Political Environment and Media Coverage of the Lesotho 2015 Parliamentary Elections

Presentation Prepared for Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in Partnership with MISA-Lesotho on: Media Coverage of the 2015 General Elections Findings Launch

Maseru Sun, 20th July, 2015

By

Motlamelle Anthony Kapa (PhD)Senior Lecturer & Head

Department of Political & Administrative Studies National University of Lesotho

E-Mail: ma.kapa@nul.ls; amkapa@yahoo.co.uk

Introduction

• Task: to reflect on the general political and media environment during the 2015 parliamentary elections; the most accessed politicians during these elections; and the media coverage of political parties.

• A huge task requiring more time, but I will only provide highlights to generate discussions

• I rely on my knowledge of the context and the report launched tonight to carry out this task

Media/democracy nexus Arguably, if there is no media, there is no democracy! Mass media play vital role in democracies. Providing citizens with political news and diverse opinions in an accurate, fair and

balanced fashion in order for citizens to make informed decisions and choices; Mass media must be pluralist, thereby permitting competition of the many political

interests and ideas and report these fully and interpreting news from diverse political standpoints

They must not be controlled by governments or dominated by a narrow set of commercial or social interests that present only one political position ( Newton & van Deth, 2005:182-183)

The above scenario is more true during electoral campaigns than other times since: Elections tend to heighten political stakes as politicians, especially in contexts such

as Lesotho, engage in fierce competition for political office, which is a sure avenue to wealth accumulation.

Access to state power is invariably access to wealth, and the reverse is true

The 2015 Elections Political Environment: Brief background

The political environment was heavily influenced by the events that took place in 2014, and crucially the collapse of the ABC, LCD, & BNP coalition government.

Causes of the collapse of ABC, LCD & BNP Coalition government: Claims of non-consultation in key decision-making process by the

then PM No confidence vote attempt Prorogation of parliament Attempts to dismiss senior public officers including the army

commander Outcome of the attempts: alleged coup d'état, PM flight SADC two-pronged intervention: political and security

The 2015 Political Environment: Brief background Cont’d

Security and high level of polarisation of government were the main features of the environment:

The bitter rivalry between the LCD and its coalition partners pushed the LCD towards the DC, while the ABC & BNP also appeared to have friendly relations

There was a strong talk and call for the so-called ‘Congress parties' to co-operate so as to isolate the ABC/BNP and a new splinter party from the LCD, the RCL

Competition was fierce amidst high levels of insecurity especially for the leadership of the ABC and BNP (who were under South African security protection) and the leadership of the LCD (who were under the LDF security protection)

Campaign rallies of these leaders were characterised by unprecedented level of security

The 2015 Political Environment: Brief background Cont’d

Fairly open and highly competitive system: Despite the security crises, political parties campaigned vigorously under

highly competitive and fairly open environment (no one party was assured of victory).

Fierce intra-party competition during respective parties’ primaries, leading to some senior members of different parties, including cabinet ministers, losing the contest.

The peaceful massive final rallies of the main four parties. IEC did its work admirably well in spite of challenges of a snap election such

as: reports by the IEC itself that some of its laptops have been stolen causing

serious worries about the implications this would have for the elections. issues about the poor quality of the voters’ roll (a usual complaint in all

Lesotho elections).

The 2015 Political Environment: Brief background Cont’d

These were addressed: some of the laptops were found and the statement from the police on this matter was that this was a pure theft, which has no bearing on the elections.

The IEC’s statements on Tuesday 17th February 2015 that they were ready for elections no complaints from parties: indicators of a conducive environment for elections.

The churches and other members of the civil society fraternity worked hard for peace and security

State media also provided fairly equitable access to parties and candidates arguably because no one party dominated the system

But private media (especially radio stations) were highly partisan: some radio stations were blatantly unapologetic in their support of either the ABC and the BNP, on the one hand, or the LCD and the main opposition DC.

You just needed to spend few minutes during their political programmes and you would be clear where they stand.

Why were the media partisan in their coverage of political parties, politicians?

Contrary to the theoretical role of the media indicated earlier, private media displayed polarisation and also played a more divisive role in society, ostensibly for commercial gain and pure political party affiliation

They favourably covered their preferred parties and politicians probably hoping to get financial benefits, should these win (Is that so?)

Some media houses turned themselves into mouth-pieces of political parties and politicians, effectively campaigning for some parties and de-campaigning others

Parties with more resources bought programmes from different but also ‘friendly’ radio stations: i.e. money in politics was also an important factor

They have been fanning (through their invited or self-invited guests to their programmes) the artificial and dangerously divisive talk of ‘Congress/National’ social divide with potential to cause serious and unbridgeable divisions

Why were the media partisan in their coverage of political parties, politicians?

Lesotho is one of the few countries with a high level of homogeneity, a feature that other countries characterised by real natural diversity, hence easy to manipulate and cause serious violence.

This talk has exacerbated after the elections and is continuing unabated The findings of the report launched tonight clearly and accurately

demonstrate this and I concur with them The political environment did not only influence media coverage of

parties and politicians but actually defined the character and behaviour of the media in a political economy where access to state power necessarily means access to economic survival

The Lesotho’s 2015 elections are indeed instructive in this regard.END

I Thank You