• ALERT Date: April 27, 2008 Person: Marafaele Mohloboli, Kenny Ntoane and Nthakeng Selinyane Violation/issue: Harassed and banned On April 27, MISA Lesotho Deputy Chairperson Marafaele Mohloboli, a reporter with IntelServ, was allegedly sexually harassed by the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) MP for Matsieng, Mootsi Lehata, during the Women’s League conference in Maseru. Mohloboli says Lehata had parked his car near the hall at the Lesotho co-operatives college when she arrived for the event and started saying how “appetising” she was. “He then called me and touched my thighs and cleavage,” she told MISA Lesotho. Mohloboli laid charges of sexual harassment with the Maseru Central Police against the ruling party’s lawmaker. The date of the case has not been set. At the same conference Nthakeng Selinyane of Public Eye newspaper and the SABC’s Kenny Ntoane were chased away by members of the ruling party who alleged that they belonged to the opposition party, the All Basotho Convention (ABC). Ntoane was manhandled and pushed from the hall by LCD members who also confiscated his equipment. Insults were hurled at the three reporters as they were chased away from the conference. Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s son and Deputy Principal Secretary in the Ministry of youth and sports, Rethabile Mosisili, are alleged to have further fuelled the mayhem. • ALERT Date: May 12, 2008 Person/institutions: Broadcasting media Violation/issue: other The Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) on May 12 slapped broadcasters with a more than seven-fold hike in license fees. The LCA sent invoices to radio stations with new licence fees, increased from the equivalent of US$400 to US$3,000 per year. This shocked the broadcasting media, especially the private media, as it has experienced economic suffocation in recent years from the government which, among other things, mostly limits its advertising to the state-owned media. MISA Lesotho expressed concern at the fee hike, noting that most radio stations are already struggling to meet day-to-day running costs. • ALERT Date: July 12, 2008 Person: Thabo Thakalekoala Violation/issue: Charged and sentenced Broadcast journalist Thabo Thakalekoala gave evidence in his defence in the Lesotho High Court on June 10-11, 2008. Thakalekoala was charged with sedition after reading a letter from Lesotho’s oppositional groups in 2007. The state charges that the letter is seditious. Thakalekoala, arrested on June 22, 2007, was sentenced on October 22, 2008 in the High Court of Lesotho by Judge Gabriel Mofolo to two years in prison or a fine of M200 (USD $17.50). The High Court further sentenced Thakalekoala to a further two years for criminal defamation and subversion. The two-year sentence was wholly suspended on condition that Thakalekoala does not commit a similar offence in the next three years. • ALERT Date: July 21, 2008 Institution: Harvest FM Violation/issue: Charged, banned and sentenced On July 21, the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) imposed a nine-month suspension on Harvest FM for what it called failure to co-operate with the authority. LCA chairperson Metsing Mangoaela said the station would be suspended for nine months, six of which would So This Is Democracy? 2008 -39- Media Institute of Southern Africa