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Lesotho
Area: 30,355 sq.km.
Population: 2,022,331 (July 2006 est.)
Capital city: Maseru
People: Basotho
Languages: Sesotho, English
Religion(s): Christianity and indigenous beliefs
Currency: Loti (plural: Maloti)
Major political parties: Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), Lesotho People’s Congress (LPC), Basotho Congress Party (BCP), Basotho National Party (BNP), Basotho African Congress (BAC), All Basotho Convention (ABC), Basotho Democratic National Party (BNDP).
Head of State: King Letsie III (constitutional monarch)
Prime Minister: Rt Hon Pakalitha Mosisili MP
Membership of international groupings/organisations: African Union (AU), Commonwealth, Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Southern African Development Community (SADC).
GEOGRAPHY
Lesotho is a small mountainous country situated towards the east of the Republic of South Africa and entirely encircled by it. There are two main mountain ranges: the Drakensburg, which has the highest mountain in southern Africa, and the Maluti. The capital, Maseru, is situated in the lowlands in the west of the country where most of the arable land and 70% of the population are concentrated: only 13% of the country is cultivable and population pressure here is acute. The climate is temperate, with well-marked seasons. But the climate in the eastern half of the country is bleak. Snow falls frequently in the highlands during the winter. Hail storms can occur in all regions during the summer.
HISTORY
The kingdom was founded by an exceptional 19th century leader confronting Boer encroachment onto Basotho grazing lands from one direction, and violent population upheavals precipitated by the military rise of Shaka Zulu in Natal from another. Moshoeshoe, then a minor chief, initially led his people to a mountain refuge where they established a new settlement; subsequently he established a policy of affording haven to refugees willing to help with defence. In 1824 he shifted his headquarters to a more easily defensible hilltop called Thaba-Bosiu. From the 1830s onwards, Moshoeshoe I began to welcome Christian missionaries into his newly established kingdom as potential allies. Two Basotho wars with the Boers in 1858 and 1865 resulted in the loss by Moshoeshoe I of most of the western lowlands to the Orange Free State. This led him to seek British protection in 1868: he died just two years’ later. It was Moshoeshoe I who emulated his Boer enemies in creating a cavalry -–thus introducing horses into Lesotho.
The Kingdom of Lesotho (previously the Basutoland Protectorate) became independent on 4 October 1966 as a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected by universal suffrage. The Prime Minister at independence was Chief Jonathan of the Basotho National Party (BNP). At the first post-independence elections in 1970, Chief Jonathan, anticipating defeat to the opposition Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution. He was overthrown in a military coup in 1986. A Military Council ruled Lesotho until a General Election was again held in March 1993, when all seats were won by the BCP. However against the background of unrest in the armed forces the constitution was suspended and parliament dissolved for several months in the next year.
King Moshoeshoe II, who had been dethroned by the Military Council in 1990, returned to the throne from exile in the UK in January 1995. A year later he was killed in a car accident. On the advice of the College of Chiefs, King Letsie, who had reigned during his father’s exile, succeeded him.
POLITICS
Party politics have been fractious and unstable. In 1997 the BCP split and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) was created which included the Prime Minister and his Cabinet: the BCP then formed the parliamentary opposition. At the May 1998 general election, the LCD won 65% of the votes and secured 79 of the 80 seats. Opposition parties alleged fraud, though international observers judged the poll to have been free and fair. Civil disorder broke out in August 1998. Many people lost their lives as the main towns were burned and looted. A South African Development Community (SADC) peacekeeping force entered Lesotho in September 1998 and remained until April 1999. An Interim Political Authority (IPA) comprising two representatives from each of the twelve political parties was set up in October 1998 to review the electoral system and prepare for new general elections. The IPA modified the electoral system to create a combination of simple majority voting and proportional representation. Now, 80 parliamentary seats are elected by simple majority vote and 40 are elected by proportional representation.
Elections in May 2002 returned the LCD to power. Teams of observers sent by SADC and the Commonwealth declared them to be free and fair. A general election in February 2007 resulted in another victory for the LCD, winning 61 of Parliament’s 120 seats, with its alliance partner, the National Independent Party (NIP) winning 21. The All Basotho Convention (ABC), which fared much better than other opposition parties in recent years, helped to organise a three-day strike in protest at the allocation of parliamentary seats. SADC stepped in to mediate amidst tension between the opposition and the Government.
Lesotho’s first local government elections were held in April 2005. Voter turnout - just over 30% - was poor. Although generally accepted to have been free and fair, opposition parties accused the ruling LCD, which took the majority of council seats, of disadvantaging them through the introduction of a 30% quota for female candidates (in line with the target adopted by SADC for the participation of women in politics). However in a landmark ruling in July 2005 the Lesotho Court of Appeal upheld the country’s gender quota.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Lesotho is a signatory to the six principal international human rights treaties. It retains the death penalty on the statute book, although there has been a de facto moratorium on executions since the 1990s. The UK regularly lobbies the government to abolish the death penalty.
The Government has a generally good human rights record though there are increasing incidents of police brutality. Domestic and international non-governmental organisations operate in Lesotho without restriction, and publish their reports openly. The media is free and independent.
The Ministry of Justice, with the help of the UK, is taking steps to address the main areas of the criminal justice sector that require attention, such as prison overcrowding and lengthy waits for cases to go to trial.
Human Rights Annual Report 2006
ECONOMY
Basic economic facts
GDP: US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$ 1.4 billion. (2006 est)
Annual growth: 3.0% (2006 est)
Inflation: 5% (2006 est)
Major industries: Diamonds, textiles and wool, mohair; water infrastructure
Major trading partners: South Africa, US
Exchange rate: The Loti is pegged at par to the South African rand, with an estimated average exchange rate for 2006 at 6.78 loti to 1 US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$
Lesotho is a low-income country with an economy that is inseparably linked to South Africa. Its main natural resource is water that it exports to South Africa. Lesotho has a self-sufficient supply of electrical power and the potential to further develop tourism in the Highlands. A diamond mine abandoned in 1982 recently reopened. It has the capacity to provide up to 20% of Lesotho’s GDP. Its management recently denied rumours of laundering smuggled diamonds. Lesotho has taken a strong stand against corruption, prosecuting several international contracting firms involved in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) for alleged bribery.
About 53,000 Basotho men work in the South African mining industry. Remittances from this employment, the sale of water and receipts from SACU provide much of Lesotho’s income. These receipts may decline in future years due to changes in the SACU agreement and liberalisation of trade between Southern Africa and Europe. In recent years large-scale retrenchments of Basotho miners from the South African gold fields have had a negative effect on the economy. Unemployment is high (estimated to be around 50%).
Lesotho recently became the largest sub-Saharan exporter of garments to the US under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The textile industry is currently recovering following increased Chinese competition since the abolition of tariffs at the beginning of 2005. This contributed to an estimated growth rate of 3% in 2006, helped also by increased mining activity, which looks set to expand further in 2007 and 2008. A more favourable environment for investment and continued devaluation of the loti is expected to boost the manufacturing sector in 2007-8.
DEVELOPMENT
A prolonged drought combined with the persistent problem of significant soil erosion has led to a poor agricultural output: the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a Protracted Relief and Recovery Programme to last from January 2005 to December 2007. It aims to gradually reduce the number of beneficiaries from 600,000 (nearly a third of the population) to 80,000 per month by the end of this period.
Lesotho ranks as third, after Swaziland and Botswana, amongst the countries most severely affected by HIV/AIDS. The national rate of adult infection is estimated at between 29% and 31%. The British Department fo International Development (DFID) is helping the Government establish a National AIDS Committee, whilst engaging with the sub-region as a whole in tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic. King Letsie III and Prime Minister Mosisili have declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster and have set a goal of cutting the adult HIV prevalence rate to 25% by 2008. In May 2005 the Government launched the Lesotho Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (Lenepwha): its purpose is to support community efforts to respond to the crisis. In November 2005 Government plans were announced to offer free HIV tests to all citizens. In October 2005, the Lesotho Government health sector reform programme attracted a World Bank loan of US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$6.5 million.
A Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) developed with the assistance of DFID was approved in December 2004. It focused on creating employment in the private sector, improving education and access to healthcare, tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and improving fiscal management and efficiency of government services. The UK is among the top five donors to Lesotho with an aid programme of £5.5 million per year.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Lesotho is a land-locked country and is completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. There are close political, cultural and economic links between the two countries and a Joint Bilateral Commission on Co-operation to handle practical matters.
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