1987 Edition

Airfields

28 total, 28 usable; 2 with permanent surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 3 with runways 1,2202,439 m

Civil air

1 major transport aircraft

Highways

5,167 km total; 508 km paved; 1,585 km crushed stone, gravel, or stabilized soil; 946 km improved earth, 2,128 km unimproved earth

Telecommunications

modest system consisting of a few land lines, a small radio-relay system, and minor radiocommunication stations; 5,920 telephones (0.4 per 100 popl.); 2 AM, 2 FM stations; 1 TV station planned; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT station

Total area

400 km Awalviea Bay * Johanneaburg Upington ,imbertay _ hadysmith Bilpemfontein ® "Oe Aar South Atlantic Ocean East London Cape Town Port Elizabeth oasetbaei

Ethnic divisions

99.7% Sotho; 1,600 Europeans, 800 Asians

Infant mortality rate

97.7/1,000 (1985)

Labor force

426,000 economically active (1976); 87.4% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; 150,000-250,000 spend from six months to many years as wage earners in South Africa

Language

Sesotho (southern Sotho) and English (official); also Zulu and Xhosa

Life expectancy

54.2 (1985)

Literacy

60%

Nationality

noun—Mosotho (sing.), Basotho (pl.); adjective—Basotho

Organized labor

negligible

Population

1,621,932 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 2.69%

Religion

80% Christian, rest indigenous beliefs

Administrative divisions

10 administrative districts

Branches

executive and legislative authority nominally vested in King; real power rests with six-man Military Council, established after military coup January 1986; 20-member Council of Ministers responsible for administrative duties; judicial—63 Lesotho courts administer customary law for Africans, High Court and subordinate courts have criminal jurisdiction over all residents, Court of Appeal at Maseru has appellate jurisdiction

Capital

Maseru

Communists

no information

Elections

elections scheduled for September 1985 were boycotted by all opposition parties because of procedural irregularities; ruling BNP won all 60 parliamentary seats by default Political parties and leaders: Basotho National Party (BNP), Leabua Jonathan; Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), Ntsn Mokhehle; Basotho Democratic Alliance (CDA), C. D. Molapo; National Independent Party (NIP), A. C. Manyeli; Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), B. Khaketla

Government leaders

MOSHOESHOE I], King (since 1966); Maj. Gen. Justinus Metsing LEKHANYA, chairman of Military Council and Minister of Defense and Internal Security (since January 1986); other members of council—Col. E. T. RAMAEMA, Col. A. K. MOSOEUNYANE, Col. M. K. TSOTETSI, Lt. Thabe LETSIE, Lt. Col. Joshua Sekhobe LETSIE (since January 1986)

Legal system

based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; constitution came into effect 1966; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Member of

AfDB, Commonwealth, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, 1TU, NAM, OAU, Southern African Customs Union, SADCC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO

National holiday

4 October

Official name

Kingdom of Lesotho

Suffrage

universal for adults

Type

constitutional monarchy under King Moshoeshoe II; independent member of Commonwealth

Voting strength

National Assembly inoperative as of 20 January 1986

Agriculture

exceedingly primitive, mostly subsistence farming and livestock; principal crops are corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley

corn, wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, citrus, fruits; cattle and dairy products; sheep and wool; self-sufficient in foodstuffs

Budget

revenues, $160 million; current expenditures, $130 million; development (capital) expenditures, $50 million (FY84/85)

(FY85/86) revenues, $10.6 billion; current expenditures, $12.3 billion

Electric power

power supplied by South Africa

29,954,000 kW capacity; 148,450 million kWh produced, 4,470 kWh per capita (1986)

Exports

labor to South Africa (remittances $300 million est. in 1985); $21 million (f.0.b., 1985), wool, mohair, wheat, cattle, peas, beans, corn, hides, skins, tourism, diamonds

$9.2 billion (f.0.b., 1985), gold, coal, diamonds, corn, uranium, other mineral and agricultural products; net gold output $7.0 billion (1985)

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March

1] April-3] March

Fishing

catch 599,897 metric tons (1983)

GDP

$325 million (1984)

$51 billion (1985), about $1,560 per capita; 2.0% real growth (1986)

Imports

$326 million (f.0.b., 1985); mainly corn, building materials, clothing, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum, oil, and lubricants

$10.4 billion (f.0.b., 1985); machinery, motor vehicle parts, petroleum products, textiles, chemicals

Major industries

none

mining, automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemical, fertilizer

Major trade partner

South Africa

Major trade partners

US, FRG, Japan, UK, Southern African Customs Union

Monetary conversion rate

2.25 maloti=2.25 South African rands=US$1 (November 1986)

2.5 South African rands=US$1 (29 January 1986)

Natural resources

some diamonds and other minerals, water, agricultural and grazing land

gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium

Airfields

956 total, 846 usable; 112 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m, 1] with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 215 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Highways

229,690 km total; 80,796 km paved, 148,894 km crushed stone, gravel, or improved earth

Pipelines

93) km crude oil; 1,748 km refined products; 322 km natural gas

Ports

7 major (Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, Saldanha, East London, and Mosselbaai); 1 minor (Walvis Bay) Civil air; 82 major transport aircraft

Railroads

1.6 km; owned, operated, and included in the statistics of the Republic of

36,499 km total (includes Namibia); 35,793 km 1.067-meter gauge, of which 6,830 km are multiple track, 16,27] km electrified; 706 km single track

Telecommunications

the system is the best developed, most modern, and highest capacity in Africa and consists of carrierequipped open-wire lines, coaxial cables, radio-relay links, and radiocommunication stations; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria; 3.47 million telephones (13.4 per 100 popl.); 14 AM, 286 FM, 67 main TV stations with 450 relay transmitters; 1 submarine cable; | Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT stations

Branches

Army, Army Air Wing, Police Department

Army, Navy, Air Force, Medical Services

Military manpower

males 15-49, 346,000; 187,000 fit for military service

males 15-49, 8,490,000; 5,182,000 fit for military service; 369,000 reach military age (18) annually; obligation for service in Citizen Force or Commandos begins at 18; volunteers for service in permanent force must be 17; national service obligation is two years; figures include Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Kwazulu, Lebowa, Transkei, and Venda