Catholic Entity in Lesotho Calls on New Prime Minister to Address Delayed Reforms

With over 75% of the population living in extreme poverty  in the land-locked enclave within South Africa, Mr. Mohapi has called on the newly elected government to come up with strategic poverty alleviation and poverty reduction programs, to do away with corruption issues, and to straighten laws that he said have to do with the procurement and tendering processes, “so that at least in that regard, there is transparency, fairness, and justice.”

Lesotho, a constitutional monarchy where the king has no formal power, has been marred by years of political instability. 

During the October 12 interview, the Executive Secretary of the CCJP of the Lesotho Catholic Bishops Conference (LCBC) told ACI Africa that the newly elected government “will make sure that within the coalition government there won’t be many centers of powers.”

“In the past when we had various coalitions, the leader of the coalition would be regarded as a government of its own, independent from the incumbent Prime Minister,” said Mr. Mohapi.

He added, “But this time around they (new Prime Minister) have promised that they will have one Prime Minister from the same major political parties.”

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The CCJP official commended the newly elected government for appointing a woman Deputy Prime Minister, saying, “What is encouraging, and pleasing is that it will have the first woman Deputy Prime Minister; that is a very positive move.”

In another interview with ACI Africa, the Social Communications Coordinator of the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) who was in Lesotho as an observer described Lesotho’s general elections as having been “quite calm and peaceful”. 

Fr. Gilbert Chibira said, “The elections were quite calm and peaceful. We managed to go around about four different constituencies within Maseru and to remote rural areas. Generally, elections were peaceful, we didn't notice any acts of violence at the constituencies or polling stations.”

“The environment was so, so peaceful, no violence was recorded at the polling stations I visited, just the issue of people being turned away because their names were not in the voting register, but otherwise the whole process was just peaceful”, said Fr. Chibira during the October 12 interview.

The IMBISA Social Communications Coordinator lauded the representatives of CCJP in Lesotho for their “pivotal role” in providing civic education during the entire electoral period.

“The Church played a very pivotal role; they were involved in the training of the election observers. And prior to elections the Church through CCJP was on the ground providing civic education, raising awareness about their right to vote,” the member of the Clergy of Zimbabwe’s Gweru Diocese added.

Sheila Pires is a veteran radio and television Mozambican journalist based in South Africa. She studied communications at the University of South Africa. She is passionate about writing on the works of the Church through Catholic journalism.