Lesotho bleeds, while we watch
For many years, I have decided not to comment about the politics of the Kingdom of Lesotho. This was caused by poor knowledge of, or interest in, the politics of the tiny mountain kingdom. But after my visit to the mountain kingdom during the past weekend, I felt an itching need to comment on the developments in that country.
Firstly, I appreciate the fact that Lesotho is an African country. And being an African, I feel obliged to have an interest in the developments taking place there. Secondly, I owe my ancestry to the Mountain Kingdom. My grandfather, the late Ntatemoholo Moferefere Jim Makhele, was born in 1923 in Kolo, Ha Mohlalefi, in the Mafeteng District. Like many other Basotho men, he became a migrant labourer selling his sweat to Apartheid South Africa. He died while residing in Botshabelo, in the Free State, in 1983.
When I drove through the streets of Lesotho I could feel the tension that besieged the country flying with the air I breathed. I visited the two main towns of Maseru and Mafeteng. While people went their normal business, one could feel a sense of hopelessness, fear and even anger. And right there I felt that I, a descendent of the Mountain Kingdom, and an African, can’t sit and watch while the country founded by King Moshoeshoe I, one of the greatest leaders Africa has ever produced, was bleeding, literally.
Although I do not wish to enter into the complex, and sometimes dangerous, party political debates of Lesotho, I must state outrightly that it takes no expert to see that there are problems in a country completely landlocked by South Africa. To claim that there is peace and stability in Lesotho is not different from believing that chalk can be used to write on one’s teeth.
Being an outsider, and a novice in writing history, I am in no position to narrate the origin and causes of the circumstances surrounding the current impasse. A Maseru local whom I asked about the political situation in Lesotho was not frank, perhaps because he feared that by telling me his views, he might be in danger. This is a probable indication of a country not at peace.
Immediately after an attempted coup on August 30 last year, South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa attempted to broker a deal to end the turmoil in Lesotho. Part of the concessions contained in the deal was that chiefs of police and the army, were to be put on sabbatical to try and defuse the deadly anarchy.
Early elections were also to be held by end of February this year. The former Prime Minister’s party, the All Basotho Convention (ABC) lost power and a coalition government was born. Pakalitha Mosisili was elected new Prime Minister, returning him to a seat he occupied from 2007 until 2012 when he was ousted by a coalition headed by the ABC.
The February 28 election outcomes were very close, with the Democratic Congress (DC) clinching 47 seats compared to the ABC’s 46.
University of Lesotho’s vice chancellor Nqosa Mahao said of the new regime; “…the exclusion of (Tom) Thabane’s party could become a problem. With the two in government, you would have consensus on institutional and constitutional reforms, as they would be built around inclusivity and focus on national healing”.
There are, however, several decisions taken by the coalition government which seem to run contrary to the academic’s counsel. The reinstatement of Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli, the axed army chief who spearheaded the attempted coup, despite calls by the opposition to the contrary, is one case in point. These and many other decisions are likely to fuel instability in the country.
On 9 May, a prominent Lesotho businessman and ABC sympathizer Thabiso Tsosane was shot and killed, allegedly for political reasons. At his funeral, with supporters clad in ABC regalia, some mourners vowed revenge, raising the probability of instability in an already fragile environment.
Soon after the killing, former Prime Minister Tom Thabane fled the country, vowing not to return without a safety guarantee from the South African Development Community (SADC). Several other members of the new parliament have also fled the country.
Are these incidents perhaps stage managed to delegitimize the new government? I really doubt. The mood in the mountain kingdom portrays a country deep in fear. The deaths of people affiliated to political parties are simply nerve-cracking. Lesotho is a beautiful country with a wonderful heritage. The people of Lesotho must collectively work together to build a new dream. This is possible. For as long as the country bleeds, we Africans, must not sit and watch. The problems of the people of Lesotho are our problems.
