of US imports, mainly oil imports, are covered by AGOA annually. More
important for countries such as Lesotho is tariff-free access to US markets for
textiles, and this has resulted in an unprecedented expansion in textile
factories in Maseru, Maputsoe and Mafeteng, with new factory sites also being
planned for Butha-Buthe and Mohale’s Hoek. In fact, according to a report in
Mopheme of 14 January 2003, Lesotho accounted in 2001 for 36.4% of all apparel
imported into the USA under AGOA, and its production had increased by 48% in the
space of one year. The workforce had also doubled to 40000 since 2001. The
largest single project has been the new Nien Hsing denim mill, producing the raw
materials needed for the manufacture of jeans. It began taking on workers early
in 2003, a process which led to near riots and some injuries as people competed
for jobs, and local people whose fields had been occupied by the factory claimed
that they had not acquired the preferential access to employment opportunities
which had been promised. Altogether Nien Hsing has invested more than US$100
million in factory projects in Lesotho.
The importance of AGOA to Lesotho was reflected at a meeting
of the 36 AGOA countries and the USA at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian
Culture in Phoenix, Mauritius on 15 January 2003. Lesotho sent a high powered
team consisting of the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mpho Malie; the
Minister of Finance, Mr Timothy Thahane; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr
Mohlabi Tsekoa. Over 1000 delegates attended the meeting, and if the United
States team expected to be welcomed with open arms for providing employment
opportunities in Africa, it nevertheless had to face the fact that its free
trade and Iraq policies were increasingly unpopular to many. The Mauritian
Supreme Court ruled that a planned Anti-AGOA, Anti-War demonstration for January
15 was legal and that the Mauritian police were outside the law in trying to ban
it.
Speaking on his return from the AGOA Meeting, the Minister of
Trade and Industry, Mpho Malie, stated that the Lesotho Government will need M70
million in the next financial year to meet the requirements of AGOA II beginning
in 2004. The money was needed to meet production standards and meet market
requirements as well as to ensure utilities infrastructure, particularly
adequate water supply, was in place. At the meeting in Mauritius, a video
address by President George W. Bush had announced his interest in having AGOA
extended by the US Congress beyond its present guaranteed life which at present
expired in 2008. The apparent promise of an extended AGOA had created an
atmosphere of investment and market security. Malie predicted that within two
years employment in the textile industry in Lesotho would be over 75 000
workers.
▲back
to top
The Basutoland Congress Party has been reduced after two
successive splits to a minor party with just three Members of Parliament. It
still occupies the old BCP building by the traffic circle. Demolished and
rebuilt, it has yet to be painted in the party colours.
After its leader, Tšeliso Makhakhe announced his resignation
in 2002, the Annual Party Conference, held at the Cooperative College on 17
January 2003, needed to elect a new party leader. The choice was the veteran
politician, Ntsukunyane Mphanya, who thus returns to the political arena, after
stating in 2000 that he was retiring from politics to return to being a farmer.
As a result of this, he is not at present even an MP under the proportional
representation system.
▲back
to top
Under Section 240, the Labour Code Order 1992, the Minister of
Employment and Labour can publish a ‘Code of Good Labour Practice’ after
consultation with the Industrial Relations Council. Such a Code was finally
published as Government Notice no. 4 of 2003, being a Supplement to the Lesotho
Government Gazette of 22 January 2003.
A code of good practice is ‘soft law’ and while not mandatory
sets out what is expected of employers and employees. The code deals with such
matters as termination of employment, collective bargaining, strikes and
lockouts, employment discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. It
also provides the text of a draft recognition agreement by which an employer may
formally recognise a trade union.
As is almost invariably the case with the Lesotho Government
Gazette, the published version of the Code is in English (and indeed may well
have been drafted by an external consultant). There is no indication as to when
Sesotho and Chinese editions of the code will become available.
▲back
to top
For many months, there have been newspaper reports about the
apparently inappropriate behaviour of a member of the three-man Independent
Electoral Commission, Mafole Sematlane. The matter has now received attention at
the highest level and a Lesotho Government Gazette of 5 February 2003 announced
the setting up by the King of a Tribunal of three judges, headed by Mr Justice
Francis Xavier Rooney, ‘to recommend to the King what action is to be taken in
relation to Commissioner Mafole Sematlane’. In a sequel to this notice, a
Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary of 21 February announced the suspension
of Mafole Sematlane from duties pending the advice of the Tribunal.
The original notice required the Tribunal to report by 15
March 2003, but this was extended to 10 April by a further legal notice in a
Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary of 13 March 2003.
▲back
to top
Mourners at the village of Tšakholo Ha Ramotoho in Mafeteng,
who were attending the customary Friday night wake on 7 February 2002, prior to
the burial of one of their villagers, were assailed by four unknown gunmen, who
pumped bullets into the house where the corpse was surrounded by mourners. Four
of the mourners died and twelve others were injured, five seriously. The motive
for the shooting is not yet known, although it is known that the person who was
to be buried had himself died of gunshot wounds.
▲back
to top
The much publicised case in which a Catholic priest, Father
Anthony Monyau OMI, is to face charges of treason because of his role in the
1998 disturbances has been postponed to 23 June 2003. This was stated in a
report from the Lesotho News Agency (LENA) dated 20 January 2003.
▲back
to top
Much media space was devoted early in 2002 to a so-called ‘sex
scandal’ at the National University of Lesotho in which the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
was allegedly involved. The University set up a Commission of Inquiry to
investigate the allegation, the two commissioners being two members of the
academic staff, Advocate Kananelo Mosito and Rev. John Khutlang. The Commission
began investigations on 8 April 2002, and was expected to report within a month.
However, it was not until the end of the year that the Commission Report became
available. The University then placed the text of the report on its website, but
subsequently withdrew it because some of the evidence given in camera had been
inadvertently published in the report, identifying those who had given this same
evidence.
Public Eye of 31 January 2003 reported the findings of the
Commission at length, although it did not reproduce all 79 pages of the report.
The Commissioners concluded that the alleged conduct by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
had not taken place, and there was consequently no question that any security
guard had witnessed such conduct. They were unable to find out how the story had
been communicated to the press. The Public Eye journalist, Moeti Thelejane, who
had written the original story in its issue of 15 March 2002, was not amongst
persons giving evidence to the Commission.
▲back
to top
At a ceremony at the Pitso Ground, marked by the lighting of a
candle, the Prime Minister, Mr Pakalitha Mosisili, on 29 January 2003 received a
gift of the drug Nevirapine from the pharmaceutical firm, Boeringer Ingelheim.
The drug when administered to pregnant mothers and newborn children reduces the
incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Although the ceremony received considerable publicity, it is
not the first time that Nevirapine has been available in Lesotho. Through
assistance from its appeal fund, St Joseph’s Hospital at Roma has acquired
supplies of the drug. However, it has been found that there is a major obstacle
in that mothers do not want to be tested to discover if they are HIV positive,
and as a result a drug regime which could help to save their babies cannot be
used.
Nevirapine is a relatively inexpensive drug. The triple
therapy antiretroviral drugs which could give the mothers of the babies the
chance of living a nearly normal life for many years to come are unfortunately
prohibitively expensive, so that 99% of HIV/AIDS victims are at present doomed
to very short life spans.
▲back
to top
The radio listener’s licence was set at £1.15.0 per annum by
the colonial administration under the Radio Proclamation 1927, with the licence
fee considerably higher for restaurants, clubs and hotels. The rules were
modified in 1931, 1942 and 1950, and the licence fee was adjusted to a scale
running down from £1.15.0 to £1.0.0 according to the distance of the listener
from the ‘nearest main broadcasting centre’, which was by this time
Bloemfontein, there being no public broadcasting service in Lesotho until the
1960s. The colonial administration was acquiring revenue for a service it was
not even providing!
The radio licence fees, along with all other fees, were
metricated in 1961 to run from M3.50 to M2.00, and in 1963, the Radio
Regulations were replaced by new Post Office Regulations, which also included
Radio Regulations. The Radio Listener’s Licence was now standardized at R2.00,
at which level it remained, uninfluenced by inflation, until 2001, by which time
there was also a Television Licence Fee of M5 alongside the M2 Radio Licence
Fee. Radio Licences could initially be purchased at post offices, but as time
went on, the cost of collecting the M2 must have become more than the income
generated, and by 1999, Radio Licence forms were apparently no longer being
printed (at least they were not available at post offices) so it became
impossible to comply with the law. The radio licence thus became like the 4s
revenue stamp required at the time to be placed on receipts. It was illegal not
to have it, but it was also impossible to get it, because it was not being
printed.
Matters changed with the advent of the Lesotho
Telecommunications Authority which was created by Act of Parliament in 2000. On
10 October 2001, the LTA through Legal Notice No. 167 of 2001 in a Lesotho
Government Gazette Extraordinary published a long schedule of fees to be paid
for various activities in the telecommunications field. Amongst these was the
radio licence fee, which was raised from M2 to M10 and the television licence
fee which was raised from M10 to M25. However, the LTA neglected to inform the
public about this (very few people read the Lesotho Government Gazette which is
in fact quite difficult to obtain because unlike most countries, Lesotho has no
Government Bookshop stocking government publications). The notice also did not
explain where the fee could be paid, a rather important detail, because the post
offfice and the LTA are now separate entities. The owner of a radio set in, say,
Mokhotlong was unlikely to know about the new fee nor where it might be paid. It
is in fact unlikely that anyone even paid the new fee.
Realism finally set in with the LTA, which in a notice
published in newspapers in February 2003, announced that the enforcement of the
licence requirement for possession of radio and television sets ‘has proved to
be increasingly cumbersome’. The announcement noted that convergence of formerly
separate industries had resulted in digitized voice, data and images sharing a
single transmission medium, so that equipment such as computers and even
cellphones could receive signals which were previously confined to radio and
television. Radio and television licence fees were therefore abolished with
immediate effect.
Along with the abolition of these licence fees, the LTA
announced cancellation of the requirement that telebureaus and internet service
providers pay 1.5% of gross income as an annual royalty fee. Telephone bureaus
have in fact proliferated in recent years in many periurban areas and larger
villages where ‘phone shops’, or as they often advertise themselves in English
‘public phones’, enable people without their own telephones to make calls.
However, ensuring that telebureau operators and the small but increasing number
of internet cafes keep accurate accounts of their operations, which are usually
exclusively cash sales, was obviously also beyond the resources of the LTA,
which is a regulator rather than a supplier of services.
▲back
to top
A lorry travelling towards Maseru apparently overtaking on a
blind corner at Marabeng on the road from Teyateyaneng to Maseru collided with
two cars and van travelling in the opposite direction on the afternoon of Sunday
9 February. 5 people died instantly and another in hospital while many others
were injured. Amongst those who died was Dr Nthethe Raditapole, a veterinary
surgeon. He was the son of Dr Norman Raditapole of Teyateyaneng, also a well
known veterinary surgeon.
The accident took place on a stretch of road becoming
notorious for its high accident rate. There had been a collision between a lorry
and a minibus taxi close by at Ha Foso on Tuesday 5 February in which 4 people
had eventually died and several others had been injured. Amongst those seriously
injured was the lorry driver. Police stated that he would be charged with
culpable homicide on his recovery.
Another serious accident occurred on Friday 28 February on a
steep slope on the Mandela Highway, the road to Lejone in Leribe District. 11
people died after the brakes of a Hlotse to Bokong taxi failed.
▲back
to top
The Lesotho Opportunities Industrialisation Centre, commonly
known as LOIC (or Loiki in Sesotho) is, according to a report in The Mirror of
12 February 2003, threatened with closure.
LOIC was a successful Lesotho implant of a scheme initiated by
an Afro-American, Rev. Leon Sullivan (who also framed the ‘Sullivan Rules’ for
dealing with apartheid South Africa). Sullivan, who hails from Philadelphia, in
the 1960s was alarmed by the high black unemployment rate in the United States
at a time when there were many available jobs for skilled workers. He set up
Opportunities Industrialisation Centres in the USA to bridge the gap. In 1978, a
similar Lesotho centre, LOIC, was set up near Lesotho High School, and in the
subsequent quarter of a century has provided basic bricklaying, carpentry and
electrical skills to a large number of Basotho who would otherwise have remained
unemployed. The present fees, M400 for a course lasting a year, remains modest
and does not cover the full cost. However, in the past, many indigent trainees
were allowed to enrol without paying fees.
LOIC was initially funded with Lesotho Government and United
Nations funds and later by the United States Agency for International
Development and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. However, with USAID long
gone, Government is also apparently likely to withdraw funding, expecting LOIC
to raise funds from employers and other well-wishers. According to the current
Director of LOIC, there is a likelihood that LOIC will be declared bankrupt and
close.
▲back
to top
The results of the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate
Examination 2002 were published by the Examinations Council of Lesotho on 14
February 2003. There were 7131 candidates from 131 high schools, just one
additional high school having made the list, St Peter’s High School near
Khukhune in the Hololo valley of Butha-Buthe District.
As is usually the case, there was an enormous gulf between the
best and the worst schools writing the examination. On this occasion, in three
schools every pupil obtained a school certificate which is awarded First Class,
Second Class or Third Class depending on the level of achievement. Of the three
schools, the most outstanding was St Stephen’s Diocesan High School at Mohale’s
Hoek, which not only managed to secure school certificates for all its 82 pupils
writing the examination, but amongst them had 30 with First Class passes. The
other schools with 100% school certificates were another Anglican school, St
Catherine’s High School in Maseru and Khethisa High School of the Lesotho
Evangelical Church at Pitseng in Leribe District.
At the other end of the list, there were two schools where not
a single pupil obtained a school certificate. These were St Francis High School
of the Catholic Church at Tsoelike in Qacha’s Nek District, and Bethesda High
School of the Lesotho Evangelical Church at Maphutseng in Mohale’s Hoek
District.
Of the 131 high schools, 11 schools including the two largest
high schools, belong to the Lesotho Government and are run by the Ministry of
Education. The two largest schools each had approximately 150 pupils writing the
examination, but the results were very different. At Lesotho High School, 82% of
those writing obtained a school certificate and 19 obtained First Class
certificates, the third largest number in any school in the country. 51 pupils
also obtained a Second Class certificate. On the other hand, at the equally
large government school, Mohale’s Hoek High School, only 20% of those writing
obtained certificates, none obtained a First Class Pass and only 9 obtained a
Second Class Pass.
In general a Second Class pass with a credit in English
Language edit in Mathematics to study Science) is required to gain admission to
the National University of Lesotho. Overall there were 207 First Class passes
(2.9% of candidates) and 1122 Second Class passes (16.0% of candidates), but
relatively few of those obtaining Second Class passes have the required credit
in English Language, since the total with such a credit was only 755 candidates,
down from 913 last year. In contrast to English, Mathematics showed a slight
improvement with those obtaining a credit rising from 884 in the 2001
examination to 1122 in 2002. The University has in recent years been offering a
Long Vacation bridging programme to enable those without the official minimum
requirements for entry to qualify. Clearly there will be even more candidates
for this programme this year.
The chart shows that, despite the poor performance in English,
the overall performance in the COSC was the best since 1972. Overall
performances improve in times of national stability, and it can be seen how in
the past, the political instability and turmoil which led to many teachers going
into exile led to an appalling decline in the early 1970s. There was relatively
little recovery until the 1990s and the restoration of democracy. However, the
relatively good performance in 1994 was followed by a sharp decline, probably as
a result of the teachers’ strike in 1995, which would have had an impact
particularly on the 1995 results and to a lesser extent on the results the
following year. Internationally, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Lesotho’s
performance was the lowest amongst countries taking the COSC examination,
although in some years and in some subjects the performance by Jamaica was
lower. The country with the best performance is Singapore.▲back
to top
The Motete By-Election, necessitated by the death of the
incumbent Member of Parliament, Mpe Koabola of the Lesotho Congress for
Democracy, was held on 15 February 2003. Four parties, the BAC, LCD, MFP and PFD
contested the election, and there were also two Independent candidates. The seat
was won by Monyane Albert Mohlomi of the LCD with a comfortable majority,
getting 3 032 votes or 78.7% of the total, an improvement on the 72.5% received
by the late LCD MP, Mpe Koabola, at the 2002 election. The candidate coming
second was Bolae Ramonotši, an Independent, with 455 votes, improving his 4.8%
share of the poll to 11.8%, possibly gaining votes from the BNP who did not
contest the election. The other candidates were Khatlaki Ananiase Kolisang (BAC),
136 votes (3.5%); Hlasoa Hlasoa (MFP), 107 votes (2.8%), Kata Joseph Temoho (IND),
70 votes (1.8%) and Kholumo David Kholumo (IND), 54 votes (1.4%). Total valid
votes were 3854 compared with 7415 at the General Election in 2002.
▲back
to top
The Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee of
Parliament goes traditionally, according to Westminster parliamentary practice
(which Lesotho closely follows), to an opposition party financial expert, often
the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer or Minister of Finance.
On Tuesday 25 February, according to Public Eye of 28 February
2003, Dr Victor Leketekete Ketso of the Lesotho People’s Congress was elected to
be Chairman of the Committee. This led to protests from Major-General Lekhanya,
Leader of the Basotho National Party, which has more seats in Parliament, who
felt that his party should have been allowed to appoint a member to the post.
Ketso is a former Minister of Finance, represents the LPC in
Parliament on a proportional representation seat, and is currently treasurer of
the LPC. He was formerly a Lecturer in Economics at the National University of
Lesotho.
▲back
to top
Stock theft is an apparently almost intractable problem, which
in recent years has caused whole villages to relocate, and has seriously
impacted agriculture because farmers have been deprived of animals to plough
their fields. However, a new weapon has been launched in Lesotho to tackle the
problem. On 26 February 2003, 120 rams of the Mahloenyeng Trading Company were
implanted with microchip identification. According to a report in Mopheme of 4
March 2003, for Yehuda Danziger of Primate Identity Technology, this was the
second such implantation in Lesotho, 64 horses at the Police Training College
having been earlier implanted. [Neither rams nor horses are primates, but
possibly Danziger’s firm has run out of archbishops who are at risk of being
stolen.]
The cost of an implant is M25, and the microchip has a life
span of 15 years, which is probably longer than most animals likely to be
implanted. However, the Lesotho government has yet to adopt the microchip to
replace the bewys, the much used (and abused) system by which animals in effect
acquire passports, so that the local chief’s bewys-writer occupies a key, but
often not incorruptible, position in the fight against stock theft. The next
generation of bewys-writers may have to be retrained as microchip implantation
officers.
▲back
to top
The first Indian Ocean cyclone to bear a Sesotho name, Hape,
was reported in Lesotho Today of 27 February 2003 to have died out harmlessly.
The cyclone developed north of Mauritius, but did not develop into a strong
system and died out without making a landfall.
Since last October, the naming sequence for Indian Ocean
cyclones is using names suggested by the countries of southern Africa and the
Indian Ocean. Still to come in the alphabetical sequence for this year may be
Cyclones Katiba, Qacha and Sefate.
Although not a common name in Sesotho, Hape (‘again’) is a
name bestowed on an unfortunate girl who arrives in a family where there is
already a sequence of girls, so that a boy was hoped for. (It can also be given
to yet another boy born after a sequence of boys.) Given that cyclones are
sequential, it is probably an appropriate appellation.
▲back
to top
Speaking at the closure of a two week course on HIV/AIDS for
police officers at the Police Training College on 28 February 2003, the
Commissioner of Police, Mr Jonas Malewa, revealed that more than 10 policemen
had died of AIDS since the beginning of 2003.
Assuming that the figure was 10 policemen, and allowing for
the imprecisions of extrapolation from a single figure, the figure given is
equivalent to 120 policemen dying per year. This compares with a reported total
of only 23 police deaths in 1996/7 and 40 police deaths in the 1997/8 reporting
year (the most recent statistics available), most of these deaths being from
vehicle accidents and firearms incidents, although the increase in 1997/8 might
already have been indicative of more deaths from disease. The annual reports of
the Lesotho Mounted Police Service, although they provide details of numbers of
vehicles and horses, seem nowhere to indicate the total strength of the police
force. However it is believed to be about 2000 men and women, which indicates
that it may be now losing annually about 6% of its total strength to AIDS.
▲back
to top
Gérard Laliberté OMI, a Canadian Catholic priest who had
served in Lesotho since 1965, died at the oblate convalescent home, Lebreton
House, at Mazenod on 28 February 2003. He was 66.
Father Laliberté had been a priest who specialised in serving
in remote missions. He was first an assistant priest at St James, Mokhotlong
(1965), then Auray near Mantšonyane (1966-8) and Paray at Thaba-Tseka (1968-9),
at a time when no road had yet reached Thaba-Tseka. His first parish in which he
was in sole charge was the even more remote Lesobeng where he was placed in
1970, although he returned soon afterwards to be parish priest at Auray from
1971 to 1980. From 1981-4, Father Laliberté was back in Canada, spending three
years of this time at the Centre Missionnaire Oblat in Montréal. When he
returned, he was appointed parish priest at Most Holy Redeemer in Qacha’s Nek
from 1985 90. From 1991 to 1994, he was priest at the nearby mission of St
Francis, Tsoelike.
When he was first taken ill with a stroke on 1 February 2003,
Father Laliberté was at the Oblate House at Villa Maria in Quthing District. He
was treated in Bloemfontein, but a second stroke led to his death while
convalescing at Mazenod on 28 February.
Father Laliberté was buried at the oblate cemetery in Mazenod on 15 March 2003.
▲back
to top
Matšasa Seshea, Member of Parliament for Khafung in the Berea
District, died on Saturday 1 March after his motor vehicle hit a tree and
overturned at Masoeling possibly, according to a police report, because he had
fallen asleep at the wheel.
Matšasa Ambrose Seshea was born at Ha Mokhehle, Berea District
in 1940. He was educated at the local primary school and later at Morija
Training College and the University at Roma. He gained political experience in
Ghana under BCP sponsorship, and subsequently worked for a long period in
commerce and agriculture.
The death of Matšasa Seshea will necessitate a by-election in
the Khafung Constituency, where Seshea of the LCD had had a majority of 920 over
his LPC rival, the former MP, Thebe Motebang.
▲back
to top
The magazine, Lesotho Monitor, which began in 2001, published
its seventh issue at the beginning of March 2003. Numbered ‘vol. 2, no. 1’ [vol.
3, no. 1 was intended] and dated January - February 2003, it has now abandoned
the rather monotonous Basotho Hat which graced the cover of its first few
issues. The new style Lesotho Monitor uses a variety of colour throughout its 78
pages, which (no, the Basotho hat motif has not been lost!) are each numbered
rather inconspicuously in red inside a conical green straw hat.
Articles strike a balance between domestic and international
events, and allow for correspondence, which in this issue has particularly
focused on a very controversial topic, the provision in the Sexual Offences Bill
for the death penalty for anyone who, knowing that he or she is HIV positive,
has sexual relations with another person without informing them of their status.
The Editor-in-Chief of Lesotho Monitor is Dr Rakoro Phororo,
who is a Senator, and not long after the issue came out became Minister of
Agriculture. His fellow Ministers get considerable coverage, but their problems
are not swept under the mat. For example, the article ‘Lesotho qualifies for
AGOA, but ...’ by Thabo Motlamelle presents details of the abuse of workers in
Chinese-owned factories, matters which need to be addresed by both the Minister
of Home Affairs and the Minister of Labour & Employment.
The University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Tefetso Mothibe, is
provided with three pages to reply to criticisms in the previous issue, and the
magazine also hosts a brave four-page article on Zimbabwe by a Zimbabwean
journalist, Rashweat Mukundu.
Overall the magazine, uses a vast amount of colour, with many
small colour photographs (perhaps some times too many) per page showing that it
has available a large bank of locally relevant pictorial material. Despite a
staff of five (also pictured in colour) under the Editor-in-Chief, the magazine
still abounds with typographical errors and occasional infelicities of style.
Nevertheless, it is the most impressive local magazine to appear to date.▲back
to top
A policeman, Paul Motse Malitse, aged 28, of Ha Abia, Maseru,
was on 6 March 2003 sentenced to four years in gaol or a fine of M4000 after the
Maseru magistrate’s court had found that he had used a forged Cambridge Overseas
School Certificate to gain entry to the Lesotho Mounted Police Service. He had
bought the forged certificate for M250.00.
According to the police newspaper, Leseli ka Sepolesa of 13
March 2003, this was the first time a person had been arrested for fraudulently
entering the LMPS, but from now on, according to Miss Matšeliso Kumi, Head of
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), detectives would be investigating
the credentials of applicants for employment in the LMPS.
▲back
to top
The newspaper, Public Eye, in its issue of 21 March, published
a news story rather uncharacteristically delayed. It was that its
Editor-in-Chief, Bethuel Thai, had married on 8 March. The bride was Tinti
Lebitsa and the best man, fellow journalist Thabiso Mlungwane. The reception was
held at the Thaba Nchu Sun, by which time the bride and bridegroom had changed
from their wedding attire into what was described as traditional attire designed
by ’Mampula Mophethe. The report in the paper contained little detail, but
published coloured pictures of the event.▲back
to top
The new Minister of Finance, Timothy T. Thahane, gave his
first budget speech in Parliament on 10 March 2003. The speech presented the
budget for the Fiscal Year beginning on 1 April 2003. It was both televised and
broadcast over Radio Lesotho, with a relay to the National Convention Centre,
where the Minister also went later to answer questions from the public and the
media.
The Minister stated that the Government’s Fiscal Strategy was
to achieve a 4.4% growth rate in 2003/4 budgeting for a ‘sustainable’ budget
deficit of 4.2% ‘that will avoid financial crisis in the future’.
He referred to the Government’s decision to use ‘Public
Private Partnerships (PPP) as a framework whereby the private sector can finance
public infrastructure and services’. This policy was a direct result of
Lesotho’s Prime Minister participating in the ‘Smart Partnerships’ annual
meetings in Malaysia. Candidates for PPPs were many, including housing, rural
clinics, modernization of courts and police stations, telecommunications, a
referral hospital and government buildings.
The Minister also referred to Lesotho’s Industrial Development
facilitated by the United States Growth and Opportunities Act which had resulted
in an estimated 44 000 jobs being created by the end of 2002. However, further
growth was hampered by the inadequate and intermittent supply of water to
industries and by delays at the Maseru rail terminal and other points of export.
Industry was being decentralized by the construction of factory shells in
Butha-Buthe, Mafeteng and Qacha’s Nek.
In reviewing past performance, the Minister noted that the
Public Accounts had not been audited since 1995/6, and had last been declared
true and fair as far back as 1978. This could not be allowed to continue, and
the 2001/2 public accounts had in fact been prepared and submitted to the
Auditor General. The economic performance had showed two years of recovery since
1999, and was estimated to show a growth of from 3.5% to 4% for 2002/3. For the
coming year, 4.4% was predicted, largely as a result of growth in the textile
sector. However, the primary sectors of agriculture and mining were expected to
decline by about 1.5%. In particular from preliminary observations on the famine
relief programme, it appeared that agriculture suffered from structural rather
than seasonal constraints, with evidence that HIV/AIDS was adversely affecting
the sector, with an increasing number of child farmers while many adult farmers
were unable to muster sufficient energy to complete cropping successfully.
In relation to Education it was estimated with free primary
education now reaching Standard 4, over 300 000 pupils were now benefiting from
the programme which had been supported by the building of 153 new schools (some
still under construction) and 873 new classrooms. Overall in 2002, there had
been 420 000 pupils in primary schools, 80 000 in secondary schools, and 6 700
in universities and other tertiary institutions. In 2002/3, Government had set
aside M777.2 million for education; and it would be M848.5 million in the
current budget, up by 9.2% [although in real terms this is not an increase since
inflation has been running at about 11%].
In an area closely related to education, the Minister was
scathing about the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS). In 2002/3
it had been allocated M115 million, which had to be increased by M40 million due
to under-budgeting. [However, although not mentioned, it seems likely that a
significant proportion of this extra expenditure was accounted for by the
National University of Lesotho admitting a much larger number of students than
had been planned for, students who had not necessarily been admitted to areas of
study linked to manpower needs.] NMDS’s present M155 million would be increased
to M195 million in 2003/4. However, the services of the NMDS were quite
deplorable, its staff were of low calibre and inadequate in numbers, yet they
had unlimited authority to decide the fate of students without appeal. The
Minister announced that he was addressing NMDS administrative, staffing and
systems issues; was appointing forensic auditors to look into how funds have or
are being used; and would discuss with the Minister of Education the possibility
of appointing a High Level Team to review the whole National Manpower Policy and
its implementation. [There is no doubt that shaking up NMDS would be extremely
welcome to many people, although some would not perhaps welcome the repayment of
loan bursaries being pursued vigorously. More important to the nation is that
NMDS (although it now has a respected academic Professor Moletsane at its head,
who has been attempting to make reforms) has apparently squandered money by
awarding loan bursaries irrespective of national needs so that there has been
vast overproduction of lawyers and physical planners, while production of
mathematics and science teachers is at only some 20% of national requirements;
production of nurses is far below meeting requirements because many have left
Lesotho to work overseas; and in areas such as radiography, where there is a
vacant post in almost every hospital in Lesotho, no-one at NMDS seems to have
made the effort to bring this to the attention of school leavers who might have
trained in this field.]
Under Health, the Minister referred to the continuing fight
against HIV/AIDS, but he failed to refer to the structural problems of this
sector, which is highly dependent on church-owned hospitals and clinics which
comprise some half of the total. [Unlike the education sector in which the
government pays staff on the same scale irrespective of whether they teach in
government or church schools, the health sector is severely handicapped because
the church-owned facilities are run by professional staff whose government
provided salaries remain constantly at the bottom notch of each salary scale,
while no provision at all is made for ancillary staff. A consequence is that it
is extremely difficult for church hospitals to retain nurses and doctors, who
either desert to government facilities or leave for overseas posts.]
Under Infrastructure, the Minister referred to the funding of
the tarred road from Likalaneng (Mohale) to Thaba-Tseka, and to the construction
of a tarred spur road in Leribe & Berea Districts from Mpharane to Bela-Bela.
Under Pensions, the Minister referred to the financial burden
resulting from an increasing number of civil servants proceeding to retirement
each year, although he failed to mention that this problem was seriously
exacerbated by the retirement age which is still set at 55 (although judges
retire at 75). [The age of 55 is a relic from the colonial period when it was
expected that colonial officers would return home to Britain (or go to South
Africa) and begin a second career before final retirement perhaps 10 or more
years later. Its incorporation into the civil service structure for local
citizens, at a time when the civil service was very much smaller, seems to have
been by oversight rather than any deliberate planning.]
Also under Pensions, the Minister announced that the pitifully
small M100 per month paid to World War II pensioners of the African Pioneer
Corps would rise to M150. [Lesotho has no general pension provision for elderly
people. In South Africa it was raised from M640 to M700 per month by the South
African Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, in his budget speech a few day’s before
the Lesotho budget speech.]
Under Revenue Policies, the Minister noted that the Lesotho
Revenue Authority was now operational and would cooperate with the South African
Revenue Service (SARS) to investigate cross-border tax defaulters. In an obvious
reference to the many Chinese factory owners who live in Ladybrand, he indicated
that close cooperation with SARS was needed to ensure that business
establishments in Lesotho whose principals reside across the border must pay tax
in Lesotho and then secure offsets through the double tax agreement between
Lesotho and South Africa. The Minister also noted that the long-announced Value
Added Tax (VAT) would finally be introduced in Lesotho on 1 July 2002.
In relation to Public Debt, the Minister noted that it had
fallen from M6.4 million at the time of the last Budget to M5.1 billion today.
However, since such debt is mostly denominated in US dollars, this was mainly
the result of fluctuations in the exchange rate. Lesotho had managed its
external debt relatively prudently and it only amounted to 7% of the 2003/4
expenditure budget.
For many people, particularly civil servants, the main
interest in the Budget Speech would have been what rise they might receive in
their salaries to counter inflation, which in recent months has been running at
some 11%. They were, however, to be disappointed. The Minister made for
provision for only a 4% adjustment to civil service salaries, which he hoped
‘the public service will distribute with a bias towards lowly paid workers’. [In
fact the lowest paid workers had already received a 10% rise, when the statutory
minimum wages for a wide range of occupations had been raised with effect from 1
October 2002.]
▲back
to top
The annual (although in some years it has not been given)
Moshoeshoe Memorial Lecture was in 2003 given by Professor L. B. B. J. Machobane
of the History Department of the National University of Lesotho. The lecture was
given on the evening of 10 March 2003, and the chosen subject was the African
reaction to evangelism in Moshoeshoe’s times.
The following day, Moshoeshoe Day was celebrated in what has
now become a traditional ceremony, the laying of wreaths at the Moshoeshoe I
statue in Maseru by the King and Prime Minister, followed by the Principal
Chiefs of the Makhoakhoa, Bataung and Batlokoa, strictly in that order, because
that is the order in which their people became integral members of the Basotho
nation.
The event gave the public a rare opportunity to approach the
Moshoeshoe Statue. Since the building of Maseru’s inner relief road, Mpilo
Boulevard, the former footpath access to the park around the statue has become a
road, and the statue itself fenced off.
▲back
to top
At an advance St Patrick’s Day celebration, the Lesotho
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kenneth Mohlabi Tsekoa, announced that Lesotho
and Ireland have elevated their bilateral relationship to a fully fledged
diplomatic relationship. The reception was held at the residence of the Irish
Consul-General, Mr Bill Nolan, on Friday 14 March, three days ahead of the real
St Patrick’s Day on 17 March.
Lesotho will as a result of the announcement have an
Ambassador stationed in Dublin while Ireland will station a full Ambassador in
Maseru. In recent years, Lesotho has had an Ambassador in Copenhagen, but with
the withdrawal of the Danish International Aid Organization, MS, it seems that
it will be more appropriately be represented in Dublin than Copenhagen.
Irish aid to Lesotho over the past 25 years has been
considerable in areas such as education, health, rural development, and human
resources development. Amongst projects, Ireland has provided funding and staff
for the setting up of a Basotho pony stud at Thaba-Tseka and a pony trekking
facility at Ha Chalalisa near Molimo-Nthuse. It has also funded and staffed the
Centre for Accounting Studies in Maseru, and has supported a major project which
has placed Irish teachers of mathematics and science in Lesotho’s high schools.
Ireland has also contributed to the training of health professionals and the
equipping of hospital laboratories, and provided support and personnel to enable
the Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre to be established.
▲back
to top
Both the Leader of the National Assembly, Lesao Lehohla and
the leader of the Basotho National Party, Justin Metsing Lekhanya, enjoyed a
week long trip to the UK from 1 to 8 March 2002. They went at the invitation of
the British High Commission, and had the opportunity of observing the
Westminster-style of Government at the Mother of Parliaments and also visited
the Scottish Parliament. On his return home it might have been thought that as
Leader of the largest opposition party, Lekhanya might have applied some of his
honed parliamentary skills to the debate on the Budget Speech. However, he was
nowhere to be seen in Parliament for the whole week of the speech and the debate
following. Instead, he was apparently travelling the country preparing for the
BNP Party Conference, lobbying members to ensure that votes went to his chosen
candidates for membership of the party’s Executive Committee.
As reported in Public Eye of 21 March 2003, the BNP Party
Conference was duly held on Saturday and Sunday, 15-16 March 2003. One of
Lekhanya’s main public critics had been his party’s General Secretary, Leseteli
Malefane MP. He was replaced by Ranthomeng Matete MP, Chief of Morija, whose
career in public life has included his being Personal Secretary to Chief Leabua
Jonathan, and Secretary to the Interim Political Authority.
There had also been friction between Lekhanya and the Deputy
Leader, Bereng Sekhonyana MP. Sekhonyana was voted out and replaced by Joseph
Mollo MP, a former Lesotho High Commissioner in London.
Many other office bearers were replaced. The Party Chairman,
Moupo Mathaba MP was replaced by Phale Mokoena, although the Deputy Chairman,
Thaabe Letsie MP, a former military colleague of Lekhanya, retained his
position. However, like the General Secretaryship, the Assistant General
Secretaryship changed hands, moving from Jeremiah Morena Letsie MP to Pelele
Letsoela.
The party Treasurer, Joseph Thabisi MP was one of the few to
retain his position. However, the Vice-Treasurership changed hands from Mooki
Molapo MP to Cletus Sekhohola Molelle MP, whose earlier career in the banking
sector should be relevant to the post. Another position that changed hands was
the post of National Organiser, and here Thamsanqa Tyhali MP was replaced by
Peter Letsota MP.
No women were elected as party officials, but the four women
who are ordinary members of the Executive Committee all retained their
positions. They are Mrs ’Matsiu Khathibe MP, Mrs Claudia Hlao, Ms ’Malefa
Mapheleba and Mrs Mpho Ramabitsa. Mrs Khathibe had been a late entry to
Parliament, having replaced Masupha Sole, who was higher up the list of BNP
proportional representation candidates, but was unable to take his seat because
of his being sentenced to 18 years in gaol for corruption.
Many of those who fell from party positions will nevertheless
remain BNP Members of Parliament until the next elections, which will presumably
be held early in 2007. They are all BNP proportional representation MPs, and can
remain MPs unless they resign from the BNP itself, die, or are found guilty of
any of the various offences which disqualify an MP from sitting in Parliament.
▲back
to top
Sponsored by Econet Ezi-Cel and People Services International,
women’s football in 2003 has taken on a more fiercely competitive role between
district teams. Although Mokhotlong and Thaba-Tseka have yet to form district
teams, the other eight districts signed up for a competition, which began in
Qacha’s Nek on 15-16 March where teams from the south of Lesotho gathered. On
the first day Qacha’s Nek beat Mohale’s Hoek 2-1, while Mafeteng convincingly
defeated Quthing 4-0. The next day, Mafeteng slaughtered Qacha’s Nek 6-0 to
prove that they were the best of the four teams. On the same day, Quthing
devastated the Mohale’s Hoek defence, so that the women from Kubake wound up
bottom in the two day tournament.
▲back
to top
There was indeed a varied choice of events on the weekend of
15-16 March 2003. For those whose tastes did not include the BNP Party
Conference or women’s football, there was the 3rd Moafrika Cultural Festival at
the Co-operative College in Maseru. The theme of the festival was the cultural
diversity of the Basotho, and Radio Moafrika set the scene during the preceding
week by including news bulletins read in isiXhosa, Sephuthi and Sindebele, the
first two languages being still spoken in Quthing and Qacha’s Nek Districts,
while the third can still be heard in parts of Butha-Buthe District. On the
Friday afternoon, there was a street carnival, as participants in a great
variety of traditional attire stopped traffic as they made their way through
Maseru from the Maseru City Council Offices to the Co-operative College for the
opening of the festival. In the rear of the procession was the inspiration
behind the event, Candi Ratabane Ramainoane, who has long been known for his own
varied eccentric dress, which is in itself a one-man expression of cultural
diversity.
For those with enough stamina on each of the days of Saturday
and Sunday there was a virtually non-stop programme from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
beginning and ending with Christian prayers, but including in between a variety
of traditional song, dance, praise poetry, gospel singing and including
performances by Matebele, Xhosa, Baphuthi and Batlokoa. Ramainoane is a former
mayor of Maseru, and somehow he managed to induce the Council Workers themselves
to perform traditional dances, not only the mokhibo, performed by women kneeling
and shaking their upper bodies, but the much more provocative litolobonya, a
relatively new and expressive women’s dance, performed scantily clad (although
tights usually take the place of otherwise bare regions), in which the rhythmic
movements emphasize the unique features of the female figure. The dance was
until recently supposed to be only performed when there were no men present, but
it has now taken its place in public performances alongside other traditional
dance forms.
▲back
to top
In a speech to Parliament on Thursday 20 March 2003, the Prime
Minister Pakalitha Mosisili gave details of the first Cabinet reshuffle since
his Government assumed office after the 2002 elections.
A new and nineteenth government Ministry has been created by
splitting the Ministry of Agriculture, Co-operatives and Land Reclamation. The
new Ministry is the Ministry of Forestry and Land Reclamation, and the new
Minister is Lincoln Ralechate ’Mokose, who has been moved to this portfolio from
his position as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. The Ministry of
Agriculture has also lost Co-operatives, which now becomes a part of the
Ministry of Trade, Industry, Co-operatives and Marketing. On the other hand
Agriculture has had Food Security added to its responsibilities and the new
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security is Dr Daniel Rakoro Phororo, a
veterinary surgeon by profession and no stranger to the Ministry of Agriculture,
which he has served in a number of senior positions. Dr Phororo is able to
assume the portfolio because of his appointment as a Senator.
Other changes are that the former Minister of Agriculture,
Vova Bulane, is now Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and the musical
chairs are completed by the former occupant of this post, Sephiri Motanyane
becoming the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. Members of the youth wing
of the party have been rewarded for their loyalty by being promoted to become
Assistant Ministers, Mothetjoa Metsing to become Assistant Minister for Trade,
Industry, Co-operatives and Marketing; and Hlonepho Ntšekhe to become Assistant
Minister for Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation.
Other changes are the shuffling of departments, with resulting
new titles for ministries. These result in the Ministry of Communications now
being the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (Science &
Technology having moved from the Ministry of Natural Resources); the Ministry of
Home Affairs becoming the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety (this
Ministry has long been home to the police); the Ministry of Defence now being
known as the Ministry of Defence and National Security; the Ministry of Gender,
Youth and Sports becoming the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation;
and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment having the departments in
its title shuffled so that it becomes the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and
Culture. This is bad news for those who have waited over 30 years for Lesotho to
acquire a National Museum, a working National Archives and an effective National
Library Service. All three of these fall under the Department of Culture which
appears to have been relegated to the bottom in order of priority.
The two new Ministers and two new Assistant Ministers were
sworn in by the Chief Justice, Mahapela Lehohla, at the Royal Palace on Monday
24 March 2003.
▲back
to top
A front page headline appeared in Mopheme of 25 March 2003
‘Government spends millions on luxury cars for ministers, despite ongoing famine
and rampant HIV/AIDS?’, the question mark perhaps protecting the newspaper
against any inaccuracies in the story. The paper reported that the government
has bought luxurious Mercedes Benz E Class 240 sedans for use by cabinet members
as official vehicles. At least five of the new fleet had already arrived in
Lesotho and others were to be delivered soon. The paper comments that the cars
cost about M350000, and if all Ministers and Assistant Minsters are to receive
them (which seems doubtful), the total cost will be M8.4 million. Previous
ministerial cars were Toyota Camrys.
▲back
to top
Although Lesotho’s links with Iraq are few, there have been a
few repercussions from the Iraq War. One has been the US Embassy taking out
advertisements to ensure that all US citizens are in touch with their Wardens to
facilitate rapid passing on of information ‘and, if necessary, providing
emergency services’.
Amongst other effects which seem to be related to the war and
its build-up, have been the appreciation in value by over 30% over the past year
of the rand and loti against the United States dollar. This has somewhat offset
the recent increase in the gold price, which might otherwise have significantly
improved employment opportunities in South Africa in the mining sector.
The rise in value of the rand and loti for the time being
seems to have staved off a major petrol price rise in Lesotho, although there
has been a rise on the South African side so that petrol is for the first time
over R4.00 a litre. It seems likely that a similar rise in Lesotho will soon
occur, and if so this will probably reverse the current downward trend inflation
to below 10% per annum.
▲back
to top
The six summer months from October to March are also the wet
season. In 2002-3, compared with the record-breaking wet season of 2001-2, the
rainfall was much closer to the normal. Most parts of Lesotho seem to have had a
total rainfall a little below the long-term mean with November being a
conspicuously dry month, while December made up for it with rain well above
average.
In Roma rainfall was a little below the mean in 2002-3, in
fact some 92% of the average summer rainfall. There has recently been a run of
wetter than average summers, and 2002-3 was the driest summer since the drought
year of 1994-5. As can be seen from the chart, in that summer the combined
rainfall for the crucial growing season months of October, November and December
was only half of what it was in 2002-3, and many crops failed. 2002-3 will
probably enjoy a fairly average harvest, and since less rain fell in violent
thunderstorms than in 2001-2, hail damage is likely to have been less
widespread.
▲back
to top
Summary of events in Lesotho is a quarterly publication
compiled by David Ambrose of the Institute of Education at the National
University of Lesotho, P. O. Roma 180, Lesotho.
|
