Of the registered voters in Lesotho, 51 per cent cast their ballots on 26 May 2012. According to the Lesotho Electoral Commission, the voter turnout, albeit marginal, is a positive development in comparative terms as an indicator of some progress in the degree of political participation. Generally, the elections were conducted with a high level of professionalism, in particular the presence of political party representatives at all the polling stations as well as during the ballot counting was most noted. The 2012 parliamentary polls were conducted under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system where 80 parliamentary members are elected in ‘first past the post’ constituency elections and 40 by proportional representation (PR). The country’s initial experiment with the MMP model was in 2002, and the system is generally perceived to produce positive political outcomes and to contribute to political stability by allowing some of the smaller parties membership in the National Assembly that otherwise would have no representation. However, a real challenge that continues to persist in the history of elections in Lesotho is how to handle the results after the poll.
In this context, the positive aspects of the MMP model in 2012 are yet to manifest, since the outcome of the elections is such that no party has an overall majority of 61 constituency seats out of the 120-member National Assembly. Lesotho therefore has a hung parliament after the recent election since no party has more than half of MPs required in the Legislature for that party to form a government. The ruling Democratic Congress managed 48 of the 120 seats; second in line is what can be termed the opposition, the All Basotho Convention (ABC), with 30 seats; third is the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) with 26 seats; and fourth, the Basotho National Party (BNP) with five seats. A total of 18 political parties participated in the country’s general elections where the real battle was expected to be between the ABC, LCD and DC. However, following the election results and as the hung parliament scenario unfolds, five political parties, namely LCD, ABC, BNP, Popular Front for Democracy (three seats) and Marematlou Freedom Party (one seat) announced a coalition at a media briefing in Maseru on Tuesday last week. The coalition effectively positioned itself as having the requisite numbers to form a government and thus possibly the next government of Lesotho. The opposition marriage/alliance is anticipated to create some political agitation in the country for a number of reasons. Foremost is that, constitutionally, the prerogative to amass the requisite constituency numbers goes to the party that garnered the most votes from the electoral results, which in this instance is Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s party, the Democratic Congress. Whether the DC will be able to garner the requisite 13 seats and form its own coalition remains to be seen, as does what will happen in the interim to the newly formed coalition as the hung parliament scenario becomes protracted.
South Africa: Richard Mdluli’s suspension to continue
The court case over the suspension of South Africa’s head of Crime Intelligence, Richard Mdluli, continues, and his lawyers are due to appear in the Johannesburg Labour Court yesterday. However, the police maintain that his suspension will not be revoked. Both the police and the Hawks believe that they have a strong case against Mdluli, who was originally suspended after appearing in the Magistrate’s Court on a murder charge in February 2011. In September of the same year Mdluli was arrested on charges of fraud and corruption after he allegedly had misappropriated police funds for personal use. Despite all this, the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew the fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli in what was seen as a highly irregular procedure. On 27 March 2012 Mdluli was controversially reinstated as the Head of Crime Intelligence. He was finally suspended by the acting National Commissioner of Police, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, on 27 May 2012. This is, however, still contested by Mdluli.
Major General Mark Hankel, who briefly replaced Mdluli during his suspension, became the target of a well-organised smear campaign during this time. It was alleged that Hankel had kidnapped and murdered a political activist in 1985. However, police claimed that the smear campaign was taking place to prevent Hankel from permanently replacing Mdluli.
Mdluli’s impunity is yet another example of how the apparent political protection of people in government office is contributing to the lack of accountability in South Africa and confidence in state structures. Corruption is increasing and this is contributing to the growing discontent among South Africans over the general poor governance and lack of service delivery.
Meanwhile, the fallout over the controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma called the Spear of the nation seems to have polarised South Africans along racial lines. Another development that may have contributed to this polarisation is the verdict in the case of the murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche, South Africa’s former extreme right-wing leader. The verdict was passed while protesters supporting Terre’Blanche and those supporting the accused were exchanging racial insults. In Mpumalanga the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition party in South Africa, has recently reported the activities of certain right-wing groups to the South African Human Rights Commission, out of concern that these groups are fuelling racial tensions and divisions within the country. Following these developments, Zuma has recently announced that South Africa is to have a national summit on reconciliation in July. However, while such a summit may be necessary, it must be acknowledged that the talks on reconciliation and nation building will not be very fruitful if government fails to constructively address the growing discontent with poor governance and general service delivery.
Compiled by the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division
