Some respondents showed sufficient understanding and knowledge to be able to make recommendations for a more relevant form of democracy for Lesotho. This theme
emanated from the Maseru respondents, who represented the urban context. This can be attributed to the level of exposure they have to information, which differs from the rural based respondents in Qacha’s Nek, although it must be noted that all respondents were free to move from place to place, since they were not confined to one area.
In Maseru, these responses clearly came from IEC educators, who are mainly responsible for offering civic education programmes countrywide. It is, therefore, assumed that they are knowledgeable enough to give a critical view of how democracy should be practiced and be taught to the citizens of Lesotho. They spoke about the structure of parliament itself. This is what they reflected:
To me Senate House is not necessary. It would be good if they [Senate members]
were based at the local level instead of being centrally based. Instead we should have an elected Senate that can be used as checks and balances. That can be done in quotas where women, youth, principal chiefs, the disabled, academicians and others can be represented. I would say that our democracy is growing and brings
improvement if Senate House can also be elected. As of now that is still imposition of people over people (Male, IEC educator, Maseru).
Senate House is the upper house of parliament, which consists of twenty-two principal chiefs (non-elected traditional leadership) and eleven appointees/nominees by the king
150 acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State (Government of Lesotho, 1993).
It is in relation to the eleven appointees that a male politician in Maseru raised a concern, that people who belong to the ruling government of the day as members, are nominated to Senate House with the intention of being made Ministers in the Executive Branch of
government. Here too, the IEC educator viewed the idea of nominees as the imposition of people over people, and hence, the proposal he makes that members of Senate House should be elected just like members of the national assembly.
Another IEC educator discussed democracy in terms of its relationship to rights and responsibilities:
Democracy is not bad. Parents have given their children unwanted and unnecessary freedom, which they do not need … in return parents like to put blame upon
democracy by pinpointing the syllabus in schools, they blame televisions, radios and again the society contributes to raise our children. Parents should blame themselves for not taking responsibility of raising their children well (Female, IEC educator, Maseru).
Her opinion was corroborated by a male citizen who expressed the lack of responsibility by parents and the lack of social cohesion:
Parents do not exercise their responsibility of ensuring that they discipline their children, they are unfair, and they do not groom their children well … It is the way parents raise their children today that differs from the past. The main issue is lack of responsibility and family cohesion. The issue of blaming democracy is just a brain wash (Male citizen, Maseru).
Another comment from Maseru revealed a deeper understanding about the value of engaging in critical thinking, especially by children:
At first children were not free and did not know about their rights; however, they are now being critical. They know that they should not be sent … like to buy liquor for adults. This came as a result of domestic abuse as well as child abuse that were regularly reported in our country. …these children know their rights and they ask questions, which I think it is good because it means we will have critical people who do not just follow but ask and evaluate before performing certain acts (Female, IEC educator, Maseru).
Indeed there seemed to be a less blame on democracy by the respondents from the urban context in Maseru, as indicated in the above quotations. Although traditional values still
151 seemed to be threatened by the onset of democracy, religion seemed to play a stabilising part in the current context in upholding democratic laws within the current democratic context, as indicated by Maseru participants. The female mayor commented:
Our Christian life supersedes the laws and the structures because it promotes a person’s stability, healthy living, welfare … our economic development and democracy is enforced by our Christian beliefs.
Similarly, another Maseru based IEC educator related how she uses Christianity as a means of helping her understand and promote democracy.
I was taught religion; we were singing and even had a family choir that sang hymns.
In the past I used to become emotional when talking about political issues … I now bring different political parties to meet and discuss about national issues. I instil in them that we are all Basotho. I think that has helped me because I always quote the Lord’s Prayer (Female, IEC Educator, Maseru).
It is observed from these responses that democracy is seen, on the one hand, as
contributing to an elimination of cultural oppression of women and children that helped in the uplifting of their position from patriarchal oppression. On the other hand, democracy is blamed for the cause of social dysfunctionality because it is eroding traditional codes of behaviour. This reflects a transition from communitarian forms of democracy where traditional values of collectiveness and interconnectedness within a society/community appear to be eroding, as reflected in the conceptual framework in Chapter Three(Arthur, 2000; Cawthra et al., 2007; Preece & Mosweunyane, 2004). Below is the summary of responses regarding how democracy is understood by both Qacha’s Nek and Maseru respondents.
Table 6: Comparative Summary Table Showing how Democracy is Understood
Democracy Themes Qacha’s Nek Maseru
Understanding of traditional democracy
• Democracy was practiced
• Non- Practice of Democracy
• Democracy as an interim practice
√
√
√
√
√ Understanding of modern democracy
• Democracy as representation
• Democracy as freedom
• Democracy as growth and development
√
√
√
√
√ Tensions brought by democracy
• Abuse of governance √ √
152
• Democracy as modernisation and new technology
• Erosion of traditional cultural values
• Children’s behaviour
• Exercising rights
• Gender equality
• Democracy as inadequately taught and misinterpreted
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Critical thinking about democracy √
From the above summary table, respondents in both the rural and urban contexts
demonstrate an understanding of traditional democracy as it is practiced and is not being practiced. Only respondents in Maseru show an understanding of the transitional phase to modern democracy. All respondents show an understanding of modern democracy, with democracy as representation and democracy as freedom. Respondents in Maseru show their appreciation of these aspects and about democracy as growth and development. With regard to tensions that are associated with democracy, all respondents provide evidence of these. Maseru respondents, however, particularly the IEC educators, demonstrate
additional critical thinking about how democracy should be practiced, which is not the case from Qacha’s Nek respondents. The following discussion compares the findings and
discusses these in terms of relevant literature and the conceptual framework that is outlined in Chapter Three.