ELECTORAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES IN LESOTHO IN THE PERIOD 1993 TO 2006 by TENNYSON TEBOHO TSOKOLO SAOANA submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject POLITICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF D J KOTZE CO-SUPERVISOR: PROF C J NAPIER NOVEMBER 2011 Student number: 3156-215-9 DECLARATION I declare that "electoral political participation of opposition political parties in Lesotho in the period 1993 to 2006" is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. 25-11-2011 T.T.T. SAOANA DATE 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar (Academic) of UNISA, the Head of the Department of Political Sciences and to my lecturers, for the opportunity they offered me to study with UNISA and for the assistance they afforded me. Special gratitude goes to my Supervisors, Prof DJ Kotze and Prof CJ Napier, who made my dissertation a success. I am very thankful to the political party leaders/officials who gave me their opinions and filled in the questionnaire forms. I wish to thank Prof LBJ Machobane, Mr Sello Mokuena and all the people who assisted me with reading materials. Also, I thank all the people who gave me courage during my studies. I would like to thank Mrs C. Keep and the tutors who were engaged by UNISA to assist us with various subjects. Also let me take this opportunity to thank Mr G. van der Merwe for the time he spared in order to edit and make my work a success. I wish to express my greatest gratitude to my wife and my five daughters firstly for allowing me to study with UNISA and secondly for the assistance they offered me as mentioned below. Without support at home my work would not have been a success. My wife Dorothy 'Masaoana Saoana together with my daughters, Marama Winifred, Dr Maria Wendy Saoana, Lineo Angeline, Limpho Caroline and Palesa Rosinah, morally and otherwise supported me. They acted as the first editors of my work. 11 ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation was to address the problem expressed in the following question: "Why have the opposition political parties in Lesotho weakened since 1993?" A qualitative approach was used. The researcher interviewed officials of twelve representative parties out of the total of eighteen parties. The responses of the interviewees are in appendix 5. This work reveals the problems of the opposition parties in Lesotho. Among others, the study addressed the following issues: the reform of the electoral system, political party funding, dominance of the ruling party, prohibitive legislation and party leadership. The potential strengths and weaknesses of the opposition parties have been noted. The MMP electoral model, introduced in 2001 and tested in 2002, created a more inclusive party system, but it is not the sole solution for the weakness of the opposition parties. Patronisation and lack of political party funding appear to be major factors. Key words: Lesotho, opposition parties, political participation, elections, patronisation. ELECTORAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES IN LESOTHO IN THE PERIOD 1993 TO 2006. By T. T. T. SAOANA Degree: MA Subject: Politics Supervisor: Prof DJ Kotze' Co-Supervisor: Prof CJ Napier SUMMARY The purpose of this dissertation was to address the problem expressed in the following question: "Why have the opposition political parties in Lesotho weakened since 1993?" A qualitative approach was used. The researcher interviewed officials of twelve representative parties out of the total of eighteen parties. The responses of the interviewees are in appendix 5. This work reveals the problems of the opposition parties in Lesotho. Among others, the study addressed the following issues: the reform of the electoral system, political party funding, dominance of the ruling party, prohibitive legislation and party leadership. The potential strengths and weaknesses of the opposition parties have been noted. I The MMP electoral model, introduced in 2001 and tested in 2002, created a more inclusive party system, but it is not the sole solution for the weakness of the opposition parties. Patronisation and lack of political party funding appear to be major factors. Key words: Lesotho, opposition parties, political participation, elections, patronisation. II CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1 1.1.1 Historical overview of party politics in Lesotho 4 1.1.2 Other organizations 12 1.1.3 Literature review 13 1.1.3.1 Electoral political participation 14 1.1.3.2 Which specific previously compiled or published studies, articles or other documents provide the best available information on the selected topic? 37 1.1.3.3 What do these studies conclude about the topic? 43 1.1.3.4 What are apparent methodological strengths and weaknesses of these studies? 46 1.1.3.5 What remains to be discovered about the topic? 46 1.1.3.6 What appears to be, according to these studies, the most effective methods for developing new information on the topic? 47 1.1.4 Possible gaps in earlier studies 47 1.2 Motivation / Research Problem 51 1.3 Research questions 53 1.3.1 The main question 54 1.3.2 Subsidiary questions 54 1.4 Theoretical framework 54 1.5 Delimitation and Limitation 55 1.6 Structure of the study 56 1.7 Conclusion 57 lll CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH DESIGN, METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Introduction 60 2.2 Research design 60 2.3 Methodology 62 2.4 Interviews 63 2.5 Data analysis 64 2.6 Theoretical design 65 2.6.1Theoretical background and its relevance for Lesotho 65 2.6.1 a)The patron-client relationship theory 65 2.6.1 b) Dahl's theory of polyarchy 68 2.6.1 c) Lindberg's theory of uninterrupted series of elections 77 2.7 Conclusion 79 CHAPTER 3: ELECTORAL DATA, DATA FROM INTERVIEWS, QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 3.1 Introduction 82 3.2 Electoral systems 83 3.2.1 Political developments influencing the electoral system 88 3.2.2 Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system 93 3.3 Elections results 94 3.4 Trustworthiness and authenticity of the collected data 102 3.5 Qualitative data analysis 103 3.5.1 Poverty 106 3.5.2 Leadership 112 3.5.3 Democratic culture and the Government 114 3.5.4 Potential strengths or weaknesses of the opposition political parties 123 3.6 Conclusion 126 iv CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Introduction 128 4.2 Conclusion from the literature review 128 4.3 Conclusion from data analysis 130 4.4 Conclusion on the research question 131 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire 133 Appendix 2: Historical background 137 Appendix 3: Sample of constituencies 149 Appendix 4: Selected opposition political party officials 150 Appendix 5: Interviews 151 Appendix 6: Analysis of the placement of electoral candidates by the opposition parties in the 2002 election 217 Appendix 7: Dependency and post dependency theories 218 BIBLIOGRAPHY 228 v LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1.1.3.1 a) Participation as interaction and as instrumental Action 16 2.6.1.1 Nominated political party candidates by gender 73 2.6.1.2 2002 Election PR list by party and gender 74 2.6.1.3 Main hypothesis of overall relationship between elections and democratisation 77 2.6.1.4 Freedom House rating for Lesotho, 1994-2001 78 2.6.1.5 Freedom House rating for Lesotho, 2002-2006 78 3.3 a) Results of the 1993 general election 94 3.3 b) Results of the 1998 general election 94 3.3 c) Results of the 2002 general election 95 3.3 d) Turnout & percentage objected and rejected votes during the general election of 2002 95 3.3 e) Allocation of compensatory seats in Lesotho Parliament with MMP system. 97 3.3 f) Explanation of the columns in the above table 98 3.3 g) Final seat allocation summary 101 3.3 h) Comparison of voter turnout between rural and urban areas 102 3.5 a) Open Coding 103 3.5 b) Axial Coding 105 3.5 c) Selective Coding 105 vi LIST OF APPENDICES Page Appendix 1: Questionnaire 133 Appendix 2: Historical background 137 Appendix 3: Sample of constituencies 149 Appendix 4: Selected opposition political party officials 150 Appendix 5: Interviews 151 Appendix 6: Analysis of the placement of electoral candidates by the opposition parties in the 2002 elections 217 Appendix 7: Dependency and post dependency theories 218 vii ACRONYMS ABC - All Basotho Convention ACHRN - Alberta Consultative Health Research Network ANC - African National Congress AU - African Union AV - Alternative Vote BAC - Basutoland African Congress BAM - Botswana Alliance Movement BCP - Basutoland Congress Party BCP - Botswana Congress Party BNF - Botswana National Front BNP - Basotho National Party BPP - Botswana People's Party CPL - Communist Party of Lesotho CSRS - Centre for Studies in Religion and Society CSIR - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research EISA - Electoral Institute of Southern Africa FM - Frequency Modulation Forum - Forum Party of Zimbabwe FPTP - First Past the Post GNP - Gross national product HB - Ha Re Eeng Basotho HDI - Human Development Index IDEA - Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance IEC - Independent Electoral Commission IFI - International Finance Institution IFP - Inkatha Freedom Party IMF - International Monetary Fund INGO - International Non- Governmental Organization IPA - Interim Political Authority KBP - Kopanang Basotho Party KZN - KwaZulu Natal LCD - Lesotho Congress for Democracy LCN - Lesotho Council of NGO's LDC - Least developed country LDF - Lesotho Defence Force vill NEC - National Executive Committee LEP -