Lesotho

Landlocked country in southern Africa, an enclave within South Africa.

Government
Lesotho is an independent hereditary monarchy within the Commonwealth, with a multiparty parliamentary political executive. Its 1966 constitution was suspended in 1970 and a new constitution adopted in 1993, under which a parliamentary system operates. It provides for a non-executive, largely ceremonial, monarch as head of state and a two-chamber parliament or legislature. The legislature comprises a 120-member lower house, the national assembly, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, and a 33-member senate, comprising 22 traditional chiefs and 11 members appointed by the king on the advice of the prime minister. The national assembly has 80 members elected in single-seat constituencies and 40 elected by proportional representation. The king appoints the prime minister, who heads the government, on the basis of assembly support. The assembly may be dissolved if the party or parties in power loses its support. A college of chiefs has the traditional role of electing or removing the king by majority vote.

History
The area now known as Lesotho was originally inhabited by the San, or Bushmen. During the 18th–19th centuries they were superseded by the Sotho, who were being driven southwards by the Mfecane (‘the shaking-up of peoples’) caused by the rise of the Zulu nation. Under the name of Basutoland, the Sotho nation was founded by Moshoeshoe I (1790–1870) in the 1820s, and at his request it became a British protectorate in 1868. It achieved internal self-government in April 1965, with the paramount chief Moshoeshoe II as king, and was given full independence, within the Commonwealth, as Lesotho in October 1966.

Dominance of Basotho National Party
The Basotho National Party (BNP), a conservative group favouring limited cooperation with South Africa, held power from independence until 1986. Its leader, Chief Leabua Jonathan, became prime minister in 1966. In 1970, the BNP lost the first post-independence general election, winning 23 seats to 36 for the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP). But Jonathan refused to cede power and imprisoned the BCP leadership. The king's powers were severely curtailed and the country came effectively under the prime minister's control, who ruled by decree. The BCP began a rebellion and set up the Lesotho Liberation Army, which received training in Libya. From 1975 it carried out a number of attacks on BNP members, with alleged South African support. South Africa, while denying complicity, pointed out that Lesotho was allowing the then banned African National Congress (ANC) to use it as a base.

Relations with South Africa
Although economically dependent on South Africa, Lesotho openly rejected the policy of apartheid. In retaliation, South Africa tightened its border controls and put pressure on Lesotho to sign a nonaggression pact, similar to the Nkomati Accord between South Africa and Mozambique, but the Lesotho government refused to do so.

Military coup
In January 1986 South Africa imposed a border blockade and later in the month Chief Jonathan was ousted by a military coup and replaced by the head of the army, General Justin Lekhanya. He announced that all executive and legislative powers would be vested in the king, ruling through a military council chaired by General Lekhanya. A week after the coup about 60 ANC members were deported to Zambia, and on the same day the South African blockade was lifted. South Africa denied playing any part in the coup.

A power struggle developed between King Moshoeshoe and Lekhanya and in February 1990 the king was stripped of his powers and went into exile in the UK. In November 1990 his son was sworn in as a puppet King Letsie III. Meanwhile pressure mounted within the country for a return to democratic government and in April 1991 General Lekhanya was ousted in a military coup led by Col Elias Tutsoane Ramaema. He announced that political parties would be permitted to operate. Moshoeshoe, the former king, returned from exile July 1992 as tribal chief rather than monarch.

Democracy restored
In March 1993 a new constitution was adopted and, in the first free elections since 1970, the BCP won a landslide victory and its leader, Ntsu Mokhehle (1919–1999), became prime minister. Fierce fighting erupted between rival army factions early 1994 but subsided after a settlement was negotiated by the Organization of African Unity. Six months later King Letsie dissolved the assembly and dismissed Mokhehle, promising to return the throne to his father Moshoeshoe II. Neighbouring states, including the newly democratized South Africa, immediately put pressure on King Letsie to reinstate Mokhehle and in September 1994 he did. Letsie abdicated January 1995 and King Moshoeshoe II was restored to the throne. In January 1996 Moshoeshoe was killed in a car crash and, after a brief period during which Queen Mamohato assumed the role of acting regent, Letsie III was again inaugurated as king.

In 1997, the ruling BCP split, with Prime Minister Mokhehle breaking away with a majority of its members to form the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). In February 1998, Mokhehle stepped down as LCD leader and prime minister on grounds of ill health and was succeeded in both positions by Pakalitha Mosisili. In the May 1998 general election the ruling LCD won 79 of the 80 assembly seats, but with only 60% of the vote. Bethuel Mosisili became prime minister. Opposition politicians claimed the polls were rigged. In August 1998 there were public demonstrations condemning the election results, although international observers described them as free and fair.

Change in electoral system
In September 1998 South African troops controversially entered the country, ostensibly to support the LCD government, which faced opposition demonstrations and an army mutiny. The rebels retired to the mountains and there was looting in the capital. Eight South African soldiers and about 60 rebels were killed. Violence continued in the capital, but in December 1998 an interim political authority was established to prepare for new elections, based on proportional representation, to ensure the opposition would be represented in the national assembly.

South African forces were withdrawn from Lesotho in May 1999 and the first elections under the revised system were held in May 2002. The elections were peaceful and fair. The LCD won, with 54% of the vote, but the opposition parties were left with a third of the seats in the expanded parliament. The February 2007 national assembly elections produced an even closer result. The LCD won a slim majority of 62 seats out of 120, having faced a new challenge in urban areas from the recently formed All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, led by the former foreign minister, Tom Thabane.