Winter of discontent

Civil servants across the board this week demanded a 25 percent raise on their salaries or they will down tools. What the chilling threat by civil servants seems to suggest is that we are headed towards a long winter of discontent ahead of what is likely to be an extremely difficult year. In his budget presentation two weeks ago, Finance Minister Thabo Sofonea announced a five percent bump on civil servants’ salaries, a figure government workers have dismissed as a joke. The government, on the other hand, has pleaded poverty insisting it is not able to pay more given the parlous state of the national purse. Nurses, police officers and other public servants now say they will down their tools come April 1 unless the government bows to their demands. That is likely to set the stage for a bruising fight between the government and civil servants who are aggrieved by what they see as continued government profligacy and neglect. They argue that this is a government that shamelessly awarded M5 000 fuel allowances to MPs last year at a time when everybody else was being asked to tighten their belts. As we head towards what is likely to be rancorous election this year, Lesotho’s anaemic economy is likely to face further knocks. The last two years have been extremely difficult for Lesotho given the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Jobs have been lost as the economy shrunk. The tourism sector has received a heavy battering as visitors shied away from travel. The textile sector, which is the second biggest employer after the civil service, has also received a thorough battering. Factories have shut down, emptying thousands of workers onto the streets. All these factors have exerted tremendous pressure on a government that has been struggling to feed its own people. This is an economy that is in a shabby state and is unlikely to recover in the short term. We are likely to soon begin feeling the effects of the Ukraine war. That war of aggression by the Russians is likely to trigger an increase in the price of wheat, bumping the price of bread. Lesotho is likely to experience massive food shortages due to excessive rains that have begun to damage crops. Farmers were already complaining about the lack of inputs such as seed and fertilizer. The excessive rains might mean some crops are a total write-off. We are also likely to see a massive jump in the price of fuel as a direct result of the sanctions on Russia. The knock-on effect will be felt in the transport sector as taxi operators begin to demand a hike in fares. All this is likely to exert massive pressure on Basotho who are already food insecure. The government is therefore facing a grueling six months as it seeks to balance the interests of an aggrieved populace pushed to the brink by economic hardships. We must therefore brace ourselves for explosive protests on the streets. The temptation for the government of Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro is to give in to demands based on populist sentiments in an effort to appease a restless population. But that would be fatal. Any move to succumb to the pressure will bankrupt the country. We need level heads to manage the economy and nurse it to better health.