Lesotho to unfurl new ‘peace’ flag to mark 40 years of freedom
By Thabo Thakalekoala MASERU

The tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho celebrates its 40th anniversary of independence from Britain on Wednesday by unveiling a new flag to replace a martial one introduced after a 1986 coup.Deputy Prime Minister Lesao Lehohla said the flag — whose unveiling will cap national celebrations — showed “a nation at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbours.” The new flag has three colours: blue for rain, white symbolising peace and green indicating prosperity. It will also sport a cone-shaped hat, worn by the country’s indigenous Basotho people. [citizen.co.za]

We have been independent for forty years, Jack. Be nice to me, today. Gimme five. High five. Send me flowers and a cheque in the mail. Embrace me when you see me in the street. Pat me on the back. Kiss me, now, and wish me — us — luck in the coming years. “The road will be muddy and rough, but we’ll get there,” I feel like saying.

It has been forty years of petty thuggery and thievery for the most part, and killings and nepotic rule by some. But there have been flashes of real nationhood, and that is where we need to throw our weight and build from. We’ve caught and denounced big-company bribery, and we’ve had free and fair elections a few times in a row. In this regard Lesotho is a trend-setter.

But there have been many more low moments, such as the recent automobile fleet scandal, whereby ministers and other high-placed civil servants could buy government cars for less than nothing. That was wrong and was addressed by this blogger and others. Government officials should not be rewarded for serving the nation — especially when those officials are elected members of government.

It has been forty years of misery for many Basotho. We basically failed to heed the warnings coming from farther north, as Africa became independent. The words we used then were boipuso (independence), self-rule, self-determination, tokoloho (freedom, and my kid sister’s name).

But as soon as we became independent, we replicated the same, stupid mistakes, inevitably falling into the trap face-first. Funny, when one looks at it, though. Lesotho is homogenous. It is a one-people/one-language nation. But we had to fish for things to differ about.

It has been forty years of digging in the dirt to survive. Basotho men have traditionally worked in South Africa’s mines, living there for long spells without their families and sending money home. The effect of this was at least three-fold: men had no education, the HIV virus prospered, family life was broken, and the country’s economic woes worsened.

The mine-working men, of course, bought flesh and contracted AIDS, then went home and spread it around. Their spouses back home would sometimes sell flesh in order to make ends meet, and they, too, would contract the virus. Then South Africa decided to send migrant workers home. We suddenly had a terrible influx of hordes and hordes of uneducated men looking for and not finding work. Crime soared, and domestic violence shot through the roof. Then China entered the textile industry, effectively shutting out Lesotho’s own textile industry due to cheap labour. And that’s when the drought arrived.

We’ve gone through a lot, and we’re surviving. But that’s no excuse for shoddy governing. Lesotho has about twenty political parties. Looking at those twenty or so parties in Lesotho, one wonders whether we, as politicians, will ever learn. The lesson is that we need to live for the betterment of the nation and not for the betterment of self (and of a few cronies and family members). There is no justification that I see for that many parties, other than the desire for each leader of those parties to be at the helm, pull the strings, be the head honcho. I dare you to find me twenty different political points of view to justify the myriad of parties.

I’ve lived more than half of those years abroad. A painful experience, as any Mosotho living abroad will concur. I never wanted to leave my country and make my life elsewhere, I was forced to do so. Like many of my country-people who are away from home, I wanted to be successful at home, for home, through home.

During these forty years there have been killings and other thug republic tactics. I think we must hold reconciliation meetings in the fashion of South Africa’s own. I recently saw Bishop Tutu mediating between a former IRA combattant and family-members whose relatives the combattant had killed. Why not in Lesotho. The pain and bitterness won’t go away by themselves. As my mum would probably have said, Re iphapantse joalo ka beng ba lifariki (we’re looking the other way as if nothing had happened).

It has been forty years of squandered resources. Ask me, and I’ll tell you that for a country of 1.8 million people, Skiing, Diamonds and Water are enough to keep everybody happy and sated. I haven’t even mentioned other tourist related sources of income. If 1.8 million people can’t be kept happy and sated with these three resources, then we need to look upwards in the hierarchy and see where things aren’t happening right, and make them happen right.

The people do not need to reward elected government officials. Their job is to serve the people and go home at night. No applause, and certainly no bonuses of any kind. Otherwise, quit the public service and start your own company. Idland says this better than I do. Bookmark his blog.

It has been forty years of dashed hopes for many, and success for some. We want food and jobs, peace, and a little bit of land to live on and cultivate. Is that so much to ask? This request, in fact, is embodied in Lesotho’s motto, (Peace, Rain, Prosperity) Khotso, Pula, Nala. We are looking forward to nothing less, and not much more.