African Media Barometer Lesotho 2018 Summary Lesotho has seen its share of political turmoil in the last four years, with the government changing hands thrice during this time. While the 2015 Lesotho African Media Barometer (AMB) was underway, Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane had just fled into exile in South Africa, claiming threats on his life by the military under the new government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. A few months prior, Thabane’s party – the All Basotho Convention (ABC) – had lost the February 2015 election. However, there was no outright winner in this election: the Democratic Congress party won the greatest number of seats but fell short of an outright majority and teamed up with six other political parties – including the Lesotho Congress for Democracy led by Mosisili – to form a coalition. However, at the time of the 2018 AMB, Thabane had returned to the country, winning the June 2017 election after an earlier parliamentary vote of no confidence in Mosisili. Notably, as in 2015, the 2017 elections also failed to produce an outright winner; however, the ABC won the most seats and established the third coalition government with two other political parties. All these events transpired against a backdrop of simmering tensions that have seen the military become more involved in civic life. While incidences of violence have decreased, history has not been forgotten and continues to have an impact on how citizens and journalists practise their fundamental rights and freedoms. Soon after the 2018 AMB took place, a media alert was issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists with regards to threats made by the military against investigative journalist Pascalina Kabi of the Lesotho Times, following an article she had written about the Lesotho Defence Force. Despite the general improvement in the political tensions experienced in recent times, the citizens of Lesotho – specifically the members of the media – still do not feel completely free to practise their right to freedom of expression and to assert these rights without fear. This is partly due to the violence that citizens and journalists have witnessed and experienced in the past when they challenged the powers that be; and on the other hand, the current extreme polarisation of the media. This apprehension by journalists to freely express themselves has resulted in selfcensorship in both the state and private media. In some respects, this is due to fear of losing advertising in a market that cannot adequately sustain all the media houses in the country. 5 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018