He’s been invited by King Letsie III. 

Pakalitha Mosisili won elections in Lesotho on February 28.

He’s formed a coalition of seven parties to hold enough seats in the legislature of the mountain kingdom and regain the reins he relinquished nearly three years ago.

President Zuma will be accompanied by Deputy-President Cyril Ramaphosa, who played a key role as the regional mediator in the imbroglio that follows the abortive coup in Lesotho six months ago that drove outgoing Prime Minister Tom Thabane briefly into exile in South Africa.

Mothetjoa Metsing, who was Thabane’s deputy and suspected of being behind the attempted coup, has retained this position by joining the ruling coalition.

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Lesotho’s new coalition government’s being urged to prioritise universal free maternal health care.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says four in ten women give birth at home, unsupervised by a skilled health care worker, with the poorest women being most likely to deliver at home.

Medicines Sans Frontiers says pregnant women in Lesotho face lack of access to quality obstetric care, long distances to health care facilities, and lack of money to pay for maternal services.

Not having a skilled birth attendant at the time of delivery increases the likelihood of women dying.

MSF says there’s a high demand from women who wish to plan their pregnancies.

It calls on the government of Lesotho to re-allocate a percentage of its health budget towards free maternity services so that maternal mortality in Lesotho can be reduced.

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Analysts, however, believe Lesotho’s insecurity – that give rise to the snap election putting Pakalitha Mosisili in the driver’s seat – is far from over.

Lesotho premier Pakalitha Mosisile says there’s no security problem in his country,

The problem was his predecessor, former Prime Minister Tom Thabane.

Analysts fear this confronational language indicates Mosisili hasn’t learned the lessons of the past.

They fear it might lead of another period of uncertainty in one of the poorest countries on the planet.

International observers hailed the early poll as peaceful, free and fair.
But it did not deliver an outright winner.

Deputy Prime Minister Motetjwa Metsing, whose differences with Thabane fractured the last coalition, keeps his job because he’s among the politicians who’ve banded around Mosisili who held the reins in Lesotho for 14 years.

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His Democratic Congress shaded Tom Thabane’s All Basotho Convention in last Saturday’s snap poll and formed a coalition government.

In the 2012 election the Democratic Congress won the most parliamentary seats but was short of a majority.

Pakalitha Mosisili was unable to find coalition partners to form a government – leaving the way open to Tom Thabane.

This time round Mosisili’s teamed up with half a dozen opposition parties giving him 18 additional seats and a parliamentary majority.

He has his work cut out restoring stability to the mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa, where an abortive coup six month ago almost unseated Thabane.

It brought in the region to mediate a deal that included the early election.

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No party has secured enough votes to govern alone.

Saturday’s parliamentary election in Lesotho two years ahead of schedule was intended to ease tensions after an attempted coup last August.

The All Basotho Convention of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, who fled to South Africa to avoid being overthrown, has won 40 out of 80 constituencies.

The Democratic Congress of former premier Pakalitha Mosisili has taken 37.

Two other parties hold the other three constituencies.

The exact make-up of the 120-member parliament will be announced today as 40 seats are allocated proportionate to votes cast – and there were 23 parties participating.

No single party will be able to get the 61 seats needed to rule outright.

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Results coming in from rural areas have narrowed the early lead won by incumbent prime minister Tom Thabane.

With tallying almost completed last night, Tom Thabane’s All Basotho Convention has 40 of the 120 seats in the assembly.

The Democratic Congress of Pakalitha Mosisili, a former prime minister, won 33 seats.

Thabane’s former coalition partner the Lesotho Congress for Democracy has two seats.

The election, endorsed by both the region and the continent, was for 80 of the assembly places. The remaining 40 are distributed proportionally after the final tally.

Thabane must get enough of these to win an outright parliamentary majority – or start talking a deal with a smaller party.

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Two thirds of ballots from 1,2 million registered voters in the mountain kingdom has been tallied manually.

Reports from the observer missions from the region, the continent and abroad are expected today.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who’s the SADC mediator in this process, is back home after observing some of the voting the counting.

He’ll return to Maseru on Wednesday when official results are expected.

The army, which is believed to behind the attempted coup five months ago that necessitated the early poll, has been confined to barracks.

Neighbouring countries have supplied 475 police to keep the peace in the nation that’s been on edge because of the instability.

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It’s urged the people of the mountain kingdom to accept the result and to exercise any challenges within the boundaries of the law.

Heading the SADC observer mission to Lesotho, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane’s found the process transparent, credible, free and fair.

Her statement today says it reflects the will of the people of Lesotho.

The poll’s two years early because of an attempted coup in Lesotho six months ago.

Prime minister Tom Thabane, who was the target of that overthrow bid, is the leader as the votes of the 1,2 million registered electors are tallied.

SADC fielded 82 observers from 11 member countries.

Nkoane Mashebane says the voting took place in a generally calm and peaceful political atmosophere.

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Lesotho voting

A snap election in Maseru has drawn voters to the polls two years early.

With polls closing its not known if the 1,2 million registered voters have given single party enough support to form a government without entering a coalition.

The coalition forged after the 2012 poll nearly ended in a coup last August.

So it’s vital that the outcome of today’s voting – designed to restore stability to the mountain kingdom – is accepted by all participants.

The military, who is believed to be behind the attempted overthrow of Prime Minister Tom Thabane six months ago, is confined to barracks.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who’s the regionally mandated mediator in this crisis, says he’s confident the process will run peacefully.

The result will be announced next week.

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….where people go to the polls in 10 days time, in an exercise designed to restore stability after an abortive coup last August.

In the past year, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane has led SADC election observation missions to Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius and Zambia.

organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

responsible for the maintenance of peace and stability in the region.

SADC observers will be deployed to all the districts in Lesotho in preparation for the elections on 28 February.

They’ll issue a preliminary statement on the conduct and outcome of the poll.

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