Sechaba Mokhethi

2 weeks ago | buff.ly | Sechaba Mokhethi

On 2 April, Jane*, a worker at Leo Garments clothing factory in Lesotho was sent home. She is one of many workers left sitting at home as Lesotho faces a potential 50% tariff hike from the United States. Until the Trump administration introduced a 10% tariff, Lesotho exported duty free to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). An additional 40% tariff was suspended, pending negotiations.

3 weeks ago | ewn.co.za | Sechaba Mokhethi

It is 8:23am in the highlands of Semonkong. Learners line up at Ha Samuel Primary School for their morning porridge. Many of them would not have had breakfast were it not for the school’s food scheme. Over 20% of the Lesotho population is at risk of not having enough food. Rates of childhood stunting due to malnutrition are high. Many children are from child-headed households. “For some of them, lunch at school is the last meal of the day,” said one teacher.

3 weeks ago | groundup.org.za | Sechaba Mokhethi

SanLei Premium Trout, which farms trout in Lesotho’s Katse Dam under licence from the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), overstated its donations to the community, a GroundUp probe has found. The company told the LHDA it donated fish heads worth R2.9-million as part of its obligations to the community in 2024. But the true value was R450,000.

3 weeks ago | zawya.com | Sechaba Mokhethi

In March, Lesotho’s health minister Selibe Mochoborane boldly stated that the country’s HIV response will survive without support from the US. The US model was “too expensive”, he said, and methods would have to be adapted “to align with our available resources". He was confident that Lesotho would still reach its ambitious HIV prevention and treatment targets by 2030. But senior health officials seemed less confident while presenting to Parliament’s portfolio committee on pandemics last week.

3 weeks ago | groundup.org.za | Sechaba Mokhethi

60% of the country’s HIV counsellors have been laid off and the country’s TB programme is faltering Despite previous assurances by Lesotho’s Minister of Health that the country’s HIV response will cope without US funding, senior officials say testing rates are dropping and prevention programmes have been gutted. Only 12% of Lesotho’s R2.2-billion health budget was government-funded last year. More than half of the budget came from USAID and the US Centre for Disease Control.