Lesotho, SADC's litmus test

Mmegi Editor | Tuesday June 28, 2016 12:05

In various forms, the conflict in Lesotho has bubbled under since its Independence in 1966, erupting several times over the decades to often claim lives, fuel regional instability and further entrench poverty among Basotho. At least 40 percent of the population lives under the poverty datum line, while 20 percent of children under five are underweight. Other challenges such as HIV/AIDS, high unemployment, widening inequality and an undiversified economy abound.

However, all these play second fiddle to the political conflict that has raged in Lesotho over the decades, often necessitating diplomatic and even military intervention from the region.

Outgoing SADC chair, President Ian Khama, is all too familiar with the challenges in Lesotho having presided over two double troikas focused on the Kingdom, one of these as deputy SADC chair. The political and security troubles in Lesotho are as complex as they are sensitive, with the dramatis personae having taken immovable stances over the years of disharmony.

However, they also present SADC and its heads of state with an opportunity to demonstrate the organisation’s strength in resolving its own issues, in the process disproving the myth that Africans cannot resolve their own troubles.SADC is held together by a thick mesh of protocols, agreements, policies and most importantly, political will and mutual trust. It moves forward strictly by consensus and in pursuit of its shared goals, it cannot move forward while leaving other member states behind. That united approach is the same way it approached and contributed to the defeat of apartheid and the same manner it is tackling HIV/AIDS, industrialisation, trade and overall enhancement of citizens’ lives.

Lesotho’s antagonists have cleverly exploited the loopholes in this approach in that by consistently seeking to coalesce around an issue, SADC’s peer review mechanisms have suffered, as the organisation has morphed into a fraternity. However, even within the expansive latitude SADC traditionally grants its member states to disappoint, patience is running thin at Lesotho, as the region counts the financial and other costs of constant interventions. No sober person could have expected Khama to single-handedly resolve a near 50-year conflict in Lesotho, within just a year of tenure as chair, but to his credit he has kept the momentum on authorities in Maseru through the January troika and today’s.

That pressure has to come through and help Basotho today. The Phumaphi report must be adopted in its entirety and Lesotho must adequately demonstrate that it is abiding by the roadmap for progression adopted in January. Khama needs to specifically ask tough questions of Pakalitha Mosisili, particularly on allegations of torture against the soldiers arrested for mutiny, following the assassination of former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commander, Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao. SADC needs to be bold and take punitive actions against Lesotho. Nothing less than absolutely clear answers, concrete measures and commitment and political will.

 

Today’s thought

“All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.”  

– John Steinbeck