South Africa’s Deputy President has completed another round of facilitating Lesotho’s security and constitutional logjam announcing that the mountain kingdom will go to the polls next February.
After an attempted coup at the end of August, Cyril Ramaphosa was mandated by the Southern African Development Community to find a way of ending the crisis.
Ends intro
During Cyril Ramaphosa’s third visit to Lesotho this week, soldiers and policemen, who have been at loggerheads since the putsch bid, exchanged gunfire in the capital Maseru.
Ramaphosa returned home yesterday (Thursday) and announced that Lesotho’s King Letsie III will set the exact date for the elections, which will be a year early.
The agreement brokered by Ramaphosa will see parliament reconvene on October 17 to pass a budget and set the scene for elections.
Thabane fled South Africa in early September after General Tlali Kamoli, whom he’d sacked as military commander, attempted a coup.
Kamoli raided the government armory and fled into the mountains with a few crack troops still loyal to him.
He’s indicated to facilitators that he will end his mutiny for the payment of two year’s salary and diplomatic posting.
Ramaphosa says police officers and military advisors from the Southern
African bloc will remain in the country until after the vote.
Lesotho’s parliament will meet to pass Budget
Enquire about availability for radio, podcasts, reporting or opinion pieces.
Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.
Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.
Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.
Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.
He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.
He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.
He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.
In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.
In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.
He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.
Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.
Search news by country
Web design by Web Guys