ABOUT LESOTHO

Lesotho roughly translates into “the land of people who speak Sesotho.”

It was formerly called Basutoland and is also known as “The Kingdom in the Sky”, “The Roof of Africa”, “The Switzerland of Southern Africa” and the “Mountain Kingdom.”

Lesotho is the only country in the world with all its land 1500m above sea-level.

It became a British protectorate in 1868 at request of King Moshoeshoe and after numerous battles with Boers and British. A subsequent treaty between British and Boers defined Basutoland boundaries and reduced Moshoeshoe’s by half. Basutoland won independence from Britain in 1966 and became the Kingdom of Lesotho. Moshoeshoe still considered founding father of the nation.

Two-thirds of the nation comprises mountains.

Lesotho has diamond mines owned by the government and lucrative water resources that quench the thirst of Johannesburg-area residents 350 kilometres to the north. Water is worth an estimated almost $1 billion annually to the country’s economy.

The National Assembly consists of 80 members elected “past the post” plus 40 seats filled on a proportional representation (PR) basis.

About 40 per cent of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 US a day.

Current population: 1.942 million (almost 50-50 gender split). Capital: Maseru. Current constitutional monarch: King Letsie 111. Role largely ceremonial. Area: Covers 30,355 square kilometres and is completely surrounded by South Africa.

Official languages: English and Sesotho, a Bantu language.

Ethnicity: Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians comprise remainder.

Religions: Christian 80 per cent, indigenous religions 20 per cent. Literacy rate: 90 per cent. Unemployment: 25 per cent. Youth unemployment (15-24): 35 per cent. Estimated HIV-AIDS rate: 23

per cent. Estimated number of people living with HIV-AIDS:

358,000. Estimated HIV-AIDS deaths

annually: 15,500 (2012). International rank for HIV

AIDS per capita: Second. Life expectancy at birth: Men: 52.55 years; Women: 52.75 years (2014 CIA est.). According to domestic Lesotho statistics the life expectancy is 45 for women and 39 for men.

Main exports: Labour and water, textiles, footwear (Chinese and Indian-owned factories), wool and mohair products. Main customers: United States, European Union and Canada,

Labour force: 880,000. Most resident workers are subsistence farmers; about 15 per cent work in local industry and services; at least 35 per cent work in South Africa, mostly in the mining industry.