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Women must free themselves

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‘Lesotho Fatse la bo-Ntat’a rona.’ These are the opening words of our national anthem, ‘Lesotho, land of our Fathers’. This song has a colonial connotation, being a French missionary composition. However, the words are a gem to Basotho. Two lines in the full-original composition sing: ‘We have fields; We have cattle’! Fields and cattle were measures of wealth in Lesotho. The Basotho motto: ‘Khotso, Pula, Nala,’ premises on a belief that prosperity is an eventuality of peace. Basotho believe that wealth is not a natural phenomenon. You earn prosperity through peace. According to Shale, prosperity symbolises appreciation by God and their ancestors for peaceful conduct. Every Mosotho dreams of a prosperous Lesotho. This dreamland exists only to ‘us’, the politically connected elites, the majority of whom are mature to elderly men. Basotho follow a patrilineal descent system. They trace descent through the paternal line. The economy of a country is as good as its people. This article argues that Lesotho cannot succeed unless a Mosotho woman becomes what she ought to be. History shows that the oppressed must fight to achieve their emancipation. Women must take their power back and stop supporting men. In other words, women must be at the forefront of their emancipation and not men, their tormentors in chief. Dr Molapo, a Mosotho scholar, argues that patriarchy is entrenched in the Basotho belief system, culture and customs, how they speak, their language, and view. To top it up, gender equality, equity, and redress do not occupy much space in Lesotho’s discourse. Lesotho has a high HIV prevalence among girls and the country knows the perpetrators – mature men. Yet, the nation does not put these adversities on the national agenda. There is little consideration for women. According to the African Development Bank, gender inequality is one of the underlying causes of underdevelopment challenges. And these challenges include the vast spread of poverty and the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and hunger. Women bear the brunt of the challenges. Women’s lack of access to and control over inheritance resources, including land and livestock and intra-household decision-making power, disempower women economically, socially, and politically. Women carry out excessive domestic workload depriving them time to do income-generating work. This results in the intergenerational transfer of disadvantages to their children. Children lack confidence in themselves. Social norms condone and tolerate many types of gender-based violence, limit women’s and girls’ access to justice and prevent women from public participation and taking up leadership roles. Research shows that Lesotho under-publishes gender indicators in national databases. In this way, Lesotho loses vital information that would enable her to understand the implications of patriarchy and gender injustice on Basotho society. For example, Lesotho statistics lack 47% of the gender indicators. A further 13% of data is relevant, but it is not disaggregated by sex. This renders the data that are not tabulated by gender redundant. This publication, thepost of February 4 -10 2021, had a front-page headline article: ‘Majoro axes two ministers.’ One of the two was a woman minister. Majoro swapped the woman with her male counterpart. Noises stemmed out from these dismissals resulting in the expulsion of a newly installed minister. But none of those who cried ‘foul’ decried a woman exclusion. Not even the human rights NGOs! This is patriarchy! In 2016, the National University of Lesotho (NUL) fired its first and only substantive woman Vice-Chancellor (VC) she completed her term. There are two other settings that I want to add to this milieu. The two would carry an ‘age restriction’: the following scenes may be ‘offensive to sensitive readers’. They are abhorrent. Seemingly, they may not be offensive because Basotho normalised incidents like them. One is a song in the public space by a talented, popular musical group. The second is a legal theatre that unfolded in Lesotho high courts following a dreadful tragedy. A Lesotho award-winning group’s inaugural album, Tšimollo: ‘The Beginning’ features a song ‘Mantsoepa. The song describes a man who meets a woman while on a drinking spree. At a glance, she is ‘horrid’. After a few drinks, she transforms into beauty. At night he discovers a beast in his bed and screams. His ‘would be’ rescuers, in turn, run helter-skelter, screaming, “Thabane, you are a combatant! Where did you pick such a horrible beast?” This is a translation of the song. The song derives from a shared joke that denigrates women. Wilson warns that music, the lyrics and rhythm, people moving in unison is a powerful instrument used to enculturate people. The message through music captivates people. Basotho traditional literature, how people use the language, proverbs, and other figures of speech carry undertones that project femininity as weak. They have the myth that women need protection from men. At the same time, they portray men as strong, brave and wise. Men occupy strategic positions in societies while women are confined at home caring for children. An even more graphic scenario is a tragedy that played itself in a political-legal theatre. The murder of the estranged former prime minister’s wife. First, the acting chief justice snatches a case from the judge on duty and grants the prime suspect, the prime minister’s wife, a R1 000.00 bail under dubious circumstances. The director of public prosecutions (DPP) does not oppose the application. All the actors in this tragedy are women. Another court sets the bail aside, rebuking the judge and the DPP. The suspect is on bail of R10 000.00, the main reason being the DPP’s disinterest in the original bail application. Today, about four years since the murder, the case is yet to see its day in court. There are other deadly adversaries that women experience in Lesotho. For example, HIV/AIDS infections and its prevalence among girls and child marriages. The victims are often young girls. The perpetrators are mature rich men. Lesotho is a country of two societies. Martin Luther King Junior’s speech, ‘The Other America’, describes two Americas. One is beautiful and prosperous. It is the land of equal opportunities to all. All people are treated with dignity. In this land, everybody is protected by civil liberties. The presence of happiness is visible everywhere. This is the white Americans’ world. Dr King’s ‘beautiful land’ exists in Lesotho. Lesotho is 95% homogenous Basotho. Thus, skin colour cannot form the basis of discrimination. But people who live in this land of prosperity are the ‘us’, the elites and politically connected. This prosperity is not earned. It is an entitlement confiscated through force and corruption. When they, ‘us’, or their families are ill, they receive world-class private healthcare in neighbouring South Africa or overseas. At the same time, their children attend international private schools. Lesotho’s 54-year-old democracy and Basotho created ‘us’ with their entitlements. For instance, some MP won their constituencies with four different parties and served as ministers in four various governments. These MPs migrate with their constituencies, irrespective of the political party they go to. They own the electorate. The electorate elect personalities, not their manifestos. Dr King’s ‘Other America’ is uglier. People are exhausted, living in despair. The triple challenge of hunger, poverty and unemployment is rife. People live in slums. People here can only imagine civil liberties. Children grow with an inferiority complex and shattered dreams. The children believe that higher education and success in life belong to others. This is African Americans’ land. The land where police will kill George Floyd, a fellow American who is Black on the slightest provocation. Here, Black lives do not matter. In Lesotho, this is the world of ordinary Basotho, the electorate. These are the vulnerable ‘other’. Even though the national constitution purports to protect ‘them’, the government system does not. They are the victims of government brutality. Images of police and the military officer making Basotho roll in puddles circulated in media during the Covid-19 first cycle. The system only protects the elitist ‘us’. The present Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the common Basotho to a harsh reality of poor public healthcare. The elites receive world-class medical care while Basotho die avoidable deaths. Hospitals instruct patients with Covid-19 symptom to stay at home. Many die as a result. After all, government hospitals do not have bottled oxygen. Ordinary Basotho children go to severely under-resourced public schools where their chances of getting university admission are almost non-existent. The 2019 Lesotho population estimates about 1.08 million (just under 51%), females, while men accounted for about 1.05 million. According to the Council on Higher Education (CHE), 61% of the 23 252 higher education students are female. CHE does not disaggregate student enrolment statistics by programmes and gender. It is crucial to know the fields in which female students register. These must be strategic fields. Shutting out more than half the population from the economy deprives Lesotho of attaining her potential. Women must enrol in strategic qualifications that enable them 100% participation in the country’s socio-economic development. The women’s 2015 literacy rate estimate was 95%, and men’s was 83%. The overall literacy rate was 97%. Kali attributes the higher literacy rate of women to the migrant labour system. Men commission education of children to women. Scholars have carried out studies that seek to understand the awkward predicament that women and the girl child experience, well over 54 years post-Lesotho-independence. The Beijing Conference of Gender held in 1995 brought significant changes to women’s lives. Even so, Lesotho has taken some strides toward addressing women and gender challenges. Kali, Molapo and other scholars list many undertakings to mainstream women, including a quota system. These result from Lesotho’s participation in numerous international endeavours seeking to redress women’s marginalisation through statutory and legislative reforms. Scholars list a plethora of policy and legislative initiatives for protecting women’s interests. These suggested a quota system to enforce the participation of women in institutions such as parliaments and local councils. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was mandated to implement these initiatives. Lesotho’s government became a signatory to the following treaties and protocols: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), SADC Gender and Development Declarations and others. These advocate for drawing in women into political decision-making positions. The Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation emanate from these initiatives. This is a move in the right direction. But it still falls short. The mission of the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation states that the Ministry works: “… towards the advancement of gender equity and equality.” But it ventures into recreation, youth and sports. It clumps women’s issues, together with gender and youth. We can see strides in local government and women’s nominations in national elections. At national and cabinet levels, there are little movements. Women dominate the positions in the civil service and the clothing industry. There are very few women in senior positions such as principal secretaries, ambassadors, in government and executives in the private sectors. Lesotho has had a woman speaker in the National Assembly. Many can argue that the present proportional representation is nothing but an extension of tokenism. Kali claims that political parties use this proportional representation positions in the National Assembly to place women. However, some quarters groan over her term, accusing her of being a token. Tokenism is one of the challenges that pundits and schools ascribe to the use of the quota system. Lesotho has created a tokenism position of the ‘First Lady’ and allocated it to the sitting prime minister’s wife. The position is meaningless in a kingdom. This is the worst tokenism position that created a non-existent status. Efforts to redistribute power by eliminating traditional reinforcement that entrenches men into positions of power have proved futile. Men and patriarchy dominate the political arena. Although efforts to show consideration for women may be apparent, these are often cosmetic. They prove to be unenforceable. Molapo’s doctoral study: ‘Women and Patriarchy in Lesotho: A Deconstructive Study’, helps one contextualise the challenges of patriarchy. She argued that we need to go beyond interpreting the mere rational explanations of patriarchy’s cultural meaning in Basotho society for finding deep values. There are plural ways in which the Basotho people experience and understand patriarchy. In other words, different people, inclusive of their gender, view patriarchy differently. Her study is directly relevant to Basotho life, politics and will help many women struggle against sexism in their society. Also, Kali suggests that for the Lesotho government to achieve complete equality, equity redress, she must avail resources to enable women to plug the legal system’s loopholes. He concludes that until the country takes a decisive initiative to reconcile the constitution with customary law and reinvigorate its commitment to women empowerment, reality will not transcend mediocrity. Lesotho must take the initiatives to amend her laws in line with the constitution. This article shows that patriarchy manifests itself in gender inequality. Patriarchy is entrenched by culture, rhythm, language and societal ways of life as Basotho conduct their daily business. Lesotho is a signatory to international initiatives seeking to reverse gender inequalities. However, these have made little success. One such success is the introduction of a Ministry of Gender. However, even this falls short because the Ministry combines other portfolios. The Ministry seldom reports women laws and policy implementations. Women have a presence in politics and government. But they are too few. Even worse, sometimes, some powerful women betray others and become perpetrators. Women congest nonstrategic portfolios in the public and private sectors confirming that the quota systems failed women. Instead, it created tokens and tokenism. I conclude by recounting the dying George Floyd pleading with an officer pressing a knee on his neck, screaming: “Mama.” A Mosotho man would cry ‘Jo ‘Me oe!’ ‘Oh, Mother’. Yet society demeans this dear mother. Jimmy Cliff’s lyrics, ‘Dear Mother’ echo in my head. The exclusion of women inhibits Lesotho from achieving its potential. Lesotho cannot succeed unless a Mosotho woman becomes what she ought to be. No man shall liberate women. Women must pull the bull by its horns and emancipate themselves. Dr Tholang Maqutu

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