The roadmap  Lesotho’s  prime minister Thomas Thabane negotiated with President Jacob Zuma on Monday had him returning to the mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa and calling parliament into session.
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Suspending the legislature since  June has severely strained the coalition government with the Lesotho Congress of Democrats who Thabane says is behind the apparent coup – something the LCD denies.
Zuma and other Southern African governments involved in the mediation have not heeded Thabane’s call for a regional  peacekeeping force to be deployed to Lesotho.
According to his aide, Thabane stayed in Johannesburg yesterday. He did not specify the reason for this. Neither did he say when the prime minister is going home.
A police source in Maseru advised Thabane against returning now, saying they don’t have the ability to protect him.
Fearing a power vacuum and further violence, the United States has ordered the families of its diplomats to leave Lesotho, in case land borders and airports are closed.
Lesotho’s stability is critical to South Africa. The kingdom’s highlands water scheme supplies  drinking water and electricity to Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heartland.

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