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The difficult economic situation gave the opposition party
the Congress Party the election victory in 1970. Prime
Minister Leabua Jonathan now conducted a coup d'etat,
dissolved the parliament and sent King Moshoeshoe II into
exile. He could only be allowed to return if he abstained
from any political activity.
Following the student revolt in the Johannesburg suburb
of Soweto in 1976, thousands of young South Africans sought
asylum in Lesotho. When South Africa began to establish the
so-called "bantustans", Lesotho refused to recognize the
phantom state of Transkei (see South Africa ). This led the
apartheid state to retaliate at the beginning of 1977
against the Lesotho border. Economic aggression created a
very serious situation for the small country that issued
dramatic calls for international solidarity.
Following Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Lesotho joined
the regional cooperation project launched by the so-called
Frontline States and at the same time made contacts with
Mozambique
According to
Countryaah data,
this triggered a new wave of reprisals on the part of South
Africa, which began to give open support to groups opposed
by the Jonathan government. This forced him to ask for
support from the UN and the EU. At the same time, the
Basotho National Party (GDP) was faced with increased
opposition from the Congress Party under the leadership of
Ntsu Mokhele.
Most armed clashes were caused by the South African
military, which was interested in preventing the
anti-apartheid opponents of the ANC from organizing in
Maseru (see South Africa ). In December 1982, South African
soldiers executed a commando raid in the capital of Lesotho,
killing 45 people, including 12 children. During the
campaign, 3 ANC leaders were killed. The other killers were
without political connections.
From 1982, the government introduced exemption
legislation. The military and the police were strengthened
while the Koeko paramilitary group began to fight against
supporters of the Basotho Congress Party (BCP) in the
Drakensberg Mountains. The BCP abandoned its nationalist
line from the 70s, was thrown into deep crisis and several
of its leaders began to receive support from South Africa.
In March 1983, it came to a border meeting between
Lesotho and South Africa, when some South African saboteurs
tried to enter the kingdom to destroy its main electricity
works. The Pretoria government increased the pressure to get
Lesotho to sign a non-aggression agreement with South
Africa, similar to the apartheid regime that had concluded
with Swaziland and Mozambique. Jonathan was opposed to such
an agreement, but the country's economic dependence forced
him to take a flexible stance.
In late 1984, the South African government began to
withhold products imported from Lesotho - especially weapons
bought in Europe. At the same time, it delayed the
remittances of the 400,000 Lesotho migrant workers in the
Cape region. Finally, it delayed the plans for the
construction of a hydroelectric plant on the river Sengu in
the border area between the two countries. The pressure was
aimed at increasing opposition to GDP. This was especially
true of the right-wing BDA and the former left-wing BCP.
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