Sam Matekane, 64, could become Prime Minister after his party won 56 out of 120 seats in Parliament.
Le Monde with AFP
Surprise candidate, the millionaire Sam Matekane, 64, who made a fortune in the diamond mines, obtained the greatest number of seats in the Lesotho parliament without reaching the absolute majority, the electoral commission announced on Monday October 10.
Screwing all the forecasts of the experts, its movement, the revolution for prosperity (RFP), created just six months before Friday ballot, won 56 seats out of 120, according to the final results. The other two parties that dominated the political landscape so far, the Democratic Congress (DC) and the Convention of all the Basotho (ABC), have obtained 29 and 8 seats respectively.
m. Matekane, considered the richest man of this small landlocked country in the South African territory, should become Prime Minister. However, it will be necessary to form a coalition to govern the constitutional monarchy, marked by strong political instability. “All these succeeded governments, we supported them” financially, confided to AFP, the day before the ballot, this man with a stocky physique, with ras and fine mustache: “But we realized that we had to Take things in hand. “
The Lesotho, one of the poorest countries on the planet, “is sinking: we, businessmen, we have to save him,” said the candidate. It proposes to relaunch the economy and to overcome public debt, without dwelling on the details or the method.
from diamond donkeys
Party of nothing by embarking at 22 years old in donkey breeding, the former herd goalkeeper, seventh of fourteen children, grew up in a family of peasants in the highlands. He likes motorcycle races, familiar jokes and displays an uninhibited wealth, even if he refuses to give the amount of his fortune. At the head of a myriad of companies gathered under the Matekane Group of Companies (MGC) entity, he heads a company exploiting the Lesang mine, where the fifth largest diamond in the world (910 carats) was discovered in 2018 . He gained popularity by building schools, stadium or even a theater. He finances scholarships and sponsors the National Football Federation. During the COVVI-19 pandemic, he participated in the purchase of vaccines.
In the street, many of them demanded a change and better living conditions. The population, mainly rural and more than 30 % of which lives with less than $ 1.90 per day, according to the World Bank, is knocked out by endemic unemployment at 22.5 %. “He will have to work hard to satisfy the people who showed him their confidence,” notes the political scientist Tlohang Letsie, of the National University of Lesotho. “His reputation and the anger of people towards the other parties allowed him to gain votes,” he said to AFP.
Some 1.5 million voters were called upon to vote on Friday for around fifty parties. The day after the ballot, support from the businessman had gathered in the capital, Maseru, when the first remains showed him in mind. “I come from the mountains, up there we have no food, no water, nothing. RFP will change it all,” said Mamamello Shoaepane, 40, crying with joy. Singing and dancing in the street, the little euphoric crowd, dressed in white and green -the colors of the party -chanted: “Prosperity is life!”
The constitutional monarchy has been directed since 2012 by coalition governments, made unstable by frequent changes of edge and split within parties. The former British protectorate has also known since its independence, in 1966, a succession of coups d’etat and forced exiles of political leaders.