ISS TODAY: SADC shouldn’t scrap Lesotho from its agenda just yet By ISS Today issafrica
Time is running out for Lesotho to put a new plan on the table that will prevent it from sliding back to political instability and violence. The Southern African Development Community has set 19 May as the deadline for constitutional and security sector reforms, to be thrashed out by a national dialogue forum. Yet progress is slow and the political class that has dragged the country down for several years is as divided as ever.
Another obstacle to Lesotho’s stability is the continued politicisation of the army and police. The current crisis, which prompted the SADC intervention, has its roots in an attempted military coup in 2014 and the assassination of former army general Maaparankoe Mahao the year after. Another high-profile assassination followed – of defence force chief Khoantle Motsomotso – in September 2017.
SADC has much experience in this regard, having intervened in Lesotho several times before. It first intervened militarily in 1998 and many times since, mostly politically. Between 2007 and 2009, former Botswana president Quett Masire was sent by SADC to solve the electoral impasse between the main political parties. He had little success, apart from suggesting a raft of electoral reforms.
According to SADC’s roadmap for Lesotho, the mediation would then end and the oversight committee should be able to withdraw. Yet those close to the process say the real work will only begin after these meetings have been held.
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