|
At the Graduation Ceremony in Roma on 25 September 2004, the
Chancellor of the National University of Lesotho, King Letsie III, quoted from
the recently adopted Vision 2020 document to the effect that Lesotho ‘shall have
a well-developed human resource base’. He said that the education system was
weak in that there was inadequate science and technology research and
development, inadequacies in curriculum development and poor management of
educational institutions. Direct and indirect funding to the University by
Government was over 80% of the total, and NUL should continue to seek ways of
reducing costs and devise and implement revenue generating programmes.
In his speech, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mafa
Sejanamane said that the National University of Lesotho was a key part of the
recently completed Lesotho Education Strategic Plan 2005‑2015. ‘The key
strategies of the Plan are, among others, to invest in infrastructure
development and rehabilitation for higher education institutions, review the
curriculum, establish national quality assurance mechanisms for the higher
education sub-sector and mainstream HIV/AIDS interventions’. He criticized the
extent to which current funding discourse was focused on basic education,
relegating tertiary education to the background.
The representative of the graduands, Sekonyela Mapetja, was
critical of the lack of facilities at NUL including insufficient computers and
up-to-date library books. There were important journals the library did not
take. The many students forced to live off campus because of lack of
accommodation suffered insecurity because of a high rate of robbery. ‘In no way
can this institution provide innovative solutions to societal needs if it does
not thoroughly consult with the society.’ He made reference to the high rate of
unemployment amongst graduates and appealed to government to address this issue.
The National University of Lesotho has recently gone through
considerable upheaval, with a transformation plan which went sadly awry and then
had to be aborted, because it was costing too much and resulting in too little
positive change. In fact transformation had opened the doors to large numbers of
aspirant students with lower than normal entrance requirements. They had been
admitted into large classes without the additional staff to meet the needs of
weaker students and without regard to national manpower needs. Over 200 students
per year, for example, had been recently admitted to law programmes, when the
national need was perhaps 10% of this number. This had been done without thought
of the possible consequences. African countries with a surplus of lawyers have
been plagued with instability, because unemployed lawyers can do little else
except become politicians who then vie with each other to seize power. At the
same time, Lesotho is suffering from shortages of key manpower in other areas.
There is relatively little attention given to the training of technicians, for
example, which on average are needed at a ratio of five technicians for every
graduate. University staff were perhaps rather ruefully reflecting on this in
the months following the graduation ceremony, when the lack of qualified and
competent water technicians was a key factor in the repeated failure of its
water supply, even though 2004 rainfall was above average. ▲back
to
top
When southern Africa metricated in the early 1970s, the
Republic of South Africa decided to use a decimal comma instead of a decimal
point. This decision was seen by many to have been a political statement to
bolster the dominance of Afrikaans as South Africa’s major European language.
Thus South Africa aligned itself with certain countries on the continent of
Europe rather than the English-speaking world, which in the process of
metricating retained the decimal point. Despite South Africa’s decision, other
countries in southern Africa, including Lesotho, aligned themselves with the
Commonwealth and English-speaking world and retained the decimal point in all
commercial and educational applications.
That this was a wise decision has been vindicated. Not only
does computer software almost invariably use the decimal point, but since the
end of apartheid, the decimal comma in South Africa has undergone the reverse
political process and is being progressively abandoned.
However, in Lesotho in 2004, a very strange thing has
happened. A laudable scheme to provide high school pupils with free access to
textbooks was devised, and companies were asked to tender for the supply of
these books. The long used Macmillan Project in Secondary Mathematics (PRISM)
series lost in the bidding process, and a multiply authored first-year textbook
from the rival firm Longman won the tender. There was evidence of haste in
preparing the book, and indeed it only became available half way through the
academic year for which it was intended. When it did arrive in schools, it had a
nasty surprise for teachers and pupils. The decimal comma, which in southern
Africa many considered to deserve no more than a historical footnote, had risen
from the dead! It appears throughout the new book and is today haunting the
mathematics classes of Lesotho’s secondary and high schools. ▲back
to
top
The Sixth Morija Arts & Cultural Festival took place from
Friday 1 October to Sunday 3 October 2004. As quoted in Public Eye of 6 October
2004, the festival organiser said that in order to curb problems which had
plagued previous festivals, there was this year a complete ban on alcohol
consumption within the festival grounds. Inspector Francis Fobo of the Lesotho
Mounted Police Service, when interviewed, agreed that incidents of crime were
down, but that nevertheless there had been reported one murder (outside the
festival grounds), two road accidents, two sexual offences and numerous mobile
phone thefts.
The 2004 Festival suffered from less sponsorship than had been
hoped for. Its final budget was M700000, considerably less than the M1.2 million
to M2.4 million which had been available in previous years. It also suffered
from competition with other festivals during the same period. For example it was
held at the same time as the Seventh Free State Macufe or Mangaung Cultural
Festival held in Bloemfontein, and the Moafrika traditional festival, Lipapali
tsa Moafrika was also held at Qeme Ha Thaabe at the same time. The name Macufe
makes an equally suitable acronym for the Morija Festival, and is now also in
wide use in Lesotho, particularly in the Sesotho press, for the Morija Arts and
Cultural Festival. ▲back
to
top
At the 38th Anniversary of Independence celebrations at the
National Stadium on 4 October 2004, the Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili,
raised the matter of the appropriateness of the National Flag and National
Anthem of Lesotho. As is well known, the original national flag at Independence,
incorporating a conical Basotho hat, was found to be inappropriate by the
Military Government because its colours were those of the ruling Basotho
National Party. As a result the flag was replaced in 1987 by the present white,
blue, green, and brown flag bearing a silhouette of a traditional shield. While
the colours white, blue and green symbolize khotso, pula, nala (peace, rain,
prosperity, the words of the national motto), the shield is in the colour brown,
an unusual colour for a national flag. Judging by polls carried out by
newspapers following the Prime Minister’s speech (in which he favoured restoring
the hat to the flag), it seems that many people would also like to see the
Basotho hat back on the flag. If a change is made, Lesotho will make
vexillological history by becoming the first African country to have had three
flags since Independence. (The United States (like the European Union) has of
course had far more flags, as it adds additional stars every time it adds a new
state.)
The matter of the National Anthem is rather different. It was
originally composed by the missionary François Coillard over 120 years ago.
Coillard moved from his Leribe (Maoana-Masooana) Mission to found the French
Protestant mission in Barotseland (now in western Zambia), where he composed the
Barotseland National Anthem, which has the same Swiss hymn tune and almost
identical words to those of the Lesotho National Anthem, save that it has an
additional verse asking God to save King Lewanika. [The Barotseland Kingdom had
been founded by a group of Bafokeng under Sebetoane, and so its official
language at the time was Sesotho, and even today the language, now known as
Silozi, is still very close to Sesotho.] Coillard’s original hymn, called
Lesotho, had five verses, but three, which were deemed less appropriate, were
dropped at Independence. The two remaining verses have generally been accepted,
but the Prime Minister (a former Professor of African Languages) drew attention
to the line ke moo re holileng and suggested it would be more correct if it
became ke moo re holetseng. The difference is relatively slight but significant,
the first meaning ‘this [Lesotho] is where we grew up’ and the second ‘this is
where we were nurtured’ which suggests more attachment to Lesotho as a nation.
▲back
to
top
The long delayed Local Government elections, originally
promised before the 1998 General Election, and later promised repeatedly to be
held within a year, were most recently promised to be held before the end of the
calendar year, 2004. In his speech on 4 October 2004, as reported in Mopheme of
5 October 2004, the Prime Minister promised the elections would be held before
the end of the financial year, i.e. before 31 March 2005. Later indications were
that they might be held on 30 April 2005.
The elections have been repeatedly delayed because of the
complex and costly electoral system which has been devised top-down, with the
Independent Electoral Commission taking responsibility. Formerly, Village
Development Councils (which were prematurely abolished, but still often
informally exist because they are needed) were elected at locally arranged
elections without excessive intervention from central government.
Various indications that the electoral process is at last
moving forward include new legislation and legal notices published during 2004.
The Local Government (Amendment) Act 2004 was published in a Lesotho Government
Gazette Extraordinary, no. 53 of 2004 (17 May 2004), and amends the Local
Government Act 1997 (which confusingly and erroneously was originally printed as
the Local Government Act 1996 even though the royal assent was not given until
1997).
Amongst changes introduced by the amended Act are the renaming
of Rural Councils as District Councils, and changing their composition so that
the number of members is determined by the Minister of Local Government, but
that they include 2, rather than 3 gazetted chiefs ‘representing all Community
Councils in the District’ [the method of choice is not stated]. On the other
Councils, chiefs are no longer to be elected but to be nominated by other chiefs
in the relevant area, so probably it is also intended that this should apply
also to District Councils.
A new provision is that not less than a third of seats in any
council shall be reserved for women, but the method of achieving this is not
stated. The provision about electoral divisions is deleted, thus simplifying the
delimitation procedure. The Boundaries Commission is renamed the Administrative
Boundaries Commission.
The Local Government Elections (Amendment) Act 2004 was
published in a Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary, no. 75 of 2004 (22 July
2004), and amends the Local Government Election Act 1998. Given that the amended
Act is nearly as long as the original Act, and given that consolidation of
legislation with amendments is a tedious process, it might have been more
efficient to have produced the Act as a new piece of primary legislation.
Amongst changes are corrections of various spelling mistakes;
correcting the voting age from 28 to 18; harmonizing qualifications to vote so
that they are the same for national and local elections; making provision for
official symbols for political parties and independent candidates; and
confirmation that the electoral model for local elections will be ‘first past
the post’. A Fourth Schedule is added to the original Act setting out an
Electoral Code of Conduct.
The Administrative Boundaries Commission mentioned in the
Local Government (Amendment Act) 2004 was appointed on 28 April 2004 and
consisted of five persons headed by the Honourable Justice Guni, Judge of the
High Court. Its functions inter alia were ‘to demarcate new administrative
boundaries having regard to the interests to local communities, to secure local
governance and development’. New boundaries for local government were in fact
finally gazetted in a Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary, no. 120 of 2004
(22 November 2004) as a Legal Notice, Local Government (Declaration of Councils)
Notice 2004.
The boundaries as gazetted use parliamentary constituencies as
the basic units for creating Community Councils. Whether this is wise only time
will tell, because parliamentary constituencies are reviewed in terms of the
Constitution not less than eight and not more than ten years after the previous
review, and since this last review was in 1998, they are likely to change within
the next two to four years. Local government areas, by contrast, might usually
be expected to have more stable boundaries.
Using the 80 parliamentary constituencies, the 8
constituencies which correspond to the Maseru Urban Area are excluded, and from
the remaining 72, a total of 128 Community Councils have been created, the
numbers ranging from 10 in Butha-Buthe, Berea and Quthing Districts up to 18 in
Leribe District. The total number is considerably less than envisaged in the
original Local Government Act which had specified 17 to 21 councils per district
(a very restricted range given the vast differences in population between
districts). The amended Act provides appropriately more freedom. Although, as
will be seen, the boundary descriptions are not always clear, the effect of the
new boundaries published in November 2004 is that some 34 Community Council
areas coincide with parliamentary constituencies while another 6 are similar to
constituency areas, but have had relatively small boundary adjustments made to
link together areas across constituency boundaries with community of interests.
These 40 constituency type Community Council areas are all in the Lowlands or
Foothills and many of them embrace urban areas including district headquarters,
which might expect to have urban or municipal councils, although these are not
provided for.
Each of the remaining 32 constituencies are subdivided into 2,
3 or 4 Community Councils, with the five cases where four CCs are created being
constituencies in Mokhotlong and Qacha’s Nek Districts. This has resulted in
some CCs, although relatively large in area, having very small populations. For
example the Matsoku CC (part of Malingoaneng Constituency) has a total
population of less than 2 500 people, while the Pae-la-itlhatsoa CC, part of the
same constituency has villages with only about 1 000 people, although since its
area embraces the Letšeng Mine, the total resident population is considerably
larger. The reasons for such small CCs are no doubt related to local feelings.
The Matsoku river, which divides constituencies and also districts, is populated
by Batlokoa on the east bank, and by non-Batlokoa (called by the Batlokoa ‘Bakhalahali’)
on the west bank. Geographically it would be logical to put all villages in the
valley under a single CC. However, the Batlokoa have a strong separate identity
and always want their own institutions. At meetings of boundary commissions,
they have been heard to say, ‘Ntate, we cannot work with people who have not
attended our initiation schools’. Thus the Matsoku valley is served by Seshote
CC on the west and Matsoku CC on the east. Matsoku CC at less than 2 500 people
has less than 10% of the population of a number of CCs in the Lowlands, for
example those which include district headquarters (and also Mazenod and Maputsoe)
which typically have populations in the range 25 000 to 50 000.
Of some interest is the fact that apart from omitting the
Maseru Municipal Council Area, the delimitation of CCs fails to cover the whole
of Lesotho. There have been some omissions closely adjoining Maseru, notably the
Sekamaneng, Koalabata and Sekhutlong villages to the north-east of Maseru and
Masianokeng to the south-east. Presumably it is envisaged that when the Maseru
City Council is re-established, Maseru should logically include these villages
which are essentially already suburbs. The other omissions are communal pasture
areas, typically large parts of the Central Range and of the eastern summit
plateau, mainly devoid of settlements although Sani Top, Oxbow and the Mahlasela
Ski Resort are included. Although all such rural areas fall under the
jurisdiction of area chiefs, they have mainly not been incorporated within the
boundaries of CCs. They now seem to fall into some local government limbo, which
may create problems given that many of these areas fall under the Maloti/Drakensberg
Transfrontier Project which needs to work closely with local government
authorities.
The Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary of 22 November
2004 with the new boundaries is 98 pages long and without a map. It was
apparently prepared in some haste, because the text shows clear signs of not
having been carefully checked, and as a result contains numerous errors, some
simply misspelled names or wrongly numbered cross-references, but others of some
substance. From stylistic differences in the boundary descriptions, it seems the
boundaries are the work of at least two persons, one of whom had great
difficulty in distinguishing between east and west which are frequently
interchanged. Other problems are the use of the word ‘watershed’ to mean
‘watercourse’ and ‘ridge’ to mean ‘escarpment’. Even when ‘watershed’ is more
correctly used, it is often used in reference to a single river when as part of
a boundary description, it is only meaningful as a catchment boundary between
two different watercourses. Boundaries are often said to ‘follow the district
boundary’ assuming that the boundary marked on the 1: 50 000 maps is in fact the
correct district boundary, when in reality it often deviates from the locally
accepted district boundary. District boundaries in Lesotho are in any case
problematic, because, apart from Thaba-Tseka District, they have never been
legally defined and their boundaries have (apart from small sections demarcated
after disputes) never been accurately described. Although the CC boundaries as
described often cannot be drawn with complete precision on maps, the intention
is generally clear. However there is one serious error in that councils H05
Matebeng and K13 Sehong-Hong (the numbering system uses the same district
identifying letters as are used for car registrations) are described so that
both contain several of the same villages, those between the Matebeng and
Patiseng rivers, while some other villages near their common boundary are in
neither CC!
Amongst interesting features of the gazetted councils are the
names assigned to each of them. Many coincide with urban constituencies, and in
such cases new names different from the towns have been found. Linare CC at
Hlotse should please football supporters, and Makaota CC at Mafeteng reflects
the fact that people in western Mafeteng District are known as Makaota. The
Mohale’s Hoek urban area is served by Motlejoeng CC named after an infamous
cannibal, while the CC embracing Qacha’s Nek urban area is named Letloepe, a
locally familiar name for the town, deriving from a rock which rises above the
town shaped like the neck of a spitting cobra. Some other names seem less
happily chosen. Likila CC in Butha-Buthe District includes areas occupied both
by the people of Butha-Buthe ward, who use Likila as their praise name, and
areas occupied by the Makhoakhoa. If the CC is named instead after the protea
trees, likila, found in the district, then this ought to have been given as the
name to Linakeng CC nearby, which includes the village of Ha Mothuntšane with
the largest protea forest in Lesotho. In a few cases the names seem to have been
chosen in error. Council F06 in Mohale’s Hoek District is named Mootsinyane
which is a village name, but the village is located in the area of Teke CC
(F05). No doubt one of the first tasks of Community Councils, once constituted,
will be to decide their official names. Thus Khomokhoana CC, at present hardly
recognizable as Maputsoe (Khomokhoana is a river on its eastern boundary), will
no doubt come up with something more appropriate, and councils with rather
mundane names such as Thaba-Kholo, Thaba-Khubelu, Thaba-Chitja and Likhohlong
may come up with more distinctive and memorable names. ▲back
to
top
The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), which is responsible
for water and sewerage in 14 of Lesotho’s towns, has long been plagued with
management problems, which have led to the accumulation of a M200 million debt.
In an interview with the Minister of Natural Resources, Mr Monyane Moleleki,
reported in Lesotho Today of 7 October 2004, it was revealed that the Lesotho
Government had signed a performance agreement with WASA which provided for the
writing off of this debt in return for a binding contract which states clearly
the quantity and quality of water WASA will supply. In a separate interview, the
Chief Executive of WASA, Mrs Refiloe Tlali, gave further details of the
agreement and said that the achievement of WASA’s financial sustainability will
depend on the management and implementation of tariffs to provide sufficient
income. Government’s obligations include development of timely procedures for
approving tariff changes. Moreover all government ministries would have to pay
their water and sanitation bills on the due date or be disconnected.
Mrs Refiloe Tlali is relatively new to WASA, having previously
been with the Financial Division of Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. For
a while she was LHDA’s Acting Chief Executive. She succeeded Mrs ’Mamosebi Pholo,
a lawyer by training, who had become WASA’s Chief Executive, having previously
acted as its Corporate Secretary. ▲back
to
top
In an editorial in its 8 October 2004, Public Eye called for
abortion to be either legalized or some other solution to be found to the
problems that cause unwanted pregnancies. The same issue carried as its lead
story, a report that the bodies of 10 abandoned newborn babies had been found in
the Mejametalana Dam in the suburbs of Maseru during the previous week. It also
carried the story of a 22-year old Qacha’s Nek woman and her 34-year old woman
abortionist accomplice, who were gaoled for attempting to procure a miscarriage.
Both women were gaoled for two years, one year of which was suspended for two
years, with the alternative of a M800 fine.
No political party in Lesotho has yet dared to incur the
possible wrath of churches by suggesting abortion in Lesotho might be legalized,
even under stringent conditions. The abortion law is thus the same in Lesotho as
it was at Independence in 1966. Abortion was then illegal both in Lesotho and in
the former colonial power, Britain. Subsequently abortion laws were liberalized
in Britain, and abortion is also legal and freely available in South Africa.
Only 200 metres beyond the Maseru Bridge Border Post on the South African side,
near to the taxi rank, a large vertical sign advertizes Safe Abortion at the
Mary Stopes Clinic in Bloemfontein, and provides telephone numbers for those
wanting further information. The reality, however, is that only women living
close to Lesotho’s borders and with adequate funds can afford an abortion. The
poorer women, those least able to provide for an additional child, have no
option but to complete the pregnancy, or as frequently occurs, to be involved in
an illegal and often life-threatening practice. ▲back
to
top
As reported in Mopheme of 12 October 2004, two awaiting trial
prisoners were charged before a Maseru Magistrate on Friday 8 October of sodomy
with a third prisoner, an 18-year old youth awaiting trial on a rape charge. The
two accused, awaiting trial respectively for murder and car theft, are said to
have competed to sodomize the youth on his first night in the cell, resulting in
a fight with an iron bar.
In another case, reported in Mopheme of 26 October 2004, two
prisoners in the Maseru Central Prison were convicted of forcibly sodomizing
another inmate. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 they were each sentenced to
10 years imprisonment without the option of a fine.
Conditions in Lesotho’s gaols are notoriously bad, and were
exposed by the White Commission Report tabled before Parliament on 24 February
2004. Amongst its findings were that ‘prisoners are housed in abysmally
dilapidated prisons, which are mostly antiquated, overcrowded and devoid of
basic maintenance’. Homosexuality resulted in rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and
Lesotho laws did not allow the distribution of condoms in prisons. Inefficiency
in the legal system, led to a large proportion of prisoners being not convicts,
but prisoners on remand awaiting trial.
In a related report in Public Eye of 5 November 2004, the
Officer Commanding the Central Prison in Maseru, Senior Superintendent Matete
Mahao, was quoted as saying that at least two prisoners died in his prison every
week, most of them from tuberculosis, an HIV opportunistic disease.
Although the serious state of affairs has now been publicly
ventilated, there is little evidence so far of the necessary action to rectify
it. ▲back
to
top
A new coach for the Lesotho national football team, Likuena,
arrived to take up his post in Lesotho on Tuesday 12 October. He is Tony Hey,
who had a long career as a footballer in Germany’s Bundesliga, and also played
in the English Premier League, and in Switzerland and Cyprus. He took up
coaching after 15 years as a player, and became head coach of two different
teams in Germany.
The new Lesotho coach does not come cheap. He received an
advance payment of _40 000 (about M320 000), and will receive a salary of _10
000 (about M80 000) per month (about M1 million per year) together with a free
house and car. ▲back
to
top
In a lead story in Public Eye of 15 October 2004, photographic
evidence was produced that at least one member of the Lesotho Under-20 Team, the
Makoanyane XI, had had a new passport issued reducing his age by more than 5
years. The photograph showed both the old and new passports of Manamolela
Qhobela, and there were allegations that similar duplicate passports had reduced
the ages of five other members of the team. The newspaper report stated that it
appeared that coaches and technical staff of the Lesotho Football Association (LEFA)
had been embroiled in the criminal activity of requesting the Ministry of Home
Affairs to issue emergency passports for players with fictitious ages when they
knew their real dates of birth.
It seems that five of these players with reduced ages were
members of the Lesotho Under-20 team which went to play the first leg of the
African Youth Soccer Championship qualifying matches against the Zimbabwe
Under-20 team. As reported in The Mirror of 10 November 2004, this has led to an
official complaint by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA).
After a goalless draw in Harare, the Makoanyane XI beat the
Zimbabwe team 3-0 in the second leg at Setsoto Stadium in Maseru on Sunday 24
October. On the second occasion, only one of the players with apparently reduced
ages was in the team, although when The Mirror spoke to LEFA’s Public Relations
Officer, it was said that this was a mistake, confusing two persons who had the
same name, Motlalepula Mofolo, and were of different ages.
In theory, the Makoanyane XI now qualifies to travel to the
African Youth Championship finals in Benin next February. However, an enquiry
into ‘age cheating’ seemed likely and some felt that the great euphoria greeting
Lesotho’s 3-0 win might in fact have been premature. ▲back
to
top
A strike and demonstration by National University of Lesotho
students in September or October is unfortunately becoming almost an annual
event. The cause of the demonstration is usually the late payment of loan
bursary instalments by the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS)
and/or the failure to pay the book allowance in full because the privatized
university bookstore is unable to provide the required books. In 2003 a
demonstration in Maseru was not allowed because of mourning for the Queen
Mother, and as a result a very damaging affray occurred at Roma. In 2004,
students abandoned classes from 14 October and on Monday 18 October invaded
Maseru to complain about the non-availability of textbooks. Petitions were
handed in at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance and
Development Planning under which NMDS falls.
However, the students also indulged in unruly behaviour which
led to the University later apologizing through and to the media for the conduct
of the students. The Secretary-General of the Students Representative Council,
Thabang Rantsoabe, also apologized to Senate for the behaviour of the students.
Bad language, insulting songs, damage to property, abuse of alcohol and exposure
of buttocks in an offensive way were hardly calculated to endear the students’
cause to the population of Maseru. Some newspapers such as Mololi of 21 October
2004 carried photographs of this offensive behaviour. The university announced
that it would institute disciplinary proceedings against those found responsible
for violating its regulations. ▲back
to
top
In a low poll, a turn-out of only 26.7% and the third election
in the constituency in less than 3 years, Mrs ’Matanki Mokhabi of the ruling
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won the Qhoali By-Election in Quthing
District on Saturday 16 October 2004 with 2868 votes. The only other candidates
were from the Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) with 116 votes and the Patriotic
Front for Development (PFD) with 106 votes. ▲back
to
top
The new European Union Ambassador to Lesotho, Peter Beck
Christiansen, presented his credentials to King Letsie III on Thursday 21
October. In presenting his letters of credence, the new ambassador said that he
would ensure that the Kingdom of Lesotho received all possible benefit from the
Cotonou Agreement [the successor to the previous Lome Agreements] between the
European Union and the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. He
also assured the King ‘of our political, developmental and trade-oriented
cooperation to the benefit of the people of Lesotho’. ▲back
to
top
The only branch of the Central News Agency in Lesotho, which
was situated in the LNDC Centre in Maseru, closed down in October. Interviewed
by Public Eye in its issue of 22 October 2004, the manager, Selina Lekoekoe,
attributed the closure to poor business and high rental fees. The closure has
left Maseru with no commercial bookshops other than the two run by the Catholic
and Lesotho Evangelical Churches, both of which stock only a limited range of
books other than religious books, school text books and books produced at their
local printing works. Another consequence is that Lesotho apparently now has no
outlets for news magazines such as Time or Newsweek or The Economist or even the
BBC Focus on Africa Magazine. Some of these can be found in Ladybrand, where the
Spar Supermarket has a small but useful selection of magazines available for
sale. For a larger selection one has to travel to CNA in Bloemfontein.
The high rental fees which might have tipped the balance in
the case of CNA, apparently resulted from the management of the Lesotho National
Development Corporation’s property portfolio by JHI Real Estate Management. In
August 2003, a number of businesses at the LNDC Centre had petitioned JHI to
lower the rent. When this did not happen, several closed down, while others
moved to different locations.
JHI’s contract awarded for five years in 2001 entitles it to
manage financially 150 000 m2 of industrial property, 8 000 m2 of retail space,
4 100 m2 of offices and 5 000 m2 of residential property. ▲back
to
top
The Institute of Development Management (IDM) was originally
conceived as an Institute of the trinational University of Botswana, Lesotho and
Swaziland. Its gestation coincided with the break-up of UBLS in 1975, as a
result of which it preserved its tri-national character by becoming an
independent tertiary institution with headquarters in Botswana, but with
campuses in all three countries and a graduation ceremony which rotates between
the countries. On Friday 22 October, it was Lesotho’s turn for the graduation
ceremony at which 800 graduands from the three countries received certificates.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Education praised
the IDM for being a self-financing institution with minimal government support.
He said that the three governments look to IDM for its contribution to finding
sustainable solutions to national and regional development problems. The
Regional Director of IDM, Ms Audrey Kgosidintsi, reminded those present that the
mission of IDM is management development through training, consultancy and
research. Its strategic goals to be accomplished by 2010 were to turn IDM into
an institute which was autonomous and commercialized; profitable and financially
self-sufficient; reputable and customer-focused; to be known as a centre of
excellence and a provider of quality services with state of the art facilities;
and at the same time to be responsive and results oriented. ▲back
to
top
Two workers were tragically drowned near the Letšeng-la-Terae
Diamond Mine on Monday 25 October 2004. According to Lesotho Today of 28 October
2004, the incident occurred at 7 a.m. in a ‘diamond cleaning pool’. One worker,
Sam Selamela of Thaba-Tseka had gone into the pool to reposition a pumping
machine which had drifted out of position. The rope holding Mr Selamela
unfortunately became unfastened and he began to drown. His supervisor, Louis
Thister jumped into the water to rescue his colleague and managed to get him to
the edge of the pool, but there was no ladder on the side, and the synthetic
lining of the pool was too slippery for them to climb out. With no-one else in
the vicinity to help them, they eventually both drowned. ▲back
to
top
First National Bank opened its first branch in Lesotho on
Monday 25 October 2004 on the ground floor of the new LNDC Building on Kingsway.
The bank was officially opened by the Prime Minister who said that FNB’s
entrance into Lesotho was a sign of the confidence in the political, economic
and financial stability and the peace which currently reign in the country. The
Chief Executive Officer, Mr Richard Hudson indicated that the new bank offers a
full range of internet banking and an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM).
Customers visiting the new FNB branch and hoping to get
similar interest rates on savings to those enjoyed at the FNB branch in
Ladybrand were, however, disappointed. FNB in Lesotho is governed by the Central
Bank of Lesotho, whose regulations enforce ceilings which prevent these higher
rates. However any bank which can offer a service without excessive bank charges
and without long queues for service is likely to be successful in Maseru. ▲back
to
top
The Ombudsman, Mr Sekara Mafisa, has interpreted his role to
include the inspection of government owned facilities which might be providing
the public with less than the appropriate level of service. In 2003, he
personally reported on a number of government hospitals, and in 2004 he prepared
a further report on government hospitals not covered in the 2003 report, namely
the Machabeng Hospital at Qacha’s Nek, the Ntšekhe Hospital at Mohale’s Hoek and
the Mafeteng Hospital.
At Machabeng Hospital in Qacha’s Nek, the Ombudsman reported
that although there were sufficient medical officers, there were too few nurses
and support staff. There was no administrator and a ward attendant was the
acting administrator of the hospital. There was also no hospital accountant. As
far as equipment was concerned there were grave deficiencies. For example there
was no X-ray apparatus and patients had to be transported to Matatiele at
considerable additional expense for X-rays to be taken. There was apparently not
even a single working sphygmomanometer (blood pressure measuring apparatus), and
no equipment for testing blood for HIV/AIDS. Blood samples had to be sent to
Maseru. Many other items of equipment were out of order or not working as they
should including laboratory equipment, the incinerator, the generator, fire
fighting equipment, the heating system, the laundry and the mortuary. The
cupboard storing habit-forming drugs had no key and was left unlocked making
such drugs accessible to anybody. Some wards were overcrowded as a result of
which some patients in the female, TB and isolation wards were sleeping on the
floor. Staff morale was low because many had been transferred to Qacha’s Nek
from other parts of Lesotho as much as five years earlier and then left there
even though their families might be elsewhere. ‘Officers feel that they are a
lost flock. They have not had a visit by either the Minister or Principal
Secretary. Their pleas for re-transfer and reports about shortages of staff and
equipment go unheeded’. At the end of his report on the hospital, the Ombudsman
provides a long series of recommendations needed to remedy the situation.
At Mafeteng Hospital, there were three doctors and this was
considered too few. There were also shortages of nursing, pharmacy and
accounting staff. The X-ray machine was unusable because there was no processor
for the film. Other equipment not working included the sterilizer, the emergency
generator, and the central heating system. There were also no incubators for the
children’s ward, nor rails to prevent patients from falling out of the beds, and
court cases had already been brought after patients had been injured after falls
from beds. The Ombudsman found, however, that there was no overcrowding in the
wards and that they were kept clean, although in many wards the roof leaked. A
particular problem at the hospital was created by ‘junior staff recruited at the
request of Members of Parliament’. ‘These individuals feel that they do not owe
their appointments to anybody in the hospital and that they are not subject to
the authority of any body therein. Consequently it is difficult to control
them.’ It is recommended that such people be the subject of discussion between
the Ministry and hospital management, which should resort to the available
public service machinery in order to discipline them.
The Ntšekhe Hospital in Mohale’s Hoek is named after Lesotho’s
first qualified Mosotho psychiatrist, the late Dr V. R. Ntšekhe. It is a general
hospital which also includes a Mental Observation Unit. The Ombudsman found that
although the Ntšekhe Hospital had four doctors, the District Medical Officer
felt there should be two more. Problems arose because some of the doctors were
from Cuba and did not understand English well. The hospital had seven health
centres each of which should be managed by a nurse clinician, but in practice
only two qualified nurse clinicians were available. In the hospital itself,
there was overcrowding resulting in patients sleeping on floors. Sheets,
blankets and mattresses were insufficient. The generator and central heating
system were out of order and the hospital had no photocopier nor computer.
General cleanliness was impossible because there was no soap, floor polish or
toilet paper. The Social Welfare and Public Health Sections of the hospital were
unable to function due to lack of transport. As in the case of the other
hospitals, there are a series of recommendations, with the need to reduce the
likelihood of cross-infection within the hospital emphasized as a matter of
grave concern.
In its issue of 29 October 2004, Refiloe Lesiamo of Public
Eye, reported on an interview with the Minister of Health, Dr Motloheloa Phooko,
on the findings of the Ombudsman’s report. In relation to shortages of
equipment, the Minister stated that he did not buy X-ray machines. Hospitals
were given their own budgets to meet their needs. However, he admitted that the
Ministry worked under severe financial constraints. On shortages of staff, he
admitted that nurses were leaving Lesotho for better conditions elsewhere.
Moreover, while it was possible to recruit Cuban doctors who would work on local
salaries, foreign nurses could not be attracted in the same way.
The interviewer also raised with the Minister two other health
matters which had received media attention. One related to an elderly man who
had been brought to Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru on 16 October and
despite other patients repeatedly asking nurses to help him had finally died
while lying on the bench waiting for service. Dr Phooko replied that what had
occurred was due to a shortage of staff.
The second matter was the loss of more than M40 million Irish
foreign aid made available to build a new headquarters for the Ministry of
Health. On this the Minister’s explanation was that there had indeed been an
offer of assistance from Ireland. However, when the Ministry of Works had
designed the new headquarters building the cost had escalated to M80 million. No
means had been found of covering the shortfall, particularly since financial
regulations did not permit his ministry to borrow from banks. ▲back
to
top
As reported in Public Eye of 29 October 2004, ten villages In
Qacha’s Nek District, with a total of 2 000 animals, including cattle, sheep,
goats and donkeys, have been chosen for a pilot project undertaken by the
company Camelot Lesotho. The 2000 animals are being implanted with microchips
through injections using a gun-like device. Once implanted the device is
invisible, but it can be read with an appropriate scanner, and any animal in the
possession of a person other than its lawful owner can then be apprehended.
The scheme to fight the cross-border stock theft very
prevalent in Qacha’s Nek District is backed by money from Britain’s Department
for International Development (DFID) to the extent of M300 000, and forms part
of a larger project to reform Lesotho’s justice system. ▲back
to
top
The appalling conditions in Lesotho’s prisons are exacerbated
by the inefficiency in Lesotho’s legal system, which results in vast numbers in
prison awaiting trial, while others are bailed out on serious charges such as
murder, awaiting trials which take years to be heard, or may not be heard at
all. The Lesotho Justice Development Programme had recently revealed the extent
of the problem, but further evidence, if needed, was provided in Mopheme of 3
November 2004, which quoted from a hard-hitting speech by the President of the
Lesotho Court of Appeal, Justice Jan Hendrick Steyn, at the closing of the
current session of the Court on Tuesday 27 October 2004.
Justice Steyn was no respecter of legal dignitaries. His
speech attacked court clerks, lawyers and even judges and called for the
appointment of a ‘high powered’ task team to address the increasing
inconsistencies and inefficiencies in the justice sector. He gave examples of
the inefficiency of the system by quoting two cases. One was a dispute over a
dismissal that occurred in 1989. It had been argued before the High Court only
in April 1993, after which judgment was reserved and not delivered for 5 years!
Shortly thereafter, the records of the case were destroyed as a result of the
burning of part of the High Court buildings in the disturbances of 1998, and the
case had to be heard before a different judge in February 2004 before proceeding
for disposal by the Court of Appeal in the present session. A second civil case
quoted had taken over 16 years to come to finality. Similar delays occurred in
criminal cases, and the Court of Appeal had this year heard appeals relating to
cases dating back 6 to 10 years. He criticized the willingness of courts to
‘only too readily’ grant postponements. ‘In a way a culture of postponement has
become endemic in the practice of law in the Kingdom.’
Justice Steyn also attacked court clerks for failing to update
court proceedings in time for use by the Court of Appeal. He said the poor
filing system of records had resulted in evidence being lost. He criticized
practitioners and the Crown for certifying records without ensuring that the
records are complete with important documentary records included.
Judges were not spared: ‘Sadly some judges take months,
sometimes years, to deliver judgments and from time to time appeals come before
us with no judgments having been delivered or delivered orally and not
transcribed’.
Justice Steyn may have felt that he was making a necessary
speech at the end of his three year term of office as President of the Court of
Appeal. However on 11 November 2004, he was reappointed for a further three year
period. ▲back
to
top
Lieutenant-General Makhula Mosakeng, Commander of the Lesotho
Defence Force, formally retired at a ceremony held at Ha Ratjomose barracks on
27 October 2004. He had been 27 years in military service and commander for 10
years. The new Commander is Lieutenant-General Edward Thuso Motanyane, whose
original home is Ha Ntebele near ’Mamathe in Berea District.
In his speech at the ceremony, the Acting Prime Minister,
Lesao Lehohla, praised the role of Mosakeng in the disturbances of 1993, 1994
and 1998. He commended him on significant achievements, particularly the
transformation of the army and its depoliticization. ▲back
to
top
The President of Mozambique, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, who is
also Chairperson of the African Union, paid a State Visit to Lesotho on 2 and 3
November 2004. President Chissano had celebrated his 65th birthday two weeks
earlier and had been President of Mozambique for 18 years. He was stepping down
for a successor to be chosen after elections in December 2004.
Addressing the Lesotho Parliament on Tuesday 2 November 2004,
President Chissano said that his retirement was with a sense of ‘mission
accomplished’ because the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had
become a unique organization with its own ideals and objectives. Moreover and
more widely, the African Union had become one big family of independent States
aspiring to a more dignified place in the community of nations. He hoped that
the friendship between Lesotho and Mozambique would ‘transcend generations and
generations of leaders’.
During his two-day visit, President Chissano did not have much
time to sit still. He lunched with the King and Queen in Matsieng, was given a
tour of the Katse Dam, and was taken to the Liphofung Cave Cultural and
Historical Site in Butha-Buthe District. ▲back
to
top
A 40-minute film devoted to the life of King Moshoeshoe was
first screened at the University of the Free State on 12 October 2004 and more
widely on SABC2 television at 19 00 on 4 November 2004.
The Renaissance King was directed by Max du Preez with Kalosi
Ramakhula as Lesotho coordinator. It was produced at the University of the Free
State and lasts about 40 minutes.
The film intersperses shots (some from the air) of Menkhoaneng,
Botha-Bothe mountain, and Thaba-Bosiu (all looking splendidly green in a wet
summer) with interviews with historians and other knowledgeable persons, many of
them from Lesotho. It provides a sympathetic portrait of the King, even showing
how his diplomacy may have influenced modern South African leaders. For example,
Moshoeshoe’s action in making peace with the cannibals who had eaten his
grandfather is compared to Nelson Mandela’s act of reconciliation in taking tea
with Betsy Verwoerd.
The film uses the Basotho Cultural Village in Qwaqwa when
depicting Mohlomi (although the rondavel is an anachronism). It also uses some
imaginative drawings of life and conflicts in the Moshoeshoe era, although to
depict Moshoeshoe wearing a top hat in intimate conversation with his youthful
missionary Casalis seems implausible. Overall, the film is competently made, if
somewhat repetitive. It also missed some opportunities. For example the
encounter between Cathcart and Moshoeshoe could have provided a far more
dramatic film opportunity than is actually depicted.
Amongst those interviewed in the film are Lehlohonolo
Machobane, ‘Meshu’ Mokitimi, Martin Lelimo, Peter Seboni, ‘Cobus’ Dreyer,
Tšeliso Ramakhula, Leo Barnard, Stephen Gill, Naomi Morgan, Chief Seeiso Bereng
Seeiso and Professor Frederik Fourie (Vice-Chancellor of the University of the
Free State). ▲back
to
top
The newspaper, Public Eye, on 30 July 2004, below a heading
‘It pays to advertise’, had published an advertisement announcing: ‘Notice! 800
People Needed to Work in South Africa’. It went on to mention that a new Nursing
College was opening soon, and no experience was required as full training was
provided. ‘You can earn money while training. Accommodation, uniform and food is
provided plus a guaranteed Nursing job with a Diploma after training’.
The many unemployed Basotho who responded to the advertisement
by sending the requested four postage stamps received two items. One was a copy
of an impressive looking form issued by the South African Department of Health.
They may have missed the small print which said that only persons wishing to
apply for a job in a government department should fill in the form. Perhaps many
of them thought that this is what they were doing in any case. The second sheet
ought to have put applicants on their guard. It described the New Nursing
College which was said to be attached to ‘Domerton Hospital’. It contained
inconsistencies, for example saying that the college was ‘opening soon’ and yet
‘we have been in a position to maintain a pass rate of 100% since 2001’.
Moreover, the English of the description seemed to have been written by someone
without adequate high school education. ‘Students Will be accomodeted in our
residences....For church goers we have Roman catholic, Assembly of god, Nazaret,
ST John Wesley, Christian church and many more’ [captitalization and spelling as
in original]. Next the sheet required a R200 registration fee. ‘For your safetly
[sic], please send your details in a brown envelop [sic]. You can send money in
cash (rands or maloti).... Please use (Speed Express) [parentheses in original]
its [sic] fast and safe... We no longer accept postal orders. Only cash payment
accepted’.
The second sheet also shows photographs of Mr Dennis G.
Sansers (smiling and with a neat moustache) and Mrs Cynthia F. Smith (complete
with pearl necklace), said to be the Principal and Deputy Principal of the
College, and for many applicants looking convincingly as if they might be what
it is claimed they are. The address to which the money is to be sent in brown
envelopes is at Clernaville, a small post office in the suburbs of Durban.
Unfortunately it seems large numbers of unemployed Basotho, who probably in most
cases had to borrow the money, sent off R200 dreaming that they would be, as
promised, working within three months in the wards of the Domerton Hospital and
receiving a salary of R2000 per month.
Alas! The whole matter was a scam. Under the headline ‘Rip
off!’, Public Eye of 5 November 2004 wrote the story of an applicant who had
actually gone to KwaZulu-Natal to look for the college. He had been told by the
Department of Health and the police that the College of Nursing did not exist.
The South African High Commission also confirmed that there was no such college
in South Africa. The same issue of Public Eye said that the college had
originally been advertised ‘in one of the local newspapers in July this year’.
This was a little economical with the facts. The local newspaper had been
itself! ▲back
to
top
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution Act 2004 was published
on 3 November 2004 and came into force on the same date. It contains three
separate amendments to the Constitution, the first of which modifies the powers
of the Public Service Commission, which are now confined to appointments and
termination of appointments but not disciplinary matters.
The second amendment limits the maximum length of appointment
for a member of the Independent Electoral Commission to no more than two terms
of five years.
The third amendment, taking no doubt a cue from South Africa,
abolishes the name ‘Prison Service’ and substitutes Correctional Service. The
Director of Prisons is now the Commissioner of Correctional Service. ▲back
to
top
A long-running dispute between the Lesotho University Teachers
and Researchers Union (LUTARU) and the National University of Lesotho entered a
new phase in November 2004, when the Minister of Education applied to the High
Court for an interdict restraining the university from making gratuity payments
to local staff.
The matter goes back to an agreement made in 1996, which
enabled local university staff to opt to receive gratuities instead of a
pension, putting them on the same footing as expatriate staff. The agreement had
been made at the time when a Nigerian Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adamu Baikie
was heading the institution. His local successor, Dr Maboee Moletsane reversed
the agreement, which put him in conflict with LUTARU, which did all it could to
hasten his departure. The following Vice-Chancellor, Dr Tefetso Mothibe, whose
appointment had originally been supported by LUTARU, did not take any action on
the gratuities issue. This resulted in one staff member, the then Director of
Transformation, Dr M. V. Marake going to the Labour Court, which ruled that the
1996 agreement was valid and that the gratuities owed from 1998 onwards should
be paid with 18.5% interest. Other staff, encouraged by this victory, went to
the Directorate of Dispute Prevention and Resolution, which ruled in their
favour, requiring that gratuities to the 122 remaining affected staff, if they
opted out of the pension scheme, should be paid out in four instalments in June,
September and December 2004 and in March 2005.
It seems, according to a report in Public Eye of 12 November
2004 that just 20 members of LUTARU had opted for the gratuity payments, which
amounted to some M4.6 million, but would amount to far more if others opted for
gratuities. The Minister of Education has now intervened with an application at
the High Court seeking an interdict restraining the university from paying the
gratuities. In his application, the Minister states that the matter is a civil
issue rather than a labour issue, and that in any case the additional payments
were not catered for either in the current budget nor in previous budgets. The
application restrains the defendant (NUL) ‘from making the illegal payments in
question, and further full argument will be addressed to this Honourable Court
at the appropriate time if necessary’. The Minister also seeks that the
interdict applies to any of the remaining surviving 102 staff who might also opt
for gratuity payments resulting in a major escalation of the cost. ▲back
to
top
The President of the Lesotho Football Association (LEFA),
Thabo Makakole, died following a collision on the Thuathe Plateau in the evening
of Thursday 11 November, when his car was hit by a minibus taxi. Ten people in
the taxi also died. Makakole died in the casualty department of Queen Elizabeth
II Hospital, having been brought there by friends when no medical emergency
response vehicle arrived at the scene.
Four days before the accident, on Monday 8 November, Makakole
had flown to Cairo to defend Lesotho before the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) against allegations that Lesotho had used an over-age player in
an under-20 match against Zimbabwe. His mission had been apparently successful
and he had arrived back at his office in the Bambatha Tšita Stadium in Maseru at
5 p.m. on the Thursday. He left shortly afterwards for his farm on the Thuathe
Plateau, and it was en route to there that the accident happened.
Makakole, was a businessman who was born at Ramabanta on 13
November 1958, and thus met his death two days short of his 46th birthday. He
was educated at Christ the King High School and Lerotholi Polytechnic where he
studied architecture. He founded Rainbow Construction and became the successful
owner-manager of Lesotho’s Arsenal team. He took over as Acting President of
LEFA in 1996 on the death of its founder-president, Bambatha Tšita. A stormy
eight years in the LEFA President’s seat followed, with competing factions
repeatedly trying to unseat and to discredit him. At the time of his death
Makakole was also Chairman of the Lesotho Sports & Recreation Commission. His
widow, ’Mammatli Kabi is the daughter of Motete and the late ’Mamoshebi Kabi,
and he leaves two children, Serabele and ’Mathabo.
Thabo Makakole’s funeral was appropriately held on Saturday 27
November in the Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena, a development which he had
pioneered during his presidency of LEFA. He was later buried at the Kokobela
graveyard in Maseru West. ▲back
to
top
An interview was reported in Public Eye of 12 November 2004,
with Samuel Rapapa, Manager of the National University of Lesotho Bookshop which
is owned by Letsema Investment Holdings (LIH). LIH had been running the bookshop
since July 2002, but the two-year contract had not now been renewed. The
unavailability of books had been one of the issues which apparently prompted the
student strike with its unprecedentedly offensive behaviour in Maseru on 18
October 2004.
Rapapa explained the difficulties that the bookshop had
encountered through university lecturers not ordering their booklists at the
stipulated time in February for the following academic year; and through the
National Manpower Development Secretariat failing to pay them in time so that
they suffered serious cashflow problems, which destroyed their relationship with
suppliers and partners. ‘NMDS is no different from other government departments
who are determined to destroy the economy of this country as quickly as
possible.’ Other complaints were that lecturers often made orders directly from
suppliers instead of through the bookshop, and that university facilities were
used to photocopy books instead of their being bought at the bookshop. It was
noted that LIH had expected renewal of the contract, and that for the current
academic year booklists had been received, orders made and deliveries were
awaited. ▲back
to
top
’Malelimo Roto was gathering wild vegetables (meroho) on the
Thuathe Plateau during November 2004, when she chanced upon an unusually angular
stone. It turned out to be a stone from the Thuathe Meteorite of 21 July 2002,
and while smaller stones have been found in recent months, this one weighed in
at 450 g, making it the tenth largest to have been so far recovered. Although
somewhat rusty as a result of more than two years of exposure to the elements,
the new stone exhibits the typical black fusion crust of meteorites on all of
its surfaces, and in addition has fine regmaglypts, the thumb print like
impressions caused when vortices of molten stone ablated its surfaces during its
brief fiery entry from space.
The Thuathe Meteorite has in the meantime gained considerable
coverage in both popular and scientific publications. The most recent scientific
paper appeared during 2004 in the United States periodical, Meteoritics &
Planetary Science, and is the most detailed to date. The paper, ‘Thuathe, a new
H4/5 chondrite from Lesotho: history of the fall, petrography, and geochemistry’
is the work of nine authors in research institutes in places as diverse as
Tokyo, Vienna, Mainz, Heidelberg, Milton Keynes and Johannesburg as well as Roma
in Lesotho. Amongst the conclusions are that the original bolide had a mass of
about a ton; was aged about 4 000 million years (i.e. was older than any rocks
on Earth); and while silicon dioxide was the dominant mineral, 30 different
metals were present, ranging from iron (about 27%) and nickel (about 2%) to gold
(about 0.00002%).
’Malelimo Roto’s stone is the 1048th to be catalogued and they
range from tiny fragments of mass 1g to what is known to have been a stone of at
least 3147g. This largest stone was unfortunately smashed up by the finder
looking for diamonds and the estimated mass is from the five known pieces. The
second largest stone was also damaged for similar reasons, and the largest
completely unmodified stone, known from its shape as ‘The Bear’, is the third
largest, weighing in at 2387 g.
Once the meteorite became known internationally early in 2003,
dealers came flying into Lesotho from places such as Tucson, Arizona to buy
stones. The fact that stones were now known to have a significant monetary value
encouraged searchers, and the Thuathe Meteorite now has had one of the largest
stone recovery rates of any meteorite fall in the world. The one local purchaser
of the stones placed his unexpected profits into a Meteorite Fund, which has,
amongst other projects, funded hospital equipment and school fees for poor
pupils. The Fund’s biggest undertaking has been at Boqate Ha Majara in the
strewn field. Many pupils at Boqate Lesotho Evangelical Church school had
collected stones and the school has benefited by having a new classroom block
funded by the resulting money. Who says that money does not fall from the sky?
▲back
to
top
A representative of the Public Private Partnership and Manager
of the Hoogland Medi-Clinic in Bethlehem, Johan van der Walt visited Lesotho in
the second week of November. He was inspecting Lesotho’s emergency response
system and the readiness of Lesotho’s hospitals to receive casualties. He had
apparently been invited to Lesotho together with members of the South African
emergency service ER24 by a private road safety company, Blue Sky, in an effort
to reduce road deaths. ER24, with a fleet of some 100 emergency response
vehicles, specializes in pre-hospital emergency services.
Some of Van der Walt’s findings were reported in The Mirror of
17 November 2004 and Public Eye of 19 November 2004. He was especially critical
of facilities at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru, where he found 500
people waiting for treatment and no theatre and no X-ray. In an interview he
said that the life of the President of LEFA, Thabo Makakole, could have been
saved if the right equipment for treating casualties had been in place at the
hospital.
Van der Walt also visited several other hospitals and was
critical of facilities at almost all of them. Only at Motebang Hospital in
Hlotse, whose Trauma Unit had been equipped as a result of the Lesotho Highlands
Water Project, did he note that the necessary equipment was there. There was
nevertheless a problem at this hospital due to shortage of staff and lack of
training. ▲back
to
top
The Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, announced on Thursday
18 November 2004, major changes within the cabinet. Five senior ministers were
allocated new portfolios.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and
Training, Lesao Lehohla, was moved from being Minister of Education & Training
to Minister of Home Affairs & Public Safety (returning to a portfolio he had
held 10 years earlier). He is replaced by Kenneth Mohlabi Tsekoa, whose
portfolio of Foreign Affairs has now been allocated to the former Minister of
Natural Resources, Monyane Moleleki. The new Minister of Natural Resources is Dr
’Mamphono Khaketla, and her portfolio of Communications, Science & Technology is
now occupied by Motsoahae Tom Thabane, the former Minister of Home Affairs and
Public Safety. If one thinks of the relevant portfolios as chairs and the
Ministers as sitting on them, then the effect of the reshuffle is simply that
the same ministers are sitting on the same chairs, except that they have all
moved one place to the right (or left, depending how the chairs are labelled).
Two other ministerial posts had to be filled, one of them the
post of Minister of Public Works and Transport, vacated as a result of the death
of Mofelehetsi Moerane on 28 September 2004. The new minister is Popane Lebesa,
formerly Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning.
The second post was that of Minister of Employment and Labour. Clement Sello
Machakela, MP for Malimong, had been forced by ill-health to retire from his
cabinet position. The new Minister of Employment & Labour is Ms Mpeo
Mahase-Moiloa, formerly Assistant Minister of Justice, Human Rights &
Rehabilitation and of Law & Constitutional Affairs.
Three other changes which were announced were that the MP for
’Maliepetsane, Rammotsi E. Lehata, is a new minister in the Prime Minister’s
Office; the MP for Tsikoane, Khotso Matla, is Assistant Minister of Trade,
Industry, Cooperatives & Marketing; and Mothejoa Metsing, Assistant Minister of
Trade, Industry, Cooperatives & Marketing has been transferred to replace Mpeo
Mahase-Moiloa as Asssitant Minister in the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights &
Rehabilitation and of Law & Constitutional Affairs. ▲back
to
top
Lesotho’s one sente and two lisente coins have long since
ceased to have any significant value (one sente is worth about US$0.002 or
UK£0.001). In a Legal Notice dated 24 November 2004, the Central Bank announced
that they would cease to be legal tender after 1 March 2005. The notice merely
regularizes what has long been the case. Shops have long been refusing to accept
these coins and in practice amounts have been rounded to the nearest five
lisente for some time. For those prepared to go to the trouble, the Central Bank
is willing to exchange one and two lisente coins (provided one has enough of
them) for higher denominations, and has generously stated it will provide this
service until 28 February 2010. ▲back
to
top
Even though it is dated 30 July 2004, the Acting
Auditor-General’s Report on the Public Accounts of Lesotho for the Financial
Year ending 31 March 2003 was only published at the end of November 2004, some
20 months after the end of the financial year. This is nevertheless a record for
recent years. Despite the Financial Regulations which require otherwise, Public
Accounts have often been submitted many years in arrears, or indeed not at all.
Even though accounts for 2001-2 had been submitted and audited a year earlier,
public accounts for the previous five financial years 1996/97 - 2000/01 have
still not been completed and submitted for audit.
The Government Accounts are set out on pages 5 to 29 of the
Report, and in relation to these the Acting Auditor-General, Mrs Lucy L. Liphafa,
prefaces her Audit Certificate with a series of qualifications to the accounts,
being a summary in general terms of irregularities which have widely occurred
due to non-compliance with legislation and regulations. She also lists omissions
from the accounts which include failure to incorporate outstanding loans of some
M149 million due from Government Corporations and Companies; and failure to
bring forward a Recurrent Account surplus of some M27 million and a Capital
Account deficit of some M157 million from the previous financial year. Moreover
some M22 million advanced from the Contingences Fund and uncleared by the
required supplementary appropriation in the previous financial year still
remained uncleared in the following year. ‘In view of the significant matters
referred to ... I am unable to express an opinion as to whether the financial
statements set out on pages 5 to 29 give a true and fair view of the state of
affairs of the Government of Lesotho and in particular the financial picture as
at 31 March 2003, and of the deficit for the year ended on that date’.
The Acting Accountant-General, after reviewing statutory
requirements relating to accounting operations, states that ‘it is evident that
the Ministry of Finance has not effectively discharged its responsibilities
regarding the management of Public Funds’. She goes on to make a series of
recommendations (almost identical to those in her report on the previous year’s
accounts) which include strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Finance
and of the Accountant-General’s office; developing appropriate training for
existing staff; close monitoring by the Ministry of Finance of the
Accountant-General and Chief Accounting Officers; review of the current
regulations to include penalties; not allowing the preparation of Public
Accounts to be out-sourced; and (a new recommendation) upgrading the current
GOLFIS (Government of Lesotho Financial Information System) to remedy the lack
of internal control mechanisms for effective financial management.
The remaining pages of the 143-page report draw attention to
discrepancies and anomalies. For example, it is noted that M6 million was drawn
by the Ministry of Health from the contingencies fund for upgrading the Lesotho
Pharmaceutical Corporation but was apparently unspent. A rather larger sum of
M406 million was advanced as loans made to traders and co-operatives for
agricultural inputs in the 2001/2 year but had still not been paid back in
2002/3.
The report uncovered a number of cases of apparent fraud on
which no action had been taken. It also uncovered financial oversights such as
the Assistant Storekeeper in the Ministry of Education who had gone absent on
study leave without authority in February 2001, but was still being paid full
salary in March 2004.
In a final part to the Report, it is noted that the Office of
the Auditor-General has a total of 159 staff of which 135 are Audit staff and 24
support staff. Although it currently occupies the whole of the top (fourth)
floor of Finance House, this provides insufficient office accommodation and a
separate building should be considered. It is noted that the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) of Parliament had now examined the Audit Report on the much
delayed Public Accounts for the three years 1993/94 - 1995/96. The PAC had made
recommendations towards the improvement of financial management in the public
service and it was hoped that the PAC recommendations would be implemented
appropriately by all concerned. ▲back
to
top
Her Majesty Queen ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso on Sunday 21
November gave birth to a baby daughter. The new princess is sister to Senate and
is the second child of King Letsie III and Queen ’Masenate. She has been named
Princess ’Maseeiso after her late aunt and the King’s sister, ’Maseeiso Seeiso.
▲back
to
top
The Letšeng Diamond Mine closed in 1982, but for the past two
years has been gradually brought again into full operation. The reopening of the
mine was officially marked on Friday 26 November by a ceremony at which the
Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, spoke about the history of the mine and King
Letsie III unveiled a commemorative plaque [not a ‘plague’ as reported in the
government newspaper, Lesotho Today!]. ▲back
to
top
The 2004 Vodacom Lesotho Sun Roof of Africa Rally was held in
dry conditions on 25 to 27 November 2004. There are now just two main races, one
for motorcycles and one for quadbikes.
In the motorcycle race, there were 99 competitors of whom 40
finished. The race was led from start to finish by Darryl Curtis on an AGA LG
KTM. In the quadbike category, Brendan Badenhorst also led the race from start
to finish on his ATV Powersport Laeger 450.
There were three Basotho competitors in the motorcycle race,
all in different classes. John Thipane was placed sixth in his class, and
Lebohang Phohleli and Mokola Andrews both finished ninth in their classes.
▲back
to
top
For the first time in the history of Lesotho, old age pensions
were paid to persons over 70 years at the beginning of December 2004. The
pay-out followed registration of pensioners, which had begun in August, and by
the end of November 64171 citizens had registered, rather more than the number
of over‑70s which might be expected from Lesotho’s population age pyramid. The
reality, however, is perhaps that the age pyramid had undergone recent
distortions as a result of HIV/AIDS, and that the over 70s are suffering lower
levels of mortality than younger age groups. Of course, another possibility is
that some people inflated their ages.
It was decided, after exploring various options, that post
offices would be the most logical pay-out points. This was the best compromise,
even though many pensioners in fact live far more than a day’s walk from their
nearest post office. On 1 December almost all post offices were closed for
postal business, and the dependent postal agencies were also closed as their
staff were drafted to help at the main post offices. The new procedures took
much time, and many pensioners were kept waiting in the hot sun, and indeed had
to return on successive days because of the processing time. Some of those
waiting in the heat collapsed and needed help. In the case of some post offices
it took a week to complete the payout. Those who had travelled to the post
offices by public transport in some case found that they had spent a large
proportion of their pension money travelling backwards on successive day.
The January pension payout was brought forward to mid-December
so that pensioners could receive it before Christmas. This time queues were
shorter as the procedure became more streamlined. However, the involvement of
postal staff in the pensions payout played havoc with Christmas mail deliveries
which were generally seriously affected.
Even though the new pensions are only M150 ($25, £13) per
month, for the recipients, most of whom are otherwise without cash income of any
sort, they are a very welcome help in their struggle for survival. The money
also helps to invest them with some dignity: with personal resources they are no
longer so dependent on others. Despite the modest amount of the pension, many
pensioners had a much happier Christmas than they could possibly have dreamed
of. ▲back
to
top
A press release from police headquarters in Maseru on 1
December 2004 announced that the former police officer, Phakiso Molise, had been
rearrested in South Africa. Molise, who was serving 15 years for murder and
other charges, had escaped from custody in Maseru on 7 August 2004, after which
he was sought by the Lesotho Police and their South African counterparts.
Molise’s escape had been followed by the setting up on 1
October 2003 of a three person Commission of Inquiry headed by a South African,
Mr Justice Colin Stewart White. The terms of reference for the inquiry had
included, apart from the circumstances surrounding Molise’s escape, a review of
the management and administration of the Lesotho Prisons Service and the
treatment of prisoners.
Serious View Trading (Pty) Ltd, the rather curiously named
company which is developing the large new diamond mine at Kao, gave notice
published in the Lesotho Government Gazette of 3 December 2004 that it was
applying to change its name to Kao Diamond Mine (Pty) Ltd. ▲back
to
top
Maseru’s twin municipality of Ladybrand, just 16 km away
across the border, has its life intertwined with that of Maseru to the extent
even that Lesotho currency can be used there freely to purchase goods and
services. Indeed many Ladybrand businessmen admit that as much as 80% of their
trade is with Lesotho. Also linked with Lesotho is Ladybrand’s large Chinese
community, many of whom are involved in the management of Lesotho’s textile
factories. For their children, Ladybrand has a large Chinese school, which
celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2004. For its Moslem community, Ladybrand
also has a large mosque, which was completed in 2004.
The municipality of which Ladybrand and several neighbouring
communities (including Hobhouse, Tweespruit, Excelsior) are a part was renamed
Mantsopa Municipality on International Women’s Day in 2002. The new name
commemorates the Mosotho prophetess, ’Mantsopa, who died and was buried at
Modderpoort within the municipal area in about 1904 (her gravestone does not
give the year but gives her age at death as 111). A daughter of Makhetha, the
half brother of Mohlomi, she had had a colourful career ranting against foreign
influences in Lesotho, but had ultimately become part of them because she had
agreed to be baptized by the French Protestant Church at the same time as King
Moshoeshoe. In fact, Moshoeshoe died a day before his baptism, but ’Mantsopa was
indeed baptized at Thaba-Bosiu. Four years later in 1874 she had moved close to
Modderpoort where she became a close friend of the Anglican monks of the Society
of St Augustine.
The Vuna Awards are sponsored by amongst others the South
African Department of Provincial & Local Government, the Development Bank of
Southern Africa and the South African Local Government Association. The awards
are given for ‘municipal performance excellence’. In 2003, Mantsopa won the Vuna
provincial award, but in 2004, it went one better. It not only won the
provincial award worth R750 000, but went on to win the national Vuna Award for
the best local municipality worth R2 million. ▲back
to
top
As reported in Public Eye of 10 December 2004, Lesotho’s
largest and most widely circulated newspaper, the newspaper has purchased a M10
million web-offset printing machine so that it can undertake colour printing
locally. Currently Public Eye has a weekly print run of 20 000 copies and is
distributed throughout the eastern Free State as well as all of Lesotho’s
districts. It employs 26 permanent employees. It was hoped that the new
machinery would enable the newspaper not only to expand its circulation but also
to come out twice a week.
Public Eye had been formerly printed in Potchefstroom in South
Africa, and the 10 and 17 December issues were apparently the first on the new
machinery. Their uneven pages and blurred pictures however indicated that there
was still much to be learned about using the new machinery effectively. The 24
and 31 December issues were printed in Durban. ▲back
to
top
As reported in Lesotho Today of 16 December 2004, the new
President of the Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) is the former
Vice-President, Advocate Salemane Phafane. He replaces the late Thabo Makakole
who died following a car accident on 11 November 2004. ▲back
to
top
The National Archives of a country should contain in safe
custody the documentary treasures of its past. Lesotho’s National Archives have
had a chequered history of sad episodes, but none so sad as that which has
befallen them in the latter part of 2004.
The origin of the National Archives was a collection of
valuable reference documents housed in the Secretariat, the building which
housed the Colonial Administration. Its curator in the years immediately before
Independence was the wife of the Deputy Director of Education, and she and her
husband organized and indexed the collection and used it to publish significant
historical articles in the periodical Lesotho: Basutoland Notes & Records. Near
to Independence in 1966, a local curator was trained and appointed and the
collection was transferred to an historical building (it had been built as
Government Offices in 1888 and still stands) across Constitution Road from the
then Ministry of Education.
The new Archives building soon became inadequate to
accommodate the burgeoning bureaucracy of the newly independent Lesotho, and
increasingly accessions had to be stored in rather insecure and less than
waterproof sheds, formerly used by the Boy Scout movement at the back of the
National Archives. There was also inadequate space for readers. The Archives
did, however, by now have friends. Under the Archives Act 1967, a widely
representative Archives Commission was appointed, members being appointed for
five years, and having the responsibility to advise the Government Archivist on
policy matters.
Government funds were short in those days, but the Archives
Commission had influential members, including academics who needed the Archives
for use by themselves and their students. As a result, an agreement was reached
that when the National University of Lesotho Library was expanded in the late
1970s, it would have a new three-storey (instead of a two-storey) wing and the
basement would become available for accommodating the National Archives. The new
wing, the Bishop Bonhomme Extension, was opened in 1979 and the National
Archives took up residence there soon afterwards. Although some rats initially
accompanied the papers from Maseru to Roma, appropriate measures were taken to
exterminate them, and the Archives now had a new home secure from the weather
and vermin.
Not all was well, however, in the new arrangement. When
democracy had been abandoned in 1970, the archivist had been found to be of the
wrong political persuasion, and she had been dismissed to be replaced by the
alcoholic son of a member of the Council of Ministers. His superiors at the
Department of Culture were in Maseru, and he rarely bothered to turn up to work.
Unfortunately, this pattern of behaviour was copied by his colleagues some of
whom had been expensively trained overseas in areas such as document
restoration. Ultimately, the one staff member who turned up to work regularly
was the cleaner. Of modest educational achievements, she nevertheless tried
valiantly to be of help to visiting and local scholars wishing to use the
archives.
There was clearly a crisis in archives administration, but the
political climate at the time was such that the Archives Commission found it
difficult to challenge the government and to intervene. Eventually, government
itself got rid of the Archives Commission. Although it was a statutory body, it
de facto disappeared because government failed to nominate or renominate members
when the five year periods of office of existing members expired.
Democracy was restored to Lesotho in 1993, but for five years
the new dispensation was plagued with political instability and nomination of
members to government statutory commissions was repeatedly overlooked. The Board
of Trustees of the National Museum and the Protection and Preservation
Commission as a result were in the same suspended animation as the Archives
Commission. Even initiatives from the university side to get the commissions
restored were unsuccessful. Instead of senior NUL administrators suggesting
names of persons who might serve on the commissions, the University Senate
decided that the suggested names should be provided by a Task Force, chaired by
its Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Several Pro-Vice-Chancellors later nothing had
happened.
Meanwhile, new pressures had appeared. The Thomas Mofolo
Library, as the NUL Library was now known, was perceived to have inadequate
space, and the most obvious area of expansion was to the basement area occupied
by the National Archives. The National Archives had in fact become rather
troublesome, because even though a new Government Archivist had by then been
appointed, she deemed it her responsibility to occupy an office in the
Department of Culture in Maseru rather than to provide a service to users of the
archives at Roma. As a result, Library staff were repeatedly being asked to
assist users of the National Archives in matters for which they had neither
responsibility nor authority.
Matters came to a head in 1997, but in a totally unexpected
way. The University Registrar asked the Government to remove the Archives and
threatened them that if they did not do so, the Archives would be evicted. In
doing this, the Registrar was acting on the Libra |
