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 Travel Tips Lesotho |
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Find important informations
about Lesotho
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| OVERVIEW |
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Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 7 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002. |
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| HISTORY |
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Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) was constituted a native state under British protection by a treaty signed with the native chief Moshoeshoe in 1843. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but in 1884 it was restored to direct control by the Crown. The colony of Basutoland became the independent nation of Lesotho on Oct. 4, 1966, with King Moshoeshoe II as sovereign.
In the 1970 elections, Ntsu Mokhehle, head of the Basutoland Congress Party, claimed a victory, but Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution, and arrested Mokhehle. King Moshoeshoe II was briefly exiled, but he returned after a compromise with Jonathan: the new constitution would name him head of state but forbid his participation in politics.
After the king refused to approve the replacement in Feb. 1990 of individuals dismissed by Justin Metsino Lekhanya, the chairman of the military council, the latter stripped the king of his executive power. Then in early March, Lekhanya sent the king into exile. In November, the king was dethroned, and his son was sworn in as King Letsie III.
Lekhanya was himself forced to resign in April 1991, and Col. Ramaema became the new chairman in May. In Jan. 1995, the crown reverted to the father of Letsie III, Moshoeshoe II. Letsie again became crown prince. In 1996, however, King Moshoeshoe died in an automobile accident, and Letsie again assumed the throne.
In fall 1998, hundreds of demonstrators protested for weeks in front of the king's palace, claiming voting fraud in the May elections that put Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in power. They demanded that the government step down and hold new elections. Troops from South Africa and Botswana entered the country to stop the riots and put down an army mutiny. In 2002, Mosisili was reelected under a revised political system that gave opposition parties a larger role in parliament.
Lesotho faces one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. |
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| GEOGRAPHY |
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| Location: |
Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa |
| Coordinates: |
29 30 S, 28 30 E |
| Area: |
total: 30,355 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 30,355 sq km |
| Area comparative: |
slightly smaller than Maryland |
| Land boundaries: |
total: 909 km
border countries: South Africa 909 km |
| Coastline: |
0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: |
temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers |
| Terrain: |
mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains |
| Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m
highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m |
| Natural resources: |
water, agricultural and grazing land, some diamonds and other minerals |
| Natural hazards: |
periodic droughts |
| Environment current issues: |
population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa |
| Geography - note: |
landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level |
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| POPULATION |
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Population: |
2,022,331
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
Age structure: |
0-14 years: 36.8% (male 374,102/female 369,527)
15-64 years: 58.3% (male 572,957/female 606,846)
65 years and over: 4.9% (male 39,461/female 59,438) |
Median age: |
20.3 years |
Growth rate: |
-0.46% |
Infant mortality: |
87.24 deaths/1,000 live births |
Life expectancy at birth: |
total population: 34.4 years
male: 35.55 years
female: 33.21 years |
Fertility rate: |
3.28 children born/woman |
Nationality: |
noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
adjective: Basotho |
Ethnic groups: |
Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%, |
Religions: |
Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20% |
Languages: |
Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84.8%
male: 74.5%
female: 94.5% (2003 est.) |
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| ECONOMY |
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Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, also generating royalties for Lesotho. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly, mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.
GDP: |
$5.124 billion (2005 est.) |
GDP growth rate: |
0.8% |
GDP per capita: |
$2,500 |
GDP composition by sector: |
agriculture: 16.3%
industry: 44.3%
services: 39.4% |
Inflation rate: |
4.7% (2005 est.) |
Labor force: |
838,000 (2000) |
Labor force - by occupation: |
86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa |
Unemployment: |
45% (2002) |
Budget: |
revenues: $738.5 million
expenditures: $792.1 million (2005 est.) |
Industries: |
food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts; construction; tourism |
Agriculture: |
corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock |
Exports: |
manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000) |
Export partners: |
Hong Kong 43%, China 23.4%, India 5.5%, South Korea 5.1%, Germany 4.4% (2004) |
Imports: |
food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000) |
Import partners: |
US 97%, Canada 2.1%, UK 0.3% (2004) |
Currency: |
Loti (LSL); South African Rand (ZAR) |
| Communications: |
Telephones: main lines in use: 9,000 (2002); mobile cellular: 13,000 (2003).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 1 (2002).
Television broadcast stations: 1 (2001).
Internet hosts: 6 (2002).
Internet users: 5,000 (2002). |
| Transportation: |
Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 23,810 km; paved: 643 km; unpaved: 23,167 km (1999 est.).
Waterways: 2,800 km (primarily on the Oubangui and Sangha rivers) (2004).
Ports and harbors: Bangui, Nola, Salo, Nzinga.
Airports: 50 (2004 est.). |
| International disputes: |
About 30,000 refugees fleeing the 2002 civil conflict in the CAR still reside in southern Chad; periodic skirmishes over water and grazing rights among related pastoral populations along the border with southern Sudan persist. |
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| GOVERNMENT |
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Country name: |
conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho
former: Basutoland |
Government type: |
parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
Capital: |
Maseru |
Administrative divisions: |
10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka |
Independence: |
4 October 1966 (from UK) |
National holiday: |
Independence Day, 4 October (1966) |
Constitution: |
2 April 1993 |
Legal system: |
based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Suffrage: |
18 years of age; universal |
Executive branch: |
chief of state: King LETSIE III
head of government: Prime Minister Pakalitha MOSISILI
elections: none - according to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the Assembly automatically becomes prime minister; the monarch is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitution, which came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity" with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power to depose the monarch, determine who is next in the line of succession, or who shall serve as regent in the event that the successor is not of mature age. |
Legislative branch: |
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members - 22 principal chiefs and 11 other members appointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (120 seats, 80 by direct popular vote and 40 by proportional vote; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms); note - number of seats in the Assembly rose from 80 to 120 in the May 2002 election |
Judicial branch: |
High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch); Court of Appeal; Magistrate's Court; customary or traditional court |
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