Moletsane Makhabane
Lesotho’s development is stalling if one compares it with other African countries, it rather paradoxical to understand the reasons behind the whole issue. Our leaders are engulfed by corruption. Corruption is something that we talk about, it is something that we complain about, and it is something that its negative impact we see, and even the corrupt acknowledge that it a bad thing. But Basotho’s tolerance for corruption does not seize to amaze me. We live in a country where we revel thieves and vilify our good men and women. I hold the view that in this country, it is in to hang the small thieves and elect the great ones into public offices. The question is; for how long shall we allow thieves and thievery to blossom and flourish?
As a result of our bloody and dramatic political systems and all its shenanigans, Lesotho and all its electorate are covered in a cloud of corruption. Our poor political system in my own view appears to be a tragedy than a remedy for this country. What has changed upon gaining our independence 50 years ago? I put it to us, when we are given a chance to elect our leaders, we elect them on the basis of the depth of their pockets. It is our greatest tragedy as the electorate to elect the hyenas and expect them to take care of the sheep. In this country when one has been elected into public offices, they have won a lottery.
Today we live in a country where our leaders have introduced to us, the so called free primary education, it is free indeed – free of knowledge. If one does not believe it, it is attested by the fact that even they themselves – our leaders do not have faith in it because they will not dare take their children to those schools. We live in a country where even the health ministers do not have faith in our health sector, and again, if you do not believe me; tell me why upon them getting sick run seek treatment to the Republic of South Africa and other countries. We live in a country where young women upon reaching their puberty cannot afford sanitary pads, but our public servants and our leaders have iPads which they do not know how to us. We live in sad times.
We live as country where our leaders will never rest until they have luxurious house in other countries – house which they do not sleep in because they have no sleep anyway, they are always haunted by their corrupt tendencies. They have cars which they do not drive, they buy food which they do not because they have lost appetite anyway. A Mosotho is a very strange being, when you give them a vote – which in my own view is an instrument of decision making, they wait for other big thieves to give them money and vote in the direction pointed by those thieves. I know one does not see it vividly, but in simpler words; it is what the Chinese firms are doing to our leaders in the public offices. It is what is going on within the wool and mohair industry. It is what the Canadian company that produces cannabis has done.
Each and every year, our government sweat out to give scholarships to our youth but upon finishing they are not employed. We have engineers for Lerotholi Polytechnic but our roads are constructed by the Chinese. Today in the streets of Maseru and of course even other districts, our well qualified youths are badly stricken by unemployment. And I hold the view that if our roads are constructed by the Chinese, yet we have engineers in this country, something is not right either the quality our education or something else. I fail to understand why our governments have to out-source any sort of expertise when it has invested it on its youth. If we as the youth lack such a know-how, how many rivers do they have to cross before making it available in the country? The tragedy of this country is our leadership is corrupt, they live almost of their daily live in corrupt activities. We claim to be a Christian country, if it is true what law to fight corruption is better than the 10 commandment?
If one is thinking of fighting the corrupt, they should know that their life mortality into the office short. Ask the former minister Nyapane Kaya, he will narrate it to you, and if Minister Motlohi Maliehe is still stable in the office, he will soon sing the same song as his former counterpart Kaya. This is only a smaller picture of how organised the children of darkness are in this country. They are well organised, they are ready to kill. So, if you fight them, you are not different from John the Baptised from the Bible, the Salomes of this country will soon demand your head on the platter. I put it to us – the electorate for canonising thieves and demonising our saints. Our leaders have turned into monsters.
Corruption is no doubt the cause of our political instabilities, our men and women are afraid to lose power because once they step out of the public offices, their corruption skeletons will haunt them. They will no longer be immune to prosecution. That is why they will do whatever is in their power to make sure that their ill-gotten wealth is protected and maintained. It is about time we – the electorate realise that corruption a bad doctrine that is stalling our development as a country. Yes, the fight against corruption can be won, Botswana is an example of some of the countries which have won it. It will be fought, and I believe it will be won because if it is not won we are all dead as a nation. Together we can clean our politics and make this country a better place.
