GIVEN the rate at which we continually churn out negative reports about failed policies and programmes, it is only the eternal optimist who could hold fast to the picture of a future in which this beautiful mountain kingdom will one day take its pride of place among the community of nations as a respectable […]
ANOTHER year, another month and another party is set to enter the political fray fronted by former Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) secretary-general and current Small Business Development Minister, Selibe Mochoboroane- adding to the plethora of political formations already in the country. The new party is called the Movement for Economic Change (MEC). And […]
BACK in 1992, just a few months after her return to South Africa from a long exile in the United States which had begun in 1965, Afro-jazz legend Letta Mbulu released the prescient blockbuster album Not Yet Uhuru which featured the eponymous hit single. This was a profound warning about the premature celebrations that […]
THE country’s political parties have been holding rallies to galvanise their supporters as electioneering gathers momentum ahead of possible elections that could be called by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili who vowed to do so in the event of a no-confidence motion on his government. Even exiled leaders like former premier Thomas Thabane have not […]
THE United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicates that as far as economic development is concerned, Lesotho is going nowhere and very fast too. According to UNCTAD Economic Affairs Officer, Giovanni Valensisi, the country’s failure to meet development criteria means it will not graduate from the ranks of Least Developed Countries (LDC) […]
IT has been said when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers most and nowhere is this truer than the present circumstances in this our beloved Mountain Kingdom. Not long ago, there were festivities and merry-making as we celebrated our golden jubilee of independence with exhortations to make the next 50 years a […]
LESOTHO has been named among the world’s most improved economies for doing business in the World Bank’s influential Ease of Doing Business rankings for 2017, cracking the top 100 for the first time. This just goes to show that as a nation we are capable of improving our conditions if we choose to focus […]
THE Amnesty Bill of 2016 which seeks to grant members of the security sector a blanket amnesty for offences committed between January 2007 and December 2015 has become a talking point in the country’s body politic. Predictably, it has its supporters who laud it as a chance to wipe the slate clean and build […]
PRINCE Seeiso Bereng Seeiso’s statement bemoaning the “far slower pace” of Lesotho’s politico-economic and social development in relation to its “sister” countries should be food for thought for all progressive Basotho. Elsewhere in this edition, we report that during the this week’s opening of Senate in which he is president, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso […]
THE Mountain Kingdom’s main independence golden jubilee celebrations are almost upon us. Only five days stand between us and the momentous occasion set for next Tuesday. There is no mistaking the palpable sense of achievement and excitement as the day draws ever closer. All around the country and especially on the streets of Maseru […]
A CLIMATE of fear has engulfed the country following the myriad of killings and attempted murders over the course of this year. In this edition, an opposition legislator fled the country fearing for their safety, while another has gone into hiding for the same reason. While the government has been quick to dismiss the […]
IF anyone thought the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) warning to withdraw aid to countries that fail to meet its eligibility criteria were idle words, they were disabused of that notion with the events of this week. To the uninitiated, the MCC is an agency created by the US Congress in January 2004 to reduce […]
LESOTHO is by-and-large a relative haven in comparison to our crime-ridden neighbour South Africa. Many Basotho have found comfort in the knowledge that they can go about their business with peace of mind without being mugged in Lesotho. This is unlike South Africa where it is prudent to always look over one’s shoulder, especially […]
AS a nation, we are sometimes preoccupied with a lot of seemingly important endeavours at the expense of simple but vital issues that could mean the difference between life and death. One such issue is the availability of blood or lack thereof, which only seems to become important when we really need the life-giving […]
MOVES by the government and opposition to map out a framework for the return of exiled political leaders deserve utmost commendation. As reported in this edition, representatives of the opposition bloc consisting of the All Basotho Convention, Reformed Congress of Lesotho and Basotho National Party yesterday met with government officials in Modderport, South Africa […]
FINANCE Minister Dr ‘Mamphono Khaketla’s budget speech last week struck all the right notes given the difficult macro-economic circumstances Lesotho finds itself in. Among the positive interventions the minister announced was the involvement of the private sector in the development of prime land in Maseru. She said the initiative was not only meant to […]
AS reported elsewhere in this edition, forecasts by the Central Bank of Lesotho and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are pointing to a downward trajectory for the economy in 2016. The causes of the bleak economic outlook are many, and include global economic developments that are beyond the control of policymakers in the Mountain Kingdom. […]
LESOTHO trudged into the New Year last Friday saddled with a plethora of challenges brought forward from 2015. The country is beset by a devastating drought, the likes of which have not been seen in n 43 years due to a weather phenomenon called El Niño. The implications of the climatic phenomenon, which is […]
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s declaration of a state of emergency this week because of the drought currently ravaging the country was the right and responsible thing for any leader to do. Such a declaration authorises the government to speed state assistance to vulnerable communities even if this requires circumventing normal legalistic procurement and implementation […]
DESPITE spirited assistance from the SADC region, Lesotho seems to teeter from one crisis after the other. The political logjam which has seen three opposition leaders fleeing the country is finally coming to a head and the regional bloc will not be able to do much about it. Elsewhere in this edition, Home Affairs […]
As reported elsewhere in this edition, five lives were claimed this week owing to gun violence which has become endemic in Lesotho. This time, the victims were massacred in what is believed to be a Famo turf war. This is the latest in a series of eerily similar stories we have heard over the […]
THE heartrending story of Corporal Ngoliso Majara’s ordeal, published elsewhere in this edition, highlights the urgent need for a resolution to Lesotho’s perennial crises. Corporal Majara was maimed and disfigured in a gun battle with his Lesotho Defence Force colleagues near the Royal Palace in February. The shootout claimed the life of private security […]
Former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s imminent return from exile should mark the beginning of a new era for Lesotho. The All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader has been living in South Africa since he fled the country on 11 May 2015 claiming some rogue members of the military were out to assassinate him. This was […]
Comment AS reported in this edition, Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and his predecessor Thomas Thabane have been secretly meeting in the past three weeks to map out a framework by which the All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader can return home. The two gladiators’ rapprochement deserves commendation especially given that the political impasse was seemingly intractable. […]
THE 12-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) Commission of Inquiry into the killing of former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Commander Maaparankoe Mahao already has a lot in its in-tray. In addition to probing the circumstances surrounding Brigadier Mahao’s slaying, the commission is also supposed to review the LDF’s allegations of a mutiny plot and […]
WHILE we are averse to commenting on matters that are sub judice, the continuing allegations of torture levelled against the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) cannot go unmentioned. In this edition, we report that Colonel Posa Alphoncy Stemmere, who was arrested by the army on Tuesday last week, bled through the nose in the High […]
AHEAD of the 28 February 2015 general elections, the promise of stability was one of the main selling points for politicians vying to lead the country. It was, and still is, an important component in informing the electorate’s decision on who to vote for. Basotho are after all inherently a peace-loving people who aspire […]
AS Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state and government, including Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, met for an extraordinary meeting yesterday, the elephant of xenophobia overshadowed the palatial conference centre in Harare, Zimbabwe. South African President, Jacob Zuma, was expected to take flak from other SADC leaders at the one-day summit for not […]
ELSEWHERE in this edition, a senior South African textile and clothing sector consultant has warned that Lesotho’s textile and clothing production will be decimated if the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is not renewed in September AGOA is a nonreciprocal trade preference programme that provides duty-free treatment to United States imports of certain […]
Let parly rules decide
OUR beautiful Mountain Kingdom is one country which prides itself on following the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy and part of that package includes giving up power when the numbers no longer add up in parliament. For all our talk about being a democracy, the part about giving up power has always been the […]