Fade Out

SADC Speaks (But not on Zimbabwe)

There are some differences about proportional representation and the SADC secretariat has been intervening -- that is why the three-day strike was called off -- and conditions have been created for all parties to dialogue.

Does this mean that the "strike" has been called off? I am confused. This is from a SADC meeting that just took place in Lesotho. Read the full story here.

We hope that this small matter about proportional representation can be resolved with the assistance of SADC.

In other words: It's nice to know that we could always bring in SA troops and light the place up... No? Let's see what happens.
The article also notes that the SADC council was careful not to address Zimbabwe, which, of course, is awful nice of them.

Lesotho Football Coach Walks

In a crushing blow to Likuena Coach (well ex-coach) Motheo Mohapi has left them. "Full" story here.
In other news citizens of Lesotho are apparently trying to contact the Kaiser Chiefs about declaring them the new national team... Somewhere Tony Hey is smiling.

Lesotho Stay-Away Stil in Effect

The stay away began yesterday with the burning of two cars in the outskirts of the capital. Tyres were also burnt in roads to stop traffic to the city centre. The police said investigations suggested the burned cars were scrap vehicles intended to give the impression that people driving to work ran the risk of having their cars burnt.

All seven people who drive to work in Lesotho were rumored to be quite angry about this. However this does sound like it is escalating.

With public transit at a standstill, the government-owned Lesotho Freight Bus Corporation together with government vehicles carried civil servants to work, each vehicles guarded by soldiers and policemen. A government statement read over state radio said that any state employee missing work could lose his or her job.

In response to this, Bo-M'e said "Hmmmpph" but in the way that only a 50 year old Mosotho civil servant can. Full story here.
One has to think that this is going to continue until something irrational happens between factions (some sort of "blockade" fender bender or the like) and then the whole situation is going to melt down. I wish Mosisili and the the LCD would properly acknowledge the situation. Oa tseba?

Maseru Is Closed

A BBC correspondent in the capital, Maseru, say the city is deserted, with no public transport and almost all shops closed.

Full story here. The election numbers were dramatically in favor of the ABC in Maseru (Lowland Urban in general) so this is so very possible. I hope that this goes well and peacefully. I wondered why i suddenly got an email from a friend in Lesotho today and now I know. He's not going to work today (though apparently the Chinese Internet Cafe operators are).

The ABC says they accept the election results and are willing to work with the ruling party, but the allocation of seats in Parliament are wrong and not according to the law. The party says if government does not come to the table by Wednesday they will find more peaceful ways to force them.

Uh oh again. Full story here.

Lesotho Opposition Parties Not Happy

Opposition parties in Lesotho (namely the ABC and BNP) are calling for a sit-in to protest the proportional representation mess that Lesotho currently has. Full story here.

"Our decision to stage the sit-in and call for a stay-away from work from Monday next week is in support of the leader of the National Independent Party, Mr Anthony Manyeli, following the refusal of the ruling LCD to honour the verdict of the High Court of Lesotho in the case involving a list of names of proportional representation MPs of his party," said Tom Thabane, the leader of ABC.

They called for the sit-in to happen yesterday. Well apparently the LCD did not like that one and forcibly removed the opposition protesters. Here.
According to the article:

The opposition members were forcibly removed by heavily-armed soldiers on Thursday.

Uh oh.
Anyway. It seems that the catalyst for the protests is Anthony Manyeli, the "leader" of the NIP (National Independent Party). He claims that the LCD has stolen his party and hence the seats that belong to him. Public Eye story here. I am confused on this one folks. I will have to get back to you.

Lesotho Election Stolen!!! (Legally?)

Check out this post at Maseru Observer about how the proportional representation system was toyed with to give the LCD more seats than they had last time.

Do you declare an election fair that gives 70% of the seats to a party that only won 54% of them legitimately?

The article shows how the LCD and the ABC used secondary party names to skew the proportional representation equation. According to this article the LCD will walk away with 83 seats (out of 120) instead of 63 seats. The ABC ends up with 27 instead of 35 seats. Other parties get 10 instead of 22.

Gonna keep an eye on this one.