Tough times ahead for Lesotho

After decades of economic mismanagement, we are beginning to reap the bitter results of a spectacular failure to diversify our economy.
And so when the textile sector catches a cold, the whole economy falls into a tailspin. With no other solid sectors to stabilise the economy, we are in serious trouble as a country.

The textile sector, with about 35 000 workers, was the second biggest employer after the civil service. That sector, unfortunately now lies in ruins.
Over the last two years, we have watched helplessly as it suffered a devastating bloodbath with thousands of jobs being lost.
That was initially due to a drop in orders from the United States.

In a bid to stay afloat, the textile companies began resorting to laying off workers. The bloodbath has not stopped. More workers continue to be thrown onto the jobless heap.
Without jobs, people can no longer provide the basics for their families. The levels of poverty and desperation have suddenly increased.
But it is not just the factory workers who have been badly hit. Those who relied on the factory workers downstream have been hit too.

Think of the hundreds of landlords in Ha-Tsolo, next to the textile factories in Thetsane. As reported in this issue, the retrenched workers have since abandoned their rented apartments. Some have reportedly sought better opportunities in South Africa while others have gone back to their rural areas.

Without any steady income coming from the rentals, the landlords in Ha-Tsolo who housed textile workers, are in deep trouble. They too were relying on textile workers to eke a living. Now the goose that lay the golden eggs is no more.

Lesotho has a large segment of informal workers. Some of these make a living by selling foodstuffs on the streets in “open kitchens” by the roadside on in their car boots.
These hawkers are now on their knees.

All this points to a real crisis for Lesotho.
If there is anything that will pose a threat to social order in Lesotho, it is the desperate levels to which people are being subjected to. Without jobs, without a basic income to cushion them from poverty, we are likely to see an explosion of anger on the streets.

That is a scary scenario.
Prime Minister Sam Matekane is in an unenviable position as leader. Two years after his rise to the premiership, he must begin to think, fast, how his government can ameliorate this crisis.

Doing nothing cannot be an option. Neither is pointing fingers at previous regimes as the author of our misery. The people think it is him who is in power and he must sort this out.
The time of apportioning blame is over. The people are no longer interested in who caused the problem. All they want is a solution.

While the people were talking of Matekane in “messianic” terms, the reality is that the Prime Minister is no messiah. He is a man of flesh and blood just like all of us.
What he really needs is a team of technocrats to back up his vision with real action on the ground in pushing his transformation agenda.
Only then can his government begin creating the jobs that Basotho desperately need.