Lesotho – Researched and Compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland on 21 June 2012
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences Quota Report Series
The Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences Quota Report Series Edited by Julie Ballington In Collaboration with This report was compiled from the findings and case studies presented at an International IDEA, EISA and SADC Parliamentary Forum Workshop held on 11–12 November 2004, Pretoria, South Africa. © International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2004 This is an International IDEA publication. International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or any part of this publication should be made to: Information Unit International IDEA SE -103 34 Stockholm Sweden International IDEA encourages dissemination of its work and will promptly respond to requests for permission to reproduce or translate its publications. Graphic design by: Magnus Alkmar Cover photos: Anoli Perera, Sri Lanka Printed by: Trydells Tryckeri AB, Sweden ISBN: 91-85391-17-4 Preface The International Institute for Democracy and a global research project on the implementation and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), an intergovernmental use of quotas worldwide in cooperation with the organization with member states across all continents, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. seeks to support sustainable democracy in both new By comparing the employment of gender quotas in dif- and long-established democracies. Drawing on com- ferent political contexts this project seeks to gauge parative analysis and experience, IDEA works to bolster whether, and under what conditions, quotas can be electoral processes, enhance political equality and par- implemented successfully. It also aims to raise general ticipation and develop democratic institutions and awareness of the use of gender quotas as an instrument practices. -
The Impact of Political Parties and Party Politics On
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND PARTY SYSTEMS ON DEMOCRACY IN LESOTHO by MPHO RAKHARE Student number: 2009083300 Submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements for the Magister Degree in Governance and Political Transformation in the Programme of Governance and Political Transformation at the University of Free State Bloemfontein February 2019 Supervisor: Dr Tania Coetzee TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages DECLARATION .................................................................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 5 List of abbreviations and acronyms ................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction to research ....................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Motivation ........................................................................................................................................ 9 1.2 Problem statement ..................................................................................................................... -
Lesotho | Freedom House
Lesotho | Freedom House https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/lesotho A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 10 / 12 A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4 Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy. King Letsie III serves as the ceremonial head of state. The prime minister is head of government; the head of the majority party or coalition automatically becomes prime minister following elections, making the prime minister’s legitimacy largely dependent on the conduct of the polls. Thomas Thabane became prime minister after his All Basotho Convention (ABC) won snap elections in 2017. Thabane, a fixture in the country’s politics, had previously served as prime minister from 2012–14, but spent two years in exile in South Africa amid instability that followed a failed 2014 coup. A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4 The lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly, has 120 seats; 80 are filled through first-past-the-post constituency votes, and the remaining 40 through proportional representation. The Senate—the upper house of Parliament—consists of 22 principal chiefs who wield considerable authority in rural areas and whose membership is hereditary, along with 11 other members appointed by the king and acting on the advice of the Council of State. Members of both chambers serve five- year terms. In 2017, the coalition government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili—head of the Democratic Congress (DC)—lost a no-confidence vote. The development triggered the third round of legislative elections held since 2012. -
ASPJ-Africa & Francophonie 3Rd Quarter 2017
ASPJ–Afrique etFrancophonie3 3e trimestre 2017 Volume 8, No. 3 e Trimestre 2017 Trimestre La vision américaine du monde post-impérial Michael Lind Faith I. Okpotor, PhD Okpotor, I. Faith A Feminist Normative Analysis of the Libyan Intervention Libyan the of Analysis Normative Feminist A Politics, and US Foreign Policy Foreign US and Politics, Maîtriser la guerre dite « hybride » Human Rights, Humanitarian Intervention, International Intervention, Humanitarian Rights, Human LTC Jyri Raitasalo, Armée finlandaise, PhD Everisto Benyera, PhD Benyera, Everisto Le modèle des systèmes de corruption et réforme anticorruption in Lesotho in La pression internationale et nationale, et stratégies des gouvernements Towards an Explanation of the Recurrence of Military Coups Coups Military of Recurrence the of Explanation an Towards pour préserver le statu quo Joseph Pozsgai, PhD Joseph Pozsgai, PhD Pozsgai, Joseph Preserve the Status Quo Status the Preserve Tentative d’explication des coups d’état à répétition au Lesotho International, Domestic Pressure, and Government Strategies to to Strategies Government and Pressure, Domestic International, Everisto Benyera, PhD A Systems Model on Corruption and Anticorruption Reform Anticorruption and Corruption on Model Systems A Droits de l’homme, intervention humanitaire, politique Lt Col Jyri Raitasalo, Finnish Army, PhD Army, Finnish Raitasalo, Jyri Col Lt internationale et politique étrangère américaine Getting a Grip on the So-Called “Hybrid Warfare” “Hybrid So-Called the on Grip a Getting Une analyse normative féministe de l’intervention en Libye Faith I. Okpotor, PhD Michael Lind Michael American Visions of a Postimperial World Postimperial a of Visions American Volume 8, No. 3 No. 8, Volume 2017 Quarter 3rd ASPJ–Africa and Francophonie 3rd Quarter 2017 Chief of Staff, US Air Force Gen David L. -
Implications for Consolidation of Democracy in Lesotho by Libuseng Malephane
Contesting and turning over power: Implications for consolidation of democracy in Lesotho By Libuseng Malephane Afrobarometer Policy Paper No. 17 | February 2015 Introduction Since its transition to electoral democracy in 1993, Lesotho has experienced a series of upheavals related to the electoral process. Election results were vehemently contested in 1998, when the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won all but one of the country’s constituencies under a first-past-the-post electoral system, and a military intervention by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was required to restore order. A mixed member proportional (MMP) model introduced in the run-up to the 2002 general elections resulted in more parties being represented in Parliament. The MMP model also led to the formation of informal coalitions as political parties endeavoured to maintain or increase their seats in Parliament in the 2007 elections (Kapa, 2007). Using a two-ballot system, with one ballot for constituency and another for the proportional-representation (PR) component, the elections preserved the ruling LCD’s large majority in Parliament and precipitated another protracted dispute between the ruling and opposition parties over the allocation of PR seats. Mediation efforts by the SADC and the Christian Council of Lesotho led to a review of the Constitution and Electoral Law. The resulting National Assembly Electoral Act of 2011 provides for a single-ballot system that allows voters to indicate their preferences for both constituency and PR components of the MMP system (UNDP, 2013). Meanwhile, the new All Basotho Convention (ABC), which had broken away from the LCD in 2006, became the largest opposition party in Parliament after the 2007 elections. -
Basotho Speak on the Proposed Renaming of Major Roads
Sunday April 14, 2019 Public EyeOn Sunday 1 Woes buffet Lekokoaneng Best Sunday News sandstone miners News ublic ye Page 5 PApril 14 , 2019 www.publiceyenews.com E On EST .1997| vol 22 No 17 Sunday ‘Don’t name roads after politicians’ Concern over Govt denies Lesotho’s grabbing maternal Likoti’s mortality rate pension - Page 4 - Page 7 01042019 Met Funeral Strip.pdf 1 4/11/2019 6:18:29 PM C M Y CM MY How deep is your CY CMY K 2 Public EyeOn Sunday Sunday April 14, 2019 News ‘Don’t name roads after politicians’ . Basotho speak on the proposed renaming of major roads Former Prime Minister, Dr Ntsu Mokhehle last week adopted a motion “Our children will even have Former Prime Minister, Morena Leabua Jonathan proposed by ‘Mapulumo Hlao more interest if they see the names urging the government to assign of our former Prime Ministers on ASERU– Parliament’s Instead, chiefs and other new names to the Main North I a regular basis which would lead decision to rename apolitical figures who have and Main South I Roads, which to always remember the role these Mmajor national roads made genuine sacrifices for this should be named after former politicians have played for the after current and past premiers kingdom are the only ones that prime ministers, Morena Leabua country to be where it is today,” has attracted mixed reactions merit such an honour, some Jonathan and Dr Ntsu Mokhehle, he stressed. from Basotho, with some saying Basotho have said. respectively. He advised the government to no politician deserves such an One ’Mats’epo Tsiane, a Member of Parliament for put in place a proper engagement honour since they all tend to Maseru resident, told the media Mosalemane, Tsoinyane Rapapa process with the community to disappoint the electorate once this week she does not like the had moved that after the word educate them about political they get power. -
FOL Newsletter 3QTR
Metsoalle ea Lesotho Friends of Lesotho Third Quarter 2014 Newsletter Newsletter Features Clickable Links!! Download the newsletter from the FOL FOL President Appointed website www.friendsoflesotho.org and you will be able to click on all the Honorary Consul website addresses. Friends of Lesotho President Scott Rosenberg was appointed Honorary Consul by the Lesotho Embassy in Washington, DC. He will represent Lesotho in Ohio and the Midwest and help facilitate greater cooperation between the two countries to promote Lesotho’s trade, tourism, investment, and cultural activities to Ameri- cans, and he will also assume protocol responsibilities for visiting Basotho dignitaries. The current Ambassador to the US, serving in the Washington DC consulate, is Ambassador Molapi Sepetane. Scott Rosenberg (R) with Lesotho Minister of Protocol Moshuli Leteka, Summer 2014, Maseru. Photo Credit: Thabo Moseunyane Was There a Coup or Not? By Ella Kwisnek, RPCV 92-94, Lesotho Agricultural College, [email protected] A quarterly newsletter is not an ideal place for fast-breaking news, so thanks to RPCV Ella Kwis- nek for compiling this log of events that made front pages on world newspapers during August and Sept 2014. ~ Ed. What happened? On Saturday, August 30, 2014, there was a reported “coup d'état attempt by the military” in Lesotho. Soldiers reportedly disarmed police and one police officer was killed as the result of an ex- change of gunfire between soldiers and police. Prime Minister Motsoahae Thomas Thabane fled to South Africa and accused his deputy Mothetjoa Metsing Photo Credit: Linda Henry, RPCV of being behind the army's actions. Foreign Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) States met with the leaders of the three political parties that made up Lesotho’s Coalition govern- ment in an attempt to resolve the conflict. -
Alliances, Coalitions and the Political System in Lesotho 2007-2012
VOLUME 13 NO 1 93 ALLIANCES, COALITIONS AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN LESOTHO 2007-2012 Motlamelle Anthony Kapa and Victor Shale Dr Motlamelle Anthony Kapa is lecturer and head of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the National University of Lesotho e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Dr Victor Shale is EISA’s Zimbabwe Resident Director e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper assesses political party alliances and coalitions in Lesotho, focusing on their causes and their consequences for party systems, democratic consolidation, national cohesion and state governability. We agree with Kapa (2008) that formation of the pre-2007 alliances can be explained in terms of office-seeking theory in that the political elite used alliances to access and retain power. These alliances altered the country’s party system, leading to conflict between parties inside and outside Parliament, as well as effectively changing the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system into a parallel one, thereby violating the spirit of the system. However, the phenomenon did not change state governability; it effectively perpetuated the one-party dominance of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and threatened national cohesion. The post-2012 coalition, on the other hand, was a product of a hung parliament produced by the elections. The impact of the coalition on the party system, state governability and democratic consolidation is yet to be determined as the coalition phenomenon is still new. However, state governability has been marked by a generally very slow pace of policy implementation and the party system has been both polarised and reconfigured while national cohesion has been strengthened. -
Un Royaume En Eaux Troubles : Les Crises Politico-Sécuritaires Du Lesotho
AVRIL 2021 Un royaume en eaux troubles Les crises politico-sécuritaires Centre Afrique oubliées du Lesotho subsaharienne Thibaud KURTZ L’Ifri est, en France, le principal centre indépendant de recherche, d’information et de débat sur les grandes questions internationales. Créé en 1979 par Thierry de Montbrial, l’Ifri est une association reconnue d’utilité publique (loi de 1901). Il n’est soumis à aucune tutelle administrative, définit librement ses activités et publie régulièrement ses travaux. L’Ifri associe, au travers de ses études et de ses débats, dans une démarche interdisciplinaire, décideurs politiques et experts à l’échelle internationale. Les opinions exprimées dans ce texte n’engagent que la responsabilité de l’auteur. ISBN : 979-10-373-0348-6 © Tous droits réservés, Ifri, 2021 Couverture : © Shutterstock/South Africa Stock Video », Barrage de Katse au Lesotho Comment citer cette publication : Thibaud Kurtz, « Un royaume en eaux troubles : les crises politico- sécuritaires oubliées du Lesotho », Notes de l’Ifri, Ifri, avril 2021. Ifri 27 rue de la Procession 75740 Paris Cedex 15 – FRANCE Tél. : +33 (0)1 40 61 60 00 – Fax : +33 (0)1 40 61 60 60 E-mail : [email protected] Site internet : Ifri.org Auteur Thibaud Kurtz est analyste en géopolitique africaine. Il a mené de nombreuses missions pour des réseaux d’ONG et diplomatiques européens en Afrique australe et des Grands Lacs. Après avoir travaillé au sein d’EurAc à Bruxelles, il a été basé au Botswana pendant plusieurs années, où il a occupé des postes régionaux pour les missions diplomatiques de la France, de l’Union européenne et du Royaume-Uni. -
Lesotho Country Report BTI 2018
BTI 2018 Country Report Lesotho This report is part of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) 2018. It covers the period from February 1, 2015 to January 31, 2017. The BTI assesses the transformation toward democracy and a market economy as well as the quality of political management in 129 countries. More on the BTI at http://www.bti-project.org. Please cite as follows: Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2018 Country Report — Lesotho. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2018. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Contact Bertelsmann Stiftung Carl-Bertelsmann-Strasse 256 33111 Gütersloh Germany Sabine Donner Phone +49 5241 81 81501 [email protected] Hauke Hartmann Phone +49 5241 81 81389 [email protected] Robert Schwarz Phone +49 5241 81 81402 [email protected] Sabine Steinkamp Phone +49 5241 81 81507 [email protected] BTI 2018 | Lesotho 3 Key Indicators Population M 2.2 HDI 0.497 GDP p.c., PPP $ 3029 Pop. growth1 % p.a. 1.3 HDI rank of 188 160 Gini Index 54.2 Life expectancy years 53.6 UN Education Index 0.528 Poverty3 % 78.0 Urban population % 27.8 Gender inequality2 0.549 Aid per capita $ 38.2 Sources (as of October 2017): The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2017 | UNDP, Human Development Report 2016. Footnotes: (1) Average annual growth rate. (2) Gender Inequality Index (GII). (3) Percentage of population living on less than $3.20 a day at 2011 international prices. Executive Summary Lesotho has been shaken by a series of destabilizing events during the period under review (2015- 2017). -
Turning Crisis INT FP.Indd
Turning a CRISIS into an Opportunity Strategies for Scaling Up the National Response to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Lesotho Turning Crisis INT FP.indd 1 2/12/04 1:37:48 PM Cover centrepiece photo: Basotho children at play against the background of a beautiful Lesotho moun- tain range: Photo by UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi Cover background art: Historic rock painting of antelopes from Ha Baroana, Lesotho. The earliest of these famous Khoi-San rock paintings and engravings date back almost 10,000 years. They are strik- ingly beautiful, depicting life as seen through the eyes of hunter-gatherers with many elements from their mythology and religious philosophy, including trance dances, transformation and rain animals. Photo by UNDP Lesotho/Olof Nunez. Cover design concept by Joseph Okpaku, Sr. Turning Crisis INT FP.indd 2 2/12/04 1:37:49 PM Turning a CRISIS into an Opportunity Strategies for Scaling Up the National Response to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Lesotho E DITE D BY Scholastica Sylvan Kimaryo • Joseph O. Okpaku, Sr. Anne Githuku-Shongwe • Joseph Feeney Foreword by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili A Publication of the Partnership of the Government of Lesotho and the Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, Lesotho Third Press Publishers New Rochelle, New York USA Turning Crisis INT FP.indd 3 2/12/04 1:37:49 PM Library of Congress Control Number: 2003098220 ISBN: Cloth Edition:0-89388-236-4 Paperback Edition:0-89388-237-2 Copyright © 2004 by the Partnership of the Government of Lesotho and the Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, Lesotho All rights reserved First Printing, January, 2004 Except for the purposes of the implementation of the programme of Scaling Up the Fight Against the HIV/AIDS Pandemic, or for reference or review, no part of this book may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, Lesotho or the publishers. -
LT 022020 Compressed.Pdf
2 News Lesotho Times April 2 - 8 2020 ABC, DC agree to form new coalition ’Marafaele Mohloboli HE All Basotho Convention (ABC)’s na- tional executive committee and the Dem- Tocratic Congress (DC) are on the verge of concluding a new coalition deal. Authoritative sources say under the new proposed coalition, Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro will become Prime Minister with DC leader Mathibeli Mokhothu as his deputy. At least 35 members of parliament (MPs) from the ABC’s total tally of 52 have already signed a pledge supporting the new proposed coalition, authoritative sources said. The 35 to- gether with the 26 from the DC guarantee the 61-majority required to form government. It is likely other ABC MPs will come on board, giving the proposed coalition an un- assailable advantage. The Basotho National Party (BNP), the Front for Popular Democracy (FPD), and other smaller parties will be roped in to stabilise the proposed coalition. News of the ABC/DC deal comes in the wake of intricate political horse-trading which has seen Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fall out with one of his main allies, the BNP, and try to form a new coalition with Mothetjoa Metsing’s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and Se- libe Mochoboroane’s Movement for Economic MOEKETSI Majoro. MATHIBELI Mokhothu. Change (MEC). The planned ABC/DC coalition will effective- ly jeopardise the premier’s plans. “Ntate Moleleki and his AD party will not be partnership remains between the two (ABC rapprochements between the two factions ear- Even though he is ABC leader, Dr Thabane part of the new coalition along with the LCD and DC) but either party is free to bring its lier this year and after Dr Thabane announced has no control over his party’s NEC which and MEC who have been in parallel talks with friends on board.