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"Main articles: '"
Population
Main article: Population of Africa
Migration
2021: Net outflow over 4 years
Overweight
Economy
GDP $1,466 per person
R&D
2020: R&D expenses - $1 million
Lesotho IT Market
2022: More than 1 start-up
Agriculture
2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture
Consumption
Meat
2023: Pork is the most consumed type of meat
Vegetables
2018: Vegetable consumption - 27 kg per capita
Power
Electrification
Energy carriers
2020: Energy consumption per capita
and
Foreign trade
2022: US is the biggest export destination
Education
2019: Percentage of people who can read
Health care
Maternity leave
in
2020
Duration of guaranteed paid sick leave from 1 to 2.9 months
Part of the population defecates on the street
Crime
Prisons
2022: The minimum age for children to be jailed is 10 years
2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens
Sport
2022: The most popular sport is football
in
History
2020: The head of government and his wife are suspected of killing another politician's wife
In January 2020, the Lesotho police are investigating the circumstances of the mysterious death of the wife of 80-year-old Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. First lady Lipolelo Thabane, 58, was shot dead on June 14, 2017, by unknown assailants just two days before her husband took office as prime minister.
Despite the fact that Tabane himself called this murder "senseless," many considered the tragedy the logical ending of the divorce proceedings that had been going on since 2012. The fact is that even then the head of government had serious relations with another wife, Mesaya, but in 2015 the court rejected her request to approve her as first lady (with all the privileges due to her). Polygamy is polygamy, but the first lady can only be one.
So the murder was very useful to the couple, and it is not surprising that already at the inauguration the politician appeared with Mesaya, and two weeks later he was officially married with her at a public ceremony in the capital Maseru. In 2019, the prime minister's daughter Mabatsoeneng Hlaele directly accused Mesaya of killing her mother.
Mesaya, 42, having become the most powerful person in the country and earned the dubious nickname "Grace Mugabe Lesotho," personally handled all party and government appointments and brought the situation to an acute crisis.
Suspicions reached a new level after excerpts from the investigation materials became public. It turned out that at the fateful hour, a call was made to Thabane's phone number directly from the crime scene, and on December 23, 2019, Police Commissioner Olomo Molibeli addressed a letter with uncomfortable questions to the veteran of forestry politics himself. Thabane did not respond, and later even tried to remove Molibeli from office for 60 days "for violating the protocol," but this did not save his new wife Mesaya from being summoned for interrogation. After her failure to appear, the police put the first lady on the wanted list and threatened to turn to Interpol for help in investigating the high-profile and scandalous murder. In turn, the High Court threatened Thabane with consequences for the prosecution of Commissioner Molibeli and reinstated him.
The scandalous case finally turned both the ruling party and the opposition against Thabane, who unanimously demanded the resignation of the prime minister. In addition, members of his own party - the Congress of All Basothos - are seeking his removal from the leadership of the organization. True, Thabane suspended parliament indefinitely in advance to prevent impeachment, but is not able to stop the collapse of the government.
Local experts consider the deep cause of the crisis in Lesotho to be the peculiar position of an isolated mountain kingdom completely surrounded by South Africa. Due to stagnant and unprofitable agriculture, zero industry and acute job shortages, politics has become not only the main entertainment, but also the main enrichment channel for ambitious subjects. So in a small country there are as many as 30 parties, over 40% of the budget is spent on the salaries of bitterly gnawing civil servants with each other, while half of the two million population, according to local authorities, live below the poverty line.
1914
Calendar
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