Lesotho elections: DIRCO briefing; with Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone present in the meeting, including Minister Naledi Pandor. He said the Committee was aware of the stellar and important work the Minister had been doing, and thanked her for the work she had done internationally on behalf of South Africans.

He said Lesotho was an important member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and had recently held elections and had its parliamentary processes. Lesotho was South Africa’s neighbour and what happened in that country had spillover effects in South Africa concerning economic matters. It had been important for South Africa to participate and ensure the elections in Lesotho were successful and held peacefully.

Minister's opening remarks

Minister Pandor thanked the Chairperson for his comments on the work that had been done. She said President Ramaphosa had done important work as the SADC facilitator for Lesotho. He had devoted many hours to Lesotho and created a support committee office for facilitators, led by the former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa, Justice Dikgang Moseneke, supported by Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Ellen Molekane, former Deputy Minister of State Security, Mr Enver Surty, former Deputy Minister of Education, and Mr Sello Moloto, South Africa’s High Commissioner to Lesotho.

She said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) was pleased that the work done by the support committee had led to peaceful and successful elections in Lesotho and had allowed the SADC to agree that the facilitation was now over. The oversight of implementation of the agreed reforms would now be handed over to the SADC’s Elder Panel, supported by the Regional Mediation Mechanism. This structure would provide regular reports to the SADC summit on the progress of reforms in Lesotho.  

DIRCO had previously made a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on the state of preparedness of Lesotho to hold elections, and had had some nail-biting moments, as not all the legislation required for elections had been passed at the time DIRCO had presented to the Committee. DIRCO had managed to successfully overcome this hurdle, and Lesotho's National Assembly elections were held on 7 October, observed by local and international observers, all of whom reported the elections were held in a free and peaceful environment. There was a SADC election observer mission deployed and supported by the new chair of the organ, and there were also observers from 11 SADC countries.

Lesotho National Assembly elections

Ms Linda Shongwe, Chief Director responsible for Southern Africa, DIRCO, said the Kingdom of Lesotho had held its National Assembly elections on 7 October. There were 1 387 861 registered voters -- 767 158 women and 616 868 men -- representing an increase of 129 652 newly registered voters since the 2017 elections.

Lesotho had ten voting districts sub-divided into 80 electoral constituencies. Of the 65 political parties registered for the elections, only 52 eventually contested them, 11 of which were led by women.

The National Assembly was comprised of 120 members. 80 members were voted through plurality /constituency votes, and 40 were allocated through proportional representation, also referred to as compensatory seats.

The elections took place against the backdrop of the failure of the outgoing Parliament to pass the Omnibus Constitutional Amendment Bill and other key legislation, including the Electoral Amendment Act. The Omnibus Bill was expected to give the incoming Government a clear mandate to advance the national reforms, whilst the Electoral Amendment Act would have ushered in key reforms aimed at bringing stability to the functioning of Parliament and Government.

Elections outcomes

• There were 3 151 voting stations across the country. Advance voting took place on 30 September, and 3 000 voters had registered to vote.
• On 7 October, elections kicked off in all districts at 7 am and closed at 5 pm. In voting stations where there were delays in opening times, this was compensated for by adjusting the closing times.
• Only 79 of the 80 constituencies were contested, due to the death of a candidate. A by-election was expected to be held as soon as it was gazetted.
• The counting and tallying of ballots was done and confirmed by party agents at the polling stations before being sent to the national results centre, which captured the release of results live in the presence of party agents and observers

On 10 October, the IEC released the final election results. Of the 79 constituencies contested, the results were:

• Revolution For Prosperity (RFP) - 56
• Democratic Congress (DC) - 18
• Alliance of Democrats (AD) - 2
• Movement for Economic Change (MEC) - 1
• National Independent Party - 1
• Socialist Revolutionary Party - 1

Despite winning 71 % of the constituencies, the RFP could not get the majority seats in Parliament. It had formed a coalition with the AD (five seats) and MEC (four seats) to get the 65-seat majority in the 119-member Parliament. The new coalition government alliance led by RFP had promised to do away with corruption and nepotism.

( See the presentation for further details)

Proposed constitutional reforms to electoral system

The proposed reforms to the Lesotho National Assembly electoral system make provisions for floor crossing in the National Assembly after three years. However, persons who become Members of Parliament through proportional representation would not be permitted to cross the floor. The reforms also introduce the age of majority in Lesotho and set it at 18 years, and make provision for the registration of political parties by indigenous citizens of Lesotho who had attained the age of majority.

(See the presentation for further details)

Discussion

The Chairperson said the Committee had heard how the political parties in Lesotho, after the elections, had made commitments to work together. The fact that the elections were successful boded well not only for Lesotho, but for the SADC region.

Mr D Bergman (DA) wished the Minister and DIRCO success, and said the conflict in Ethiopia was often forgotten. Between 300 000 and 500 000 lives had been lost in Tigray through conflict in this region, and no one was talking about it. It shocked him that people were talking about Ukraine and Russia, but no talking was taking place on the Ethiopian conflict. He blamed Africa and the UN for the silence. He was glad South Africa was leading the way in the peace talks between Ethiopia and the Tigray Region, and wished the Minister success.

Referring to the Lesotho elections, he said it was not the politicians who would find peace in conflicted areas. He urged the Minister to include business people when looking for peace accords. Some of the most successful peace accords and plans had come from the business sector, and it was no surprise that the new Prime Minister of Lesotho was a former businessman. The DA wished the new Prime Minister and Lesotho well.

Mr B Nkosi (ANC) said the Committee should note the results of the elections and the progress made,  particularly the efforts to ensure stability in Lesotho. He wished the new Lesotho government well and hoped the government would implement the much-needed constitutional reforms.

The Chairperson said the Committee agreed with Mr Nkosi.

Minister Pandor said she was unaware of the peace accords Mr Bergman had referred to.

She agreed with Mr Nkosi that an important process was underway in Lesotho, and South African facilitation had played a very important role. South Africa did not fully appreciate the degree to which its political negotiation and transition process was admired worldwide. South Africa could play an extremely important role in helping to resolve conflict and support countries in post-conflict transition processes. She was hopeful that South Africa, as a peaceful country, would be a leader in supporting countries to appreciate that war was extremely damaging, and building consensus was a very necessary enterprise which would help build a better world.

There was an important role the national Parliament could play, and South African Members of Parliament could serve very well in articulating the core principles of the constitution, Parliament, how it was composed, how it functioned, its rules and the level of freedom of expression. She said all of these were examples and models that should become the banner of South Africa as they engaged with the rest of the world. The world needed an example, as presented by South Africa.

The country may not be ideal and had many problems, but there was a lot that could be shared with the rest of the world.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister for her continuous cooperation with the Portfolio Committee. The Minister had done a very good job in executing her duties at an international level, and he thanked her for representing South Africa well.

He said the party formed in March in Lesotho and emerged as the winner was very interesting for democracy, which should be studied. As political partners, the role of capital accumulation should be looked at and what role it played in democracy, and he asked Members to think about this.

The meeting was adjourned.