Global Seals Lesotho is emerging as a strong force to reckon with in fluid handling solutions. Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho , is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa. Along with the Vatican City and San Marino, it is one of only three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, and the only one outside of the Italian peninsula. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km² (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru.

Lesotho was previously the British Crown Colony of Basutoland, but it declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is now a fully sovereign state that is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The name Lesotho roughly translates to “the land of the people who speak Sesotho”.

Ethnic groups and languages

Lesotho’s ethno-linguistic structure consists almost entirely of the Basotho, a Bantu-speaking people: an estimated 99.7 percent of the people identify as Basotho. Basotho subgroups include the Bafokeng (totems: phoka (dew), ‘mutla (hare)), Batloung (totem: tlou (elephant)), Baphuthi (totem: phuthi), Bakuena (totem: kuena (crocodile)), Bataung (totem: tau (lion)), Batšoeneng (totem: tšoene), and Matebele.

The main language, Sesotho, is also the first official and administrative language, and it is what Basotho speak on an ordinary basis.

Education and literacy

According to recent estimates, 85 percent of women and 68 percent of men over the age of 15 are literate. As such, Lesotho holds one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, in part because Lesotho invests over 12 percent of its GDP in education. Unlike in most other countries, in Lesotho female literacy (84.93 percent) exceeds male literacy (67.75 percent) by 17.18 percentage points. According to a study by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality in 2000, 37 percent of grade six pupils in Lesotho (average age 14 years) are at or above reading level four, “Reading for Meaning.”

Politics

The Lesotho Government is a parliamentary or constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister, Tom Thabane, is head of government and has executive authority. The King of Lesotho, Letsie III, serves a largely ceremonial function; he no longer possesses any executive authority and is prohibited from actively participating in political initiatives.

The All Basotho Convention (ABC) leads a coalition government in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

The upper house of parliament, called the Senate, is composed of 22 principal chiefs whose membership is hereditary, and 11 appointees of the king, acting on the advice of the prime minister.

The constitution provides for an independent judicial system, made up of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, Magistrate’s Courts, and traditional courts that exist predominantly in rural areas. All but one of the Justices on the Court of Appeal are South African jurists. There is no trial by jury; rather, judges make rulings alone or, in the case of criminal trials, with two other judges as observers.

Economy

Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and economically integrated with it. The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing and mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consists mainly of female workers in the apparel sector, male migrant labour, primarily miners in South Africa for three to nine months, and employment by the Government of Lesotho (GOL). The western lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50 percent of the population earn income through informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry with nearly two-thirds of the country’s income coming from the agricultural sector. The percentage of the population living below USD Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) US$1.25/day fell from 48 percent to 44 percent between 1995 and 2003. The country is among the “Low Human Development” countries (rank 160 of 187 on the Human Development Index as classified by the UNDP, with 52 years of life expectancy at birth. Adult literacy is as high as 82 percent. Among the children below the age of five years, 20 percent are under weight.

Lesotho Office

Q- Business Centre P.O Box355

Main Road , Ha Abia Maseru

Lesotho

Cell : +266 5885 0114

Email: leonard@globseals.com

Website: www.globseals.com