Op-Ed by Ambassador Maria Brewer “The United States is all in on Africa,” President Biden affirmed during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit last December. The future is Africa. One example is its youthful population: The median age on the continent is nineteen. By 2050, one in four people in the world will be in Africa and […]
His Majesty King Mohammed VI has once again demonstrated that the Amazigh people are an important component of Moroccan society. For many years, the Amazigh, also known as Berbers, yearned for recognition in Morocco. Each time they would celebrate their new year – on 13 January – they would take to the street to […]
By Moses Magadza KINSHASA, DOMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – African governments have been urged to invest in young people and implement important frameworks on youth, peace and security to avoid missing out on the demographic dividends that the continent’s youthful population presents. At the start of the 52nd Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC […]
By Moses Magadza KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – A symposium held shortly after the official opening of the 52nd Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum had the theme: “The role of parliaments in strengthening legislative frameworks for peace and security in the SADC region”. It enabled delegates to discuss threats to regional […]
By Moses Magadza in Democratic Republic of Congo KINSHASA – The 52nd Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum took place here last week with the Democratic Republic of Congo imploring SADC Member States to help end instability in the eastern part of the country. The DRC says instability in the country over […]
By Moses Magadza JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – A recent workshop for Members of Parliament from southern Africa focused on building the understanding of bodily autonomy and integrity (BAI) and how lawmakers can promote it. BAI refers to the ability of all people regardless of gender or sexual orientation to make decisions over their bodies […]
Herbert Moyo LESOTHO is edging closer towards enacting a draconian cybercrimes law that prescribes hefty fines and lengthy jail terms for various cyber and computer crimes. People could be fined as much as R15 million and jailed for up to 25 years for vaguely defined “offences against critical information infrastructure or protected computer systems”. This […]
Limpho Sello A HA-LEQELE, Maseru family has accused the government and Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) authorities of denying their six-year-old daughter an opportunity to go for crucial surgery to remove a brain tumor in Cape Town. The child, Lerato Moshoeshoe*, was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after birth at QMMH. Two years ago, […]
. . . feels let down by a system that tolerates gender violence Staff Reporter *ROSA Molise sits in a black couch in her lounge staring at a blank wall. It is evident that a lot is on her mind but she is seemingly wearing a shield and shows no emotion as she narrates her […]
. . . disabled persons bemoan struggles in accessing sexual reproductive health services, . . . blame their struggles on the government’s failure to mainstream disability issues in health training. Limpho Sello “DISABILITY doesn’t mean the inability to have sex. “Despite our disability, we have normal human needs like sex and like other human […]
…children also trafficked, forced into commercial sex work, burglary and theft Herbert Moyo/ Limpho Sello LESOTHO’S children are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, the United States (US) Department of Labour has found. According to the department’s report for 2020, some of the children- as young as five years old- are victims of […]
Limpho Sello GOVERNMENT officials and other stakeholders have been engaging in a self-congratulatory exercise in the aftermath of the enactment of the long-delayed Persons with Disability Equity Act. The Act provides for an array of legal rights for persons with disabilities including rights of access to services including health and the provision of quality education. […]
Limpho Sello FOUR months after the enactment of the landmark Persons with Disability Equity Act of 2021, the real work has begun in earnest to ensure persons with disabilities fully enjoy their rights, the Minister of Social Development, ‘Matebatso Doti has said. A disability grant for persons with disabilities will be introduced beginning September this […]
Pascalinah Kabi WOMEN in Lesotho have always played a major role in food production albeit at a subsistence level. In this patriarchal and gendered society, it is inculcated into every female- from toddlers as young as five years to great grandmothers- that theirs is to till the land and put food on the table for […]
Pascalinah Kabi LOCKDOWN restrictions aimed at fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in Lesotho have had an unintended adverse negative impact of undermining women’s customary land rights, a regional human rights body has found. The organisation, Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA), said its research on the impact of Covid-19 on women’s customary land rights and livelihoods […]
Staff Writer HLOKOMELA Banana, a local non-profit organisation, is working to restore the dignity of Basotho girls, some of who miss school for over 50 days annually when they are on their monthly periods. The organisation heeded the call by Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso to provide sanitary wear to all school going girls to ensure […]
Bereng Mpaki PARLIAMENTARIANS have been hogging the spotlight with their demands for a whopping 100 percent salary increment- a demand analysts say is “ridiculous and cruel” given the precarious state of the economy. While the salary demands have united legislators from the governing and ruling parties they have however, estranged them from some sections of […]
Tsitsi Matope IT is one hell of a life in which only the fittest can survive. Cat-and-mouse games with the police, muggings by the criminal element and beatings my sadistic clients are some of the hazards of their lives as they go about their trade. Conventional society has no kind words for them and calls […]
Keiso Mohloboli NEWLY appointed Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) Commissioner Thabang Azael Mothepu is a young man on a huge mission. He wants to see a reformed LCS which will refrain from partisan politics. More importantly he plans to oversee the transformation of the LCS into a world class institution in terms of service delivery. These […]
Tsitsi Matope ‘MATEBOHO Mohase could not hide her fear as she expressed concerns over an implant contraceptive she wanted immediately removed at the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association (LPPA) clinic in Maseru on Monday this week. Minutes later, after receiving some information on the benefits of the method from the LPPA Service Delivery Coordinator, Nthabiseng Phatsoane, […]
Mohalenyane Phakela WHEN he was forced to drop out of school due to financial challenges, Bokang Matsipa plunged headlong into the underworld of the illicit cultivation and trade of marijuana. This helped him make ends but never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine that this would stand him in good stead to become […]
Pascalinah Kabi SHE could have easily carried the mantle of the beauty of the plateaus of Semonkong, a tiny remote town 115km into the heart of Lesotho’s mountain ranges, but 17 year old Ntšepeng (not her real name) died an outcast shunned by her entire village. Her well-sculptured face and big white eyes complemented by […]
Pascalinah Kabi WHEN Thabang Tlhapi opted for agriculture, and not the more popular woodwork at secondary school, little did he know that he had chosen his life’s passion. “I find inner peace when dealing with nature and seeing the seeds that I planted coming to life,” said the now 35-year-old Lehlakaneng man. Being fully […]
Pascalinah Kabi LERIBE – The late Whitney Houston, a world-famous musician, once sang about how we all have dreams and how “everyone wants a chance to become someone”. The rest of the song was about the importance of believing in the power of your dreams and how they could be realised through hard work […]
Pascalinah Kabi LERIBE – The late Whitney Houston, a world-famous musician, once sang about how we all have dreams and how “everyone wants a chance to become someone”. The rest of the song was about the importance of believing in the power of your dreams and how they could be realised through hard work […]
Pascalinah Kabi SEVENTEENTH century English poet and civil servant John Milton is credited with coining the phrase “silver lining” which was eventually developed into the saying “every cloud has a silver lining”. This simply means that every bad situation has some good aspect to it and the proverb is said as an encouragement to […]
Pascalinah Kabi BOBETE, THABA-TSEKA – Sixteen-year old ‘Mantsali Selumi can finally afford a smile thanks to the Lesotho Red Cross Society and Wateraid Southern Africa who built toilets at her Marumo Primary School and Bobete Primary School this past week. She can now focus on achieving good grades at school in order to realise […]
Pascalinah Kabi MAFETENG – Polotso Mokhasi is a nursing mother from Ha Ralitabo in Kolo, Mafeteng. Having grown up in the isolated village, she knows only too well the struggle to access water, sanitation and hygiene amenities. With no running water or major water source nearby, Ms Mokhasi and other villagers had to walk […]
Pascalinah Kabi GENDER and Youth, Sports and Recreation Deputy Minister ‘Marefuoe Muso says the obstacles women were facing in their socio-economic advancement could only be addressed through a national dialogue on gender issues. In an interview with the Lesotho Times this week, Ms Muso said the African Women’s Month commemorations being held in August […]
Young people who have witnessed the social and medical effect of mining on their parents are fighting for their rights. Caelainn Hogan On a hard shoulder of the God Help Me Pass, men who worked for years underground line up in the bright sun outside a cluster of tents. A blanket […]
