Gabashane Masupha
Political & Policy Analyst
In the anatomy of a democratic state, institutions are the sinews that hold the body politic together. When those institutions are weak, when the bureaucracy is enfeebled, the judiciary politicized, and the executive intoxicated by impunity we witness the slow-motion collapse of constitutional order. This is the pathology of what can be rightly described as uncircumcised leadership: a state of governance unrefined by discipline, untested by democratic ethos, and unbound from the covenant of constitutional accountability.
Lesotho has always been democratically under par since independence, at least with measurable indices, and today it still teeters dangerously on the precipice of this condition. A case in point is the ongoing bureaucratic and judicial wrestling match between Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane and Justice Monapathi. This quarrel, far from a mere clash of personalities, symbolizes the deeper institutional fracture, the lack of procedural fidelity, the erosion of judicial decorum, and the endemic culture of personalism that substitutes legal reasoning with factional warfare. Yes, we know that cases have gone for years being rolled but not a see a day of a wooden hummer. The judiciary, rather than standing as the last bastion of constitutional integrity, has become an arena for contesting private vendettas under the guise of public service.
The administrative feud between Chief Justice Sakoane and Justice Monapathi is not an isolated anomaly, it is the aftermath and the visible tip of the iceberg of uncircumcised leadership. It is the natural consequence of years of undermining institutional norms, where the absence of a robust judicial framework has allowed personal grievances to ferment into national crises. In a healthy constitutional order, administrative disputes are quietly resolved through procedure and institutional mechanisms. But in a system where leadership remains unrefined and overly personalized, even technical disagreements mutate into public theatre, dragging the judiciary into the swamp of political spectacle.
Similarly, the government’s sporadic and often aggressive engagement with Hon. Dr Lipholo, and previously with firebrand politician Machesetsa Mofomobe, reflects a disturbing trend in which legitimate dissent is criminalized while executive overreach is normalized. In the tragic aftermath of the assassination of popular radio presenter Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki, the government hastily projected blame onto Machesetsa, a man known more for his rhetorical flourishes than physical violence. This knee-jerk attempt at scapegoating laid bare the state’s desperation to manage perception rather than address structural failures in national security and law enforcement.
But what is most corrosive is the legitimization of state violence under the guise of restoring order. When the conduct of the “big man” in power goes unchecked, when the rule of law is substituted with the rule by law, and when dissent is conflated with rebellion, then we have entered the terrain of authoritarian populism camouflaged in democratic garb. Lesotho must resist the temptation to baptize repression as reform, and should instead invest in the slow, deliberate, and often unglamorous work of building credible institutions.
Contrast this with the judicial stewardship of former South African Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo and his successor, Mogoeng Mogoeng. Their leadership underscored institutional circumcision, a moral and procedural purification from political contamination. South Africa’s judiciary, though not without flaws, demonstrates a remarkable level of resilience, independence, and public trust. The 2016 Constitutional Court ruling against then-President Jacob Zuma was a triumph of institutional maturity over personal power. That is the sine qua non of a functioning democracy.
South Africa, for all its troubles, has cultivated constitutionalism not merely as a legal doctrine but as a political culture. It is not enough for Basotho to dance to amapiano (a music genre that most youth subscribe to – prominent in Soth Africa) and mimic South African pop culture; we must also imitate the institutional sobriety that allows their democracy to breathe through political crises.
Uncircumcised leadership breeds performative politics, wherein governance is reduced to spectacle and loyalty to the throne is rewarded over service to the people. It is a leadership that is allergic to critique, that thrives on patronage, and that collapses the boundary between the personal and the public. In such a state, good governance becomes a myth, and ethical leadership a rare exception rather than the norm.
If Lesotho is to emerge from the grip of this systemic decay, it must undergo a radical institutional circumcision, a cultural and political transformation that places integrity, professionalism, and accountability at the heart of public life. This means empowering regulatory institutions, de-tribalizing the civil service, professionalizing the police, and insulating the judiciary from executive manipulation.
The fight for a just society is not won by replacing one strongman with another. It is won by erecting structures that outlast personalities, values that transcend factions, and norms that command obedience irrespective of who sits on the throne.
The time has come for Lesotho to confront its uncircumcised leadership. The nation cannot afford to drape its dysfunctions in the garb of tradition, or to spiritualize mediocrity under the illusion of cultural authenticity. The future demands institutional maturity, and the people deserve no less.
