Pascalinah Kabi LESOTHO has made positive strides in fostering gender equality owing to the advocacy initiatives that were carried out decades ago. Among these positive strides include the fight for economic independence which gives voice to women to stand up for their rightful place in society. As stated in the Gender-based Violence Indicators Study […]
Thakane Shale I MAY not have a child yet but as a person whose varsity education was funded by the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) I can fully appreciate the importance of the fund. I do however fear the fund has spoiled us as it spoiled our parents before us. I am used, for […]
Lehlohonolo Manamolela This week on the 22nd of March 2017, the world celebrated the International Water Day in the remembrance of the UN Resolution 64/292 which was approved by the General Assembly, on 28 July, 2010 when the body, Recognized the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane KARL Marx’s The Communist Manifesto opens with, “A spectre is haunting Europe. It is a spectre of communism”. He later wrote in his Civil War in France, that “France is the only country where class struggles are never fought to conclusion”. In the Lesotho of our times, political battles are never fought […]
’Marafaele Mohloboli THE sad plight of many Basotho men forced to eke out a living in South Africa was laid bear with the killing 14 illegal miners in Benoni last week. This tragedy has made me relive some equally sad memories when Basotho miners were also killed in South Africa in 2009. I recalled […]
Pascalinah Kabi NEXT week, Lesotho will join the rest of the world in celebrating World Water Day, after the United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March as World Water Day in 1993. According to the United Nations, the day is commemorated annually to take action to tackle the global water crisis. It is a […]
By Mamoletsane Khati The theme for International Women’s Day 2017 is #BeBoldForChange. The theme encourages us to challenge the socio-economic, political and cultural barriers towards women development and calls for women to actively participate in challenging the gender gap and inequalities to ensure their development. Women in Southern Africa face several inequalities compared to […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane AS I write this opinion, the parliamentary opposition parties lawyers will probably have approached the High Court or Constitutional Court to seek a declaratory order, or something approximating that, regarding the propriety of His Majesty the King acceding to the prime minister’s advice to dissolve government by-passing the Council of State […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane THE death of a government in trying times can spell doom for various social groups, and its prospect can trigger panic of unimaginable proportions. This is something we have seen on the local scene in recent months. It is universal in time and space, and its frequency can make everyday life […]
Prof Mafa Sejanamane A WEEK ago, three leaders of the political parties represented in parliament, returned from exile and were joined by the leader of the Alliance of Democrats (AD) and thousands of supporters in Maseru. This was only the beginning of the political drama that awaits the country in the next few weeks. […]
Pascalinah Kabi I LISTENED with despair last week as a senior government official told the gathering at the launch of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals report that the new HIV and Aids prevalence rate, set at 25 percent, was not as bad as “we are made to believe”. She argued that the new HIV […]
POLITICIANS wielding a toxic, dehumanizing “us vs them” rhetoric are creating a more divided and dangerous world, warned Amnesty International yesterday as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world. The report, The State of the World’s Human Rights, delivers the most comprehensive analysis of the state of human rights around […]
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 […]
Lehloenya Mahao INTERNATIONAL relations deal with relationships between nation-states including all other factors encapsulated in inter-state relationships. These factors set standards that determine how the global system operates. It also links and directs the interdependence between sovereign states; inter-state relations; international institutions and non-state actors. All these combine into a global system which sets […]
Lehloenya Mahao IN recent years, Lesotho has slumped in international indices of development. One of the major sources of this decline is corruption. Incidentally, those who conveniently decided to avoid this reality also blamed the country’s economic decline on world economic decline. These are the same people who repeatedly overemphasise the sovereignty of the […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane WHEN I started making these observations some two years ago, I could hardly surmise we would be sniffing another knee-jerk general election in the air as this piece goes to print, according to a public admission by the prime minister. What surprised me was that even as the landmark 2014 events […]
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 year ahead for Africa will revolve around managing challenges of constrained hegemon, regional integration, conflict resolution, democratic governance, and China’s growing influence on the continent. The year will begin with the contest at the African Union (AU) summit, starting on January 22, to elect a successor to the outgoing chair of the commission, […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane IN happier or grieving times, we love saying the Basotho nation founder Moshoeshoe The Great, as Victoria’s London referred to him in archived correspondence, named peace his sister. You hear it in technical workshops like the so-called national dialogue conferences such as the Vision 2020 one of January 2001, or at […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane I HAVE been following with keen interest the recent goings-on in the main opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC), among others the departure of my long-time comrade Tlali Khasu from that party to form his own party, as he later exclusively told this paper. What I didn’t know until his radio announcement […]
Matsokoane Sebatane IN my opinion column “Who ‘owns’ the govt of Lesotho” (Lesotho Times 22 December 2016) to stop Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s adviser Dr Fako Likoti from trashing our dignity as a nation, and pitting our state against both the civilized international community and our citizenry; I said only the South African Broadcasting Corporation […]
Joang Molapo INTELLIGENCE is a quality that people genuinely admire in other people. We all love to be around that person who is knowledgeable and good at solving problems. We all know a person; maybe a teacher, a classmate or a colleague who is both smart and sincere and who as a result, inspires […]
AS reported elsewhere in this edition, Lesotho has slumped on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) — from 113 to 120 out of 138 countries. The GCI is the world’s most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each of the economies featured. According to the CGI, the Mountain Kingdom […]
Matsokoane Sebatane This paper last week carried three interesting, mutually contrasting stories. The first was headlined “Govt hits back at Americans”; and the second and third were acerbically critical of what the first was pretending to do, with reference to its author’s contribution of the preceding week. The subject or actor in the news […]
Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane PRIME Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s Economic Political Advisor, Dr Fako Likoti, is in the habit of taking liberties of entering the fray of political debates, which is beyond his call of duty; and also insulting our respected public figures and statesmen in the press. We are aware of his terms of reference, […]
Utloang Kajeno It is imperative to quote these seminal words from the book of Isaiah so the reader can fully appreciate the basis of this column. They go thus: (1:17) “learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Indeed the cornerstone […]
. . . or corruption will kill Lesotho Topollo Charles Putsoane WHEN the law can no longer protect you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you, you know your country is heading for doom! All I know is corruption and nepotism are rampaging the civil service. At long last, the longest serving […]
Makhabane Maluke OBSERVANT readers may have realized that the Business Report, South Africa’s national financial daily, regularly carries briefs from across Africa. Interestingly, even parliamentary developments occasionally feature. One notable observation is that it is mostly the more reforming parliaments which so feature. There is usually something to learn from such readings. The National […]
Public sector reform an urgent necessity
WE could not agree more with local analysts who have underscored the need for the country to enact laws to establish oversight and vetting processes in the hiring of public servants to stem the politicisation of recruitments. As we report elsewhere in this edition, the different analysts made the call in the aftermath of […]