We stand with Basotho
Mmegi Editor | Friday June 2, 2017 11:02
The snap election became necessary after the current PM, Pakalitha Mosisili, responded to a March vote of no confidence by dissolving Parliament. Mosisili has come under increasing pressure from opposition groups and even SADC leaders for greater security and political reforms in the wake of the crisis that has gripped Lesotho for several years now.
In many respects, Lesotho is symbolic of the fight for peace, democracy and good governance taking place generally in the SADC region and the African continent. A nation abundantly blessed with natural resources and peace loving people has never reached its economic potential due to national strife led primarily by political actors.
The same situation persists, to one extent or another, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and across the continent in fact. In Lesotho, however, the long-running conflict frequently turns bloody due largely to partisan politics infiltrating the military, which since independence has become an active kingmaker and political actor in its own right.
Army chiefs, opposition leaders, journalists and other rivals have been shot and killed, jailed and tortured or otherwise harassed over the years in Lesotho, further putting out of reach the ordinary citizens’ aspirations for peace and prosperity.
Tomorrow they have an opportunity to once again reach for that elusive goal, depending on their choices in the election. This time around, by most reports, the playing ground appears more level than in recent years and observers are at hand to blow the whistle on foul play.
In addition, SADC, the regional back-patting ‘Old Boys’ fraternity, appears to have reached the end of its tether with the slow pace of political and security reforms in Lesotho as well as the resistance by that government to the regional bloc’s recommendations.
Going into the election, SADC has insisted that Mosisili abide by the organisation’s frequent insistence on reforms, most recently made at a Swaziland extraordinary summit in March with which Maseru was reportedly livid.
Mosisili, a skilled tactician, has frequently played on the numerous loopholes in the SADC resolve, thrusting and parrying, at once appearing to comply and at the same time resisting or playing for time.
President Ian Khama, a man renowned for his low tolerance of political gamesmanship, has already signalled his frustration with Mosisili’s tactics, threatening to pull Botswana out of a SADC observer team in the mountain kingdom.
Lesotho has indeed tested the regional organ’s patience, its resolve and its ability to work out its own problems. Mosisili, his own party split, the general citizenry frustrated with his policies and a resurgent opposition all pointing to a defeat, could yet try and pull a last minute gimmick.
SADC must stand up to him and stand for Basotho.
Today’s thought
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
– Edmund Burke