Mohloai Mpesi
DEPUTY Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara has declared a State of Disaster to tackle Lesotho’s soaring youth unemployment rate.
Ms Majara made the declaration through a government gazette titled “Declaration of National State of Disaster of Socio-Economic Effects on High Rate of Youth Unemployment and Job Losses in Lesotho”, published this week.
“Pursuant to Section 3 of the Disaster Management Act 1997 and acting on the advice of the Board through the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, I, Nthomeng Majara, Acting Prime Minister of Lesotho, declare a state of disaster of socio-economic effects on (the) high rate of youth unemployment and job losses in Lesotho.
“This declaration shall be for a period of two years, effective from the date of publication in the gazette to the 30th of June 2027,” the gazette reads.
This comes just a month after Prime Minister Sam Matekane held a press conference on 9 June 2025, where he announced a plan to create 62,000 jobs beginning 1 July 2025.
However, the announcement was met with widespread skepticism from opposition parties, who questioned the feasibility of creating so many jobs in such a short period.
The press conference was followed by a National Youth Dialogue on 18 June 2025 at Manthabiseng Convention Centre, attended by a majority of Cabinet ministers.
During the Dialogue, Mr Matekane acknowledged the severity of the unemployment crisis and encouraged the youth to continue engaging with the government and its partners in seeking solutions.
“We believe in the saying that there is nothing for the youth without the youth,” Mr Matekane said.
Speaking in an interview last night, Ms Majara explained that declaring a state of disaster allows the government to take extraordinary measures that are otherwise not possible under normal governance.
“Declarations like these allow government to undertake interventions that it would not ordinarily be able to implement,” Ms Majara said.
“Most of the time, declarations like these give the government a chance to do activities that it would not be able to do under normal circumstances.”
The declaration provided an opportunity to invite development partners and allies to contribute to addressing the crisis, she added.
“It also helps to invite friends of the government such as development partners. Once you make a declaration, they start to realise that there is a serious problem, and they might want to help. Sometimes not with money, but with skills and opportunities.
“While the primary focus of the declaration is on the youth, the plan is to address unemployment across the board. This includes those affected by reciprocal tariffs and the withdrawal of support by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).”
USAID has for years been the leading international donor agency, with an annual budget exceeding US$50 billion (about M889 billion). Countries like Lesotho relied heavily on USAID-sponsored health and development aid programmes.
However, US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt this aid placed about 1,500 jobs in Lesotho’s NGO sector in serious jeopardy.
In addition, Mr Trump imposed significant reciprocal tariffs on Lesotho earlier this year, citing trade imbalances between the two countries.
These substantial tariffs are expected to severely impact the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), under which Lesotho’s textile industry has flourished since 2000, benefitting from duty-free access to the US market.
The Lesotho government is still awaiting a response from the US government on whether it will proceed with the 50 percent tariffs it had initially suspended on 9 April 2025. Should the US move forward with implementing the tariffs, Lesotho stands to lose at least 12,000 jobs in the textile sector.
Ms Majara added: “Unemployment does not affect only the youth; it affects a lot of other people. The goal is to address unemployment in its entirety; it is just that the Prime Minister emphasised that the youth should not be left behind.
“Meaning the focus is on the youth, but we are going to address unemployment in its entirety.
“Sometimes you might find that many youths do not apply to a certain sector in the expected number. That doesn’t mean other people cannot apply or join that sector.
“So, to answer your question, this is not solely for the youth, but it focuses on the youth,” Ms Majara said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Employment Tšeliso Mokhosi, speaking from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was attending the Africa Job Creation Summit that took place from 7 to 9 July, also backed the declaration, saying it helps the government maintain focus on the problem.
“We are in a crisis, and when we are in crisis, the gazette helps the government to focus on that problem. Take for example the issue of Covid-19: the state of disaster was declared, and money was channelled towards solving that problem at the time.
“Similarly, this state of disaster helps the government to release available funds into fighting the current youth unemployment,” Mr Mokhosi said yesterday.
He also said young people had already expressed deep concerns about the skyrocketing unemployment rate, to the extent that they had even contemplated staging protests.
“Remember the youth wrote to the Prime Minister, asking him to help with the situation of the high unemployment rate, and that it should be declared as a state of disaster. They even wrote to Parliament that they wanted to protest against unemployment.
“Every minister explained clearly how their ministries will tackle unemployment at Manthabiseng Convention Centre during the Youth Dialogue,” he said.
