{"id":11261,"date":"2012-06-08T23:04:54","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T21:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/new-lesotho-pm-sworn-in-to-head-coalition-govt\/"},"modified":"2012-06-08T23:04:54","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T21:04:54","slug":"new-lesotho-pm-sworn-in-to-head-coalition-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/new-lesotho-pm-sworn-in-to-head-coalition-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"New Lesotho PM sworn in to head coalition govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

MASERU, June 8<\/span> (Reuters) – Lesotho opposition leader Thomas
\nThabane was sworn in on Friday as the mountain kingdom’s new
\nprime minister after he ousted the man who held the job for 14
\nyears by cobbling together a narrow coalition government.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The smooth transition will allay fears for a rerun of 1998,
\nwhen post-poll wrangling led to weeks of unrest that ultimately
\ntriggered military intervention by neighbouring South Africa and
\nBotswana to restore order.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“This is not my victory but your victory as the nation
\nbecause you are the ones who elected us into power,” Thabane, a
\n72-year-old career civil servant and former foreign minister,
\nsaid at the swearing in ceremony in the capital Maseru.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pakalitha Mosisili, prime minister for 14 years, accepted
\ndefeat this week after Thabane managed to forge the coalition
\nafter elections held almost two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mosisili’s Democratic Congress party had the most seats with
\n48 while Thabane’s All Basotho Convention came second with 30.
\nBut Thabane managed to tap into anti-Mosisili sentiment among
\nsmaller parties to get a slim majority in the 120-seat
\nparliament.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Since independence from Britain in 1966, Lesotho – entirely
\nsurrounded by South Africa – has undergone several military
\ncoups although the army and police told election monitors before
\nthe poll they would act professionally and not take sides. The
\ncapital on Friday was calm.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Unrest would have dented a $4 billion economy, which is
\nforecast to expand at 4 percent this year due to a boom in
\ndiamond mining and a recovery in the farming sector after
\nserious flooding in 2011.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides a slice of regional customs receipts, Lesotho’s big
\nearner is hydropower exported to South Africa from the massive
\nmountain ranges that have made it a favourite of trivia fans as
\n“the world’s highest country” – its lowest point is 1,380 metres
\n(4,528 feet) above sea level.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

(Reporting by Marafaele Mohloboli; Writing by Ed Stoddard;
\nEditing by Alison Williams)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MASERU, June 8 (Reuters) – Lesotho opposition leader Thomas Thabane was sworn in on Friday as the mountain kingdom’s new prime minister after he ousted the man who held the job for 14 years by cobbling together a narrow coalition government. The smooth transition will allay fears for a rerun of 1998, when post-poll wrangling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}