martysmith.org » Lesotho

Afrobarometer

marty — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:33:06 +0000

So I found out about Afrobarometer because it was referenced in this Public Eye article about how the Basotho are divided about dual citizenship with South Africa. I assume that means they have released some new findings, however all I could find at the moment on their site about Lesotho were the findings from round 3 (out of 4) from 2005. You can find the full PDF here.

Anyway this is what Afrobarmoter is:

A comparative series of national public attitude surveys on democracy, markets, and civil society in Africa.

And out of this (in the above linked PDF) come a few interesting nuggets from Lesotho circa 2005:

And everyone’s favorite:

This type of country is called an enclave. Enclave countries are very rare, but Lesotho is one. This makes Lesotho’s relationship with South Africa very important to it.

marty — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:31:29 +0000

This type of country is called an enclave. Enclave countries are very rare, but Lesotho is one. This makes Lesotho’s relationship with South Africa very important to it.
Lesotho – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC NEWS | Africa | Lesotho Aids diary: Orphan

marty — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:22:48 +0000

BBC NEWS | Africa | Lesotho Aids diary: Orphan

Well that's awkward…

marty — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:13:34 +0000

Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili on Thursday urged African Union (AU) member states to have bold programmes and strong political will to accelerate principles of gender based policies, declarations and conventions within Africa.

Full story here.

Random

marty — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Over 150 Kenyan health workers are stuck in Lesotho working under poor conditions, the Union of Kenya Civil Servants has said.

According to the Union, the workers are “mainly nurses working as nannies in rural Lesotho.”

Addressing a news conference Thursday, the Union’s Secretary General Tom Odege said it would be difficult to sort out the mess given that it was a government to government agreement.

“These people signed their contracts in Lesotho, had they done it here, it would have been easier,” Mr Odege said.

Article here.

Lesotho and circumcision

marty — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:09:00 +0000

Lesotho recently completed a situational analysis to determine whether it has the capacity to roll out a male circumcision service at public health facilities. The survey found that over 80 percent of Basotho were aware of the benefits of circumcision in preventing HIV, and many men were willing to be circumcised. The tiny mountainous kingdom has about five doctors per 100,000 patients, so health services are largely run by female nurses and most men regard it as “shameful to go to a woman and ask to be circumcised”, said Dr Mpolai Moteetee of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Nurses are not authorised to perform male circumcisions but the country would consider allowing them to do so, “but I don’t know how many male nurses we will find in the system,” Moteetee remarked. Male circumcision is traditionally practiced in some parts of Lesotho, so any official policy would have to involve traditional leaders. Two task teams have been set up, one focused on addressing these concerns, and another focused on technical issues, but this had been a “protracted” process and there was still no resolution on how to move forward, Moteetee said. Cost is another major barrier. “I am not sure how we will manage, but this will have implications for access [to the procedure],” Moteetee added.

Full story here.

Lesotho Updates

marty — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:53:41 +0000

Phillips SA Light Bulb Factory
and the factory goes to…. Lesotho. It seems official that the factory will be built. AllAfirca story here.
More details from iafrica.

Weekly trade journal Engineering News reported that construction of the facility has already begun in Maseru and the first bulbs are expected to be released to South African and other African markets in September.

The plant was expected to create between 400 and 500 direct jobs and additional work in South Africa associated with the transport, shipping, packaging and components production.

SA Tourism Numbers ~~True~~ Lie
Apparently refugees from Lesotho looking for work are not tourists as they have no money… Details here.

“This is very unfortunate,” said Koblmiller. “Every day we read reports that nearly nine million tourists are coming to South Africa every year, when, in fact, the numbers of true tourists from Europe, Asia and the Americas are declining.”

Marketplace Machina

marty — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:02:50 +0000

NPR Marketplace segment about Chinese businesses in Lesotho and that whole ball of wax. Audio here.

Once a month, whether….

marty — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:52:17 +0000

SA Miners are protesting today. Full story here.

South Africa’s mining sector accounts for some 16% of the country’s GDP.

It would appear that the strike extends to Lesotho as well, Public Eye story here.
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The Berea Plateau has a new HIV/AIDs clinic: here.
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Lesotho will adhere to the “One China” policy as long as China ~~makes them~~, ~~pays for them to do so~~, asks them to? Story here. Here is the wikipedia entry on the “one China policy” The US’s policy is: “the United States acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States does not challenge that position.”
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“Thinking the Unthinkable”, a good primer on what a “Lesotho as part of South Africa” scenario might entail and what people think about it.

Soweto Marathon Results

marty — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:50:52 +0000

The men from the Mountain Kingdom took the first three positions, while the women’s section title also went to that country.

Sowetan article here. joBurg story with images here.