FRIDAY, 5.30PM
LESOTHO’S King Letsie III, who has occupied the throne since the death of his father Moshoeshoe II last year, was finally crowned on Friday, with a headband, feathers and animal skins over his blue military uniform.
Fifteen thousand people — including such dignitaries as Britain’s Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela and Zulu king Goodwill Zwelethini — watched as he was crowned in garb that dates back seven generations to the first Lesotho king.
Opponents of the Lesotho government suggest that the coronation ceremony has been designed to counter political instability in the landlocked country, which is entirely dependent on sending labour to neighbouring South Africa’s gold mining industry.
Earlier this year, aged Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle adroitly side-stepped a putsch by his own party colleagues by forming a rival party and declaring it the new government. He also managed to suppress a mutiny by the country’s police.
Letsie himself was briefly king in the early 1990s, when his father was exiled by a coup. The younger royal was never crowned, however, and he later stepped down when his father returned to favour, saying he was warming the seat for him.