OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 10.30am.
THE Lesotho government and 11 opposition parties on Wednesday signed a draft bill for the creation of a transitional body to steer the kingdom to fresh elections.
South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi, who chaired deliberations on the bill, said it will create a 24-member structure called the Interim Political Authority.
The authority will comprise two representatives from each of the opposition parties and the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy, and will be charged with ensuring free and fair elections in 18 months, Mufamadi said.
The authority will work in close conjunction with the Lesotho government and parliament, which will be forced to implement its decisions, he said. This clause of the bill constitutes a victory for the opposition, as the LCD argued that the authority should merely be an advisory body to the government.
The draft bill also stipulates that the authority must reach all its decisions by way of consensus between the 24 members.
The legislation will be put to a vote in the Lesotho parliament on either Thursday or Friday, Mufamadi indicated, in accordance with an earlier agreement between the government and the opposition that the bill be enacted before the end of October.
Mufamadi, who chaired the talks on behalf of the Southern African Development Community, said he is grateful that the government and all the opposition parties managed to work together to create the bill.
Lesotho was plunged into a political crisis in August when the opposition, claiming that the LCD had rigged the country’s May 1998 elections, launched protest action against the government, bringing the capital Maseru to a standstill. On September 22, South Africa and Botswana sent troops to Lesotho to restore calm, but the military intervention mission resulted in massive bloodshed and destruction. — AFP