The country’s lowest point of 1,400 metres above sea level is the
highest lowest point of any country in the world. It has relatively very
little forest, covering only one per cent of the land area.
Through the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Lesotho exports water to
South Africa, which completely surrounds it.
Key facts
Joined Commonwealth: 1966
Population: 2,074,000 (2013)
GDP: 2.8% p.a. 1990–2013
UN HDI: world ranking 162
Official language: Sesotho, English
Timezone: GMT plus 2hr
Currency: loti, plural maloti (M)
Geography
Area: 30,355 sq km
Coastline: none
Capital city: Maseru
Population density (per sq. km): 68
The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small landlocked country entirely surrounded
by South Africa. It is known as the ‘Mountain Kingdom’, the whole
country being over 1,000 metres in altitude.
The country is divided into ten districts, each named after the
principal town: Berea, Butha Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale’s
Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha’s Nek, Quthing and Thaba- Tseka.
Main towns:
Maseru (capital, pop. 178,345 in 2011), Teyateyaneng (61,578), Maputsoa
(48,243), Mafeteng (30,602), Butha Buthe (30,115), Mohale’s Hoek
(25,308), Hlotse (18,840), Quthing (14,177), Qacha’s Nek (9,417) and
Mokhotlong (8,784).
Transport:
There are 5,940 km of roads, 18 per cent paved. South African Railways
runs a short freight line into Lesotho, terminating at the Maseru
industrial estate. The international airport, Moshoeshoe I Airport, lies
20 km south of Maseru; there are 31 airstrips around the country for
domestic flights.
International relations:
Lesotho is a member of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement, Southern African Customs
Union, Southern African Development Community, United Nations and World
Trade Organization.
Topography:
Lesotho has two main mountain ranges – the Drakensberg and the Maloti
ranges – both running north–south from the northern high plateau. The
highest mountain in southern Africa is Thabana–Ntlenyana (3,842 metres)
in eastern Lesotho. The land descends to the west to an arable belt,
known as the lowlands, where the capital is situated and two-thirds of
the population live. The country is well-watered in a generally dry
region, the Orange river and its tributary the Caledon both rising in
Lesotho.
Climate:
The climate is temperate with well-marked seasons. The rainy season
(receiving 85 per cent of total precipitation) is October to April, when
there are frequent violent thunderstorms. Rainfall averages 746 mm p.a.
Temperatures in the lowlands range from 32.2°C to –6.7°C; the range is
much greater in the mountains. From May to September, snow falls in the
highlands with heavy frosts occurring in the lowlands.
Environment:
The most significant issue is overgrazing, resulting in severe soil
erosion and desertification.
Vegetation:
Mainly grassland and bushveld, with forest in ravines and on the
windward slopes of mountains. Forest covers one per cent of the land
area and arable land comprises ten per cent. Forest cover increased at
0.5 per cent p.a. 1990–2010.
Wildlife:
The Drakensberg Mountains are the last stronghold in southern Africa of
the huge bearded vulture, the lammergeier. Large mammals have largely
been eradicated by stock farming, and indigenous ground-living species
are now restricted to small antelope, hares and the mountain-dwelling
rock-rabbit (dassie).
History:
Lesotho was settled by the Sotho people sometime in the 16th century,
mingling peacefully with the earlier Khoisan whose history can be traced
in rock-art in various sites in the mountains. The Basotho were welded
into a nation relatively recently by one outstanding leader. Around
1820, Moshoeshoe I, a minor chief of the Bakwena, gathered a following
among the tribes who had retreated to the north-western borders of
present-day Lesotho to protect themselves against Zulu and Matabele
raids. Despite his limited military power, Moshoeshoe’s diplomatic
skills allowed the kingdom he created to long outlive those of his much
stronger rivals. After successful resistance from his stronghold at
Thaba Bosiu near Maseru in 1824, Moshoeshoe became chief of the local
Basotho and other tribal groups, his following then numbering some
40,000. He was also successful at establishing good relationships with
missionaries, especially French Catholics, whom he encouraged to
establish missions and schools, and to advise him on negotiations with
Europeans.
A new threat then emerged: the emigrant Boers set out on their Great
Trek in 1834, in search of new territory. Moshoeshoe sought the
protection of the British Crown – an alternative he preferred to
annexation by the Boers, then establishing their Republic of the Orange
Free State. In 1868 Basutoland (as the country was then called) was
granted British protection. The frontiers, substantially unchanged
today, were laid down in 1869.
Moshoeshoe died in 1870 and disputes over the succession divided the
country. From 1870, migrant Basotho workers had begun working in the
Kimberly diamond fields of the Cape. In 1871 Basutoland was annexed to
the Cape Colony but, in 1884, it was removed from Cape control and came
under direct British rule. It resisted incorporation into the proposed
Union of South Africa in 1910; division along racial lines was already
entrenched and Basutoland preferred to remain a British colony. The
Basutoland Council was then set up as an advisory body and included 99
nominated members, around half of whom subsequently became elected
members.
In 1960, a legislature, the Basutoland National Council, was formed and
five years later a new constitution came into operation. Moshoeshoe II,
Paramount Chief from 1960, became king. The legislature, until then
unicameral, became bicameral.
Elections were held in 1965, in which the Basotho National Party (BNP)
led by Chief Leabua Jonathan, narrowly defeated the Basutoland Congress
Party (BCP). Lesotho became independent on 4 October 1966 with Chief
Jonathan as Prime Minister, and joined the Commonwealth.
Relations between the King and the country’s first Prime Minister soon
became strained, and in 1970, Chief Jonathan annulled the country’s
second elections and suspended the constitution. He exiled the King
(later allowing him to return but not to become involved in politics)
and repressed opposition; but he was himself overthrown in a military
coup in 1986, led by Major-General Justin Lekhanya. Lekhanya then
reinstated the King, who was to govern on the advice of a military
council; but in 1990 Lekhanya had half the military council arrested and
nine ministers dismissed. The King was sent into exile and, in absentia,
deposed in favour of his son, Letsie III, who was sworn in as monarch in
November 1990.
Following the coup of 1986, the Lekhanya government remained in power
for five years, but never achieved stability. Lekhanya was himself
overthrown in a bloodless coup by his second-in- command, Elias
Phitsoane Ramaema, in 1991. Ramaema repealed the ban on political
activity, introduced a new constitution (effectively restoring the old
one), and scheduled elections. At the elections, in March 1993, with
Commonwealth and other international observers present, the BCP, led by
Dr Ntsu Mokhehle, won all 65 seats in the new National Assembly leaving
Jonathan’s BNP without representation in the house.
King Letsie III then abdicated in favour of his father, King Moshoeshoe
II, who had returned from London following a reconciliation process
assisted by the Commonwealth Secretary- General. He was reinstated as
monarch in January 1995. But almost exactly one year later, King
Moshoeshoe was killed in a car accident. King Letsie III was sworn in
for the second time by the College of Chiefs on 7 February 1996.
The BCP lost its majority and joined the opposition in mid-1997 when
many of its members including Prime Minister Mokhehle defected to the
newly established Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). In the general
election in May 1998 the LCD won 79 of the 80 National Assembly seats
with just over 60 per cent of the votes. The BNP took one seat with 24
per cent of the votes. Following the elections the LCD chose Bethuel
Pakalitha Mosisili, the party leader, to succeed 79-year-old Ntsu
Mokhehle as Prime Minister.
However, the opposition parties refused to accept the election results,
alleging that there had been gross irregularities. An increasingly
vigorous campaign of protest reached a peak in August 1998. Stay-away
strikes were organised and crowds first gathered at and then camped in
front of the Royal Palace in Maseru. Following the intervention of the
then South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, a team of Botswanan,
South African and Zimbabwean experts under the auspices of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) and chaired by a South African
judge, Pius Langa, was sent to Lesotho to investigate the allegations.
After conducting hearings in Maseru and a re-count of the votes, the
Langa Commission delivered an inconclusive report, which failed to
settle the dispute. Further talks between the governing and opposition
parties were attempted. But before progress could be made, parts of the
Lesotho Defence Forces (LDF) mutinied and, with the security situation
in Lesotho deteriorating, the LCD government called on SADC for
assistance.
On 22 September 1998 a South African-led SADC force entered Lesotho in
response to the government’s appeal. After several days of fighting
between the SADC force and elements in the LDF, resulting in at least 80
deaths and large-scale looting in Maseru, the situation was eventually
stabilised.
The South African military contingent was reduced in size in December
1998 and completely withdrawn in May 1999. In December 1998, an
inter-party committee was established to oversee preparations for new
elections within 18 months. However, it then took a long time for
agreement to be reached between the political parties on the number of
proportional representation seats and the arrangements for voter
registration, and the elections were delayed. When finally approved by
parliament, the legislation allowed for 80 seats on a first-past-
the-post basis and further 40 seats by means of proportional
representation.
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