LESOTHO: LONG TERM INVESTMENT CREATIVE SOLUTIONS AND HELP NEEDED TO BOOST COUNTRY'S GROWTH

Record ID: 646917

  • Title: LESOTHO: LONG TERM INVESTMENT CREATIVE SOLUTIONS AND HELP NEEDED TO BOOST COUNTRY'S GROWTH
  • Date: 1st June 2005
  • Summary: MASERU, LESOTHO (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. CROWD OF WORKERS IN MARKET AREA NEXT TO FACTORY DISTRICT 2. WORKERS EATING LUNCH 3. CROWD OF WORKERS 4. TWO WOMEN IN CROWD 5. WOMEN CHATTING 6. VARIOUS OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN MARKET 7. WORKERS EATING LUNCH MASERU, LESOTHO (FILE) (REUTERS) 8. CHINESE MANAGER OF TEXTILE FACTORY WALKING ON FACTORY FLOOR 9. WOMAN WORKER PILING PAIRS OF JEANS 10. VARIOUS OVERVIEW OF FACTORY FLOOR WITH SCORES OF WORKERS BUSY SEWING CLOTHES MASERU, LESOTHO (RECENT) (REUTERS) 11. EXTERIOR OF CLOSED FACTORY WITH SIGN 12. EXTERIOR OF ANOTHER CLOSED TEXTILE FACTORY 13. WOMEN PROTESTING, DEMANDING JOBS 14. FACE OF WOMAN 15. PEOPLE DEMANDING JOBS 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Sethoso) MAMXOLISI GONGOTHA, UNEMPLOYED GARMENT WORKER, SAYING: "I will die if I don't get a job. I don't have any other way of getting an income. I don't even have capital for a small business like selling apples on the street. I don't even have a cent to my name." 17. JOURNALIST KEKLETSO MOTOPI 18. VARIOUS OF KEKLETSO MOTOPI AND OTHER JOURNALISTS AT WORK AT 'PUBLIC EYE' MASERU, LESOTHO (FILE)(REUTERS) 19. CHINESE MANAGER TALKING TO STAFF 20. VARIOUS OF OLD NAVY JEANS BEING MANUFACTURED MASERU, LESOTHO (FILE) (REUTERS) 21. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEKLETSO MOTOPI, JOURNALIST AT 'PUBLIC EYE' NEWSPAPER, SAYING: "There's that feeling that they have been abandoned, especially because, as I am sure you are aware that most of the Basotho labour was being used in South African mines so with the heavy retrenchments in South Africa, many people, especially women this time, took employment with the Chinese. Now with them closing shop, it means that families are now without salaries." 22. (SOUNDBITE) (Sesotho) MALESEMA NT'SASA , UNEMPLOYED GARMENT WORKERS, SAYING: "No-one explained to us why the factories closed down. I feel helpless because I am the sole breadwinner. My situation is unbearable." 23. CITY CENTRE 24. CARS ON STREET 25. CHINESE NATIONALS WALKING ON STREET 26. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIMOTHY THANANE, LESOTHO FINANCE MINISTER, SAYING: "I have recently come back from China where we had discussions with them on how we can diversify our exports with their participation. So it is a difficult, competitive world but we are holding our own and we plan to remain there." 27. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEKLETSO MOTOPI, JOURNALIST, SPEAKING IN HER OFFICE: "It's a matter of being creative. Lesotho is a country with many opportunities, I think, and if one is creative enough there is a lot that we can sell. We have one of the most unusual landscape. Some of the things that are found here in Lesotho, the vegetation and the animals that are found here in Lesotho, I think those are things that we could really explore." 28. LESOTHO LANDSCAPE 29. VARIOUS OF POOR VILLAGE IN LESOTHO 3.43 Initials FOR VOICED PACKAGE SEE TAPE 10703 15.17.22 - 15.21.07 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MASERU, LESOTHO
  • Country: Lesotho
  • Reuters ID: LVA5T51NVU59ZOUD03UQM8HXVVPL
  • Story Text: Tiny Lesotho in southern Africa hopes to grow its
    economy, but needs long-term investment, creative solutions
    and help to boost growth.

    It's a busy lunchtime in a factory district in
    Lesotho, a mountainous country in Southern Africa. Hundreds
    of factory workers are out shopping and buying lunch. But
    this colourful sight hides some alarming statistics.

    Lesotho has an unemployment rate of almost fifty
    percent and as many as thirty percent of its people are HIV
    positive.

    So when Asian textile firms started opening in Lesotho,
    the country hailed the employment of thousands of workers
    as a great opportunity.

    But just over a year since these pictures were taken,
    many Asian companies are gone, taking their equipment with
    them, some leaving workers unpaid.

    Many in Lesotho feel that they've been cheated. 10,000
    thousand people have lost their jobs leaving people
    desperate for work.

    Unemployed garment worker Mamxolisi Gongotha is one of
    them.

    "I will die if I don't get a job. I don't have any
    other way of getting an income. I don't even have capital
    for a small business like selling apples on the street. I
    don't even have a cent to my name," she explained.

    Kekletso Motopi is a journalist with a local newspaper,
    The Public Eye, in the capital, Maseru. She witnessed the
    arrival and the departure of companies that set up shop in
    Lesotho to take advantage of a special access agreement to
    U.S. markets called AGOA, or the African Growth and
    Opportunities Act.

    A change in the quota system under WTO rules, meant
    Asian companies no longer needed Lesotho to gain access to
    markets in the United States.

    "There's that feeling that they have been abandoned,
    especially because, as I am sure you are aware that most of
    the Basotho labour was being used in South African mines so
    with the heavy retrenchments in South Africa, many people,
    especially women this time, took employment with the
    Chinese. Now with them closing shop, it means that families
    are now without salaries," she said.

    29-year-old Malesema Nt'sasa looks after ten children,
    including 8 orphaned nephews and nieces. She was one of
    those who lost jobs when factories closed down.

    "No-one explained to us why the factories closed down.

    I feel helpless because I am the sole breadwinner. My
    situation is unbearable," she said.

    The developed world is hoping to kick-start economic
    growth in Africa with a huge aid package this year. Lesotho
    is hoping it can attract serious investors rather than
    fly-by-night operators.

    Thanks to AGOA, Lesotho's textile industry was growing
    before the arrival of Asian manufacturers. Some 10,000 jobs
    have been lost but the sector still employs another 50,000
    people. Lesotho's Finance Minister, Timothy Thanane is
    determined to fight back and grow the sector again.

    "I have recently come back from China where we had
    discussions with them on how we can diversify our exports
    with their participation. So it is a difficult, competitive
    world but we are holding our own and we plan to remain
    there," he said.

    Kekletso Motopi says Lesotho must also look to other
    areas of the economy to grow jobs.

    "It's a matter of being creative. Lesotho is a country
    with many opportunities, I think, and if one is creative
    enough there is a lot that we can sell. We have one of the
    most unusual landscape. Some of the things that are found
    here in Lesotho, the vegetation and the animals that are
    found here in Lesotho, I think those are things that we
    could really explore," he said.

    While aid efforts like AGOA have provided some stimulus
    to the local economy, Leotho must grow its economy much
    faster than the current two percent if is to overcome
    poverty, joblessness and HIV/Aids. Solutions presented
    during the G8 summit at Gleneagles may help ignite that
    growth.


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