LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of conscience, thought, and religion, including the freedom to change religion or belief and to manifest and propagate one’s religion. These rights may be limited by laws in the interests of defense, public safety, order, morality, or to protect the rights of others, provided the limitations are the minimum necessary.

The law requires religious marriages to be performed by clergy members, leaving adherents of religious traditions without a clergy, such as Baha’is, with civil marriage as their only option. The law also recognizes marriage under Lesotho customary law based on Basotho cultural norms and practices.

By law, any group, religious or otherwise, may register as a legal entity with the government provided the entity has a constitution and a leadership committee. Most religious groups register, but there is no penalty for those that do not. Registration gives a group legal standing, formalizes its structure under the law, and provides exemption from income tax. In the absence of registration, religious organizations may operate freely but without legal standing or any of the protections of registered organizations.

The Ministry of Education pays and certifies all teachers at government-funded schools, including religious schools, and requires a standard curriculum for both secular and religious schools. The government permits, but does not mandate, religious education in schools. The constitution exempts students at any educational institution from requirements to receive instruction or attend any ceremony or observance associated with a religion that is not their own. The Minister of Education must approve all curricula, including for religious education classes. The law does not prohibit or restrict schools run by religious organizations. Other than the constitutional provision barring discrimination, there is no specific law requiring religious schools to accept children outside of the school’s denomination.

The country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

According to The Post and Lesotho Times, in March, Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs, and Police Lephema said a multistory building with a mosque overlooking the Prime Minister’s office and residential compound constructed next to the mosque posed a security risk. Referring to Muslims, Lephema said, “Let’s stop them and remind them that this is a Christian country.” Lephema also stated that Muslims trafficked Lesotho citizens to fight as terrorists in hostile countries.

The leader of the opposition Basotho National Party, Machesetsa Mofomobe, condemned Lephema’s comments. He stated that the country’s constitution provided for religious freedom and reminded Lephema that some of Mofomobe’s fellow members of the Basotho National Party were Muslims.

At a March 18 MUCOL press conference, MUCOL spokesperson Mohamed Abdulaziz Nhlapo stated Lephema’s comments were contrary to the constitution, which provided for freedom of movement, residence, and conscience and the right to equality before law. He expressed dismay at the Minister’s comments and explained there were two buildings in the subject compound – a mosque and a multistory, privately-owned building, and that the mosque was not located in the taller structure. Nhlapo said Lephema’s comment concerning stopping Muslims and declaring Lesotho a Christian country created the false impression that “one religion was superior to others,” adding that such comments promoted divisions and hatred.

At an iftar on April 12, Imam Thabiso Ralepoma said Muslims in the country would like to live in peace and maintain harmonious relations with other religious groups despite “heinous comments from high-ranking government officials that fomented division and hate.” Imam Ibrahim Sarr cautioned that government officials belittling Islam and Muslims could lead to increased social instability and a potentially negative effect on economic growth and investment in the country. MUCOL members said that local society as a whole did not understand Islam and that MUCOL members faced societal rejection.

On May 22, the CCL urged political leaders to stop making what it termed divisive statements that could destabilize the country and urged the government to pass a comprehensive reforms bill to overhaul the constitution, parliament, judiciary, public service, security, economy, and media.

On May 26, 12 Rastafarians filed a lawsuit urging the Constitutional Court to nullify and declare unconstitutional regulations that outlaw the growing, possession, or smoking of marijuana with exemptions only for medical and scientific purposes. They said that failure to provide a religious exemption was a form of discrimination against Rastafarian religious beliefs. The lawsuit was filed following the arrest of two Rastafarians for growing and possessing cannabis.

Muslim religious leaders continued to say Muslims had no access to state-owned television religious programming opportunities available to Christian groups, which left them unable to propagate their religion through this medium.

Churches continued to own and operate 83 percent of all primary and 66 percent of all secondary schools. The Roman Catholic Church, Lesotho Evangelical Church, Anglican Church, and to a lesser extent the Methodist Church were the primary operators of these schools, which were publicly funded.

In practice, religious education, mainly Christian religious doctrine, was mandatory in publicly funded schools, according to parents and teachers. Despite constitutional provisions allowing students to opt out of religious education, there were no reports of students electing to do so during the year.

The government continued to allow families to send their children to schools run by religious groups other than their own and some families chose this option. Others went to public or private secular schools.