Lesotho Reign of Fear Kamogelo Seekoei, The New Age, Johannesburg, 11 August 2015 Freedom of speech, press and expression are some of the luxuries that some residents of Lesotho have told The New Age that they do not have in the mountain kingdom. The residents said although on the surface it seemed there was political stability in Lesotho, many people were victimised by the "rogue" army. They said the political climate was depressing and they felt they were in the middle of a "cold war". Some went as far as saying the intervention by SADC that is facilitated by South African Deputy President Cyril Ramophosa has actually made things worse because issues of security were just side-stepped. They said they were afraid to voice their opinions publicly because someone would "come" for them. During a visit to Maseru The New Age attempted to conduct a vox pop* to hear views about the political climate in Lesotho and the state's stability. Many of those approached on Tuesday said they would not want to be identified for fear of being victimised. "People are being killed silently here. Once someone sees that you may have a different view from that of the government they will definitely come for you," a 19-year old woman said. A car washer who works in the Maseru CBD said what was happening in Lesotho affected citizens because at any given time people were detained for things they did not even know were wrong. Another Maseru resident said there was a "cold war" in Lesotho. "You know, when you even have to consider the colour of the clothes you wear to work because they may be the colours of the opposition, then you know you are in the middle of a cold war," the man said. A woman who works in a government department said people were even afraid to publicly read newspapers that were considered anti-government. "Here if you are seen reading a certain newspaper you might be arrested by the army. "The army is out of control and the politicians are enjoying that. "It is infuriating to think that SADC keeps sending (Cyril) Ramaphosa here and yet the ordinary man in the street does not feel safe," the woman said. [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/11082015/epaperpdf/9.pdf *vox pop - from "vox populi", Latin for "the voice of the people". The full saying is "Vox populi, vox dei", meaning "The voice of the people is the voice of God". A "vox pop" in journalism refers to the practice of interviewing people at random, and typically in the street, anonymously, as here. -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
