Since Tuesday 16 May in Lesotho, a small country in southern Africa completely surrounded by South Africa, has been imposed a curfew national indefinite term to tackle violent crimes, which make Lesotho one of the countries with the highest homicide rate in the world. The curfew will start every night at 10pm and end at 4am. The government has not disclosed an end date for the measure.
The decision was taken after a prominent radio host and investigative journalist, Ralikonelo Joki, was killed in Maseru, the capital: on May 14, around 10:00 pm, some people shot Joki in the head and body for at least 13 times. The reporter was leaving the studios of FM Tsenolo radio, for which he worked, shortly after finishing his Sunday program.
The murder of Ralikonelo Joki is only the latest violent attack committed in Lesotho against journalists and activists. The Media Institute of Southern Africa, a non-governmental organization that promotes free and independent media, did he know that Joki was killed because of his work, and that between March and April he received at least three death threats in connection with the stories he told. His death would be an attempt to intimidate journalists. Joki’s radio program dealt with current affairs: the journalist had often criticized the government and in 2021 he had discovered and reported on the involvement of five politicians in the illicit alcohol trade.
Lesotho is a small country: completely contained in South Africa, and has an area of just over 30,000 square kilometers. It is a little smaller than Piedmont and Liguria combined. It has about two million inhabitants, and has the distinction of being the only country in the world to be entirely higher than a thousand meters above sea level.
According to the last relationship according to the United Nations World Population Review, Lesotho is also the third country in the world with the highest annual homicide rate, after El Salvador and Jamaica: 43.5 homicides occur per 100,000 inhabitants. Last January, to try to stop the violence and tackle the country’s rising homicide rate, the government suspended the issuance of new firearms licenses and has now revoked existing licenses. The curfew that began on Tuesday means that anyone on the streets between 10pm and 4am without a police permit could face a fine or up to two years in prison.
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Several international associations of journalists have called for the investigation into Joki’s murder to be carried out in a thorough and speedy manner and have criticized the slowness of the country’s judicial system, explaining, for example, that the trial for the attempted murder of the former director of the Lesotho Times, Lloyd Mutungamiri, dragged on for years. On July 9, 2016, some men shot Mutungamiri in front of his house. In 2014, Mutungamiri was sued for defamation over an article on corruption within the police force, and a few days before the attempted assassination he was questioned about the sources of a rather critical article on the Lesotho military chief.
Five members of the country’s army were later arrested for the attack, and after continued delays four of them will not be tried until next July. “People think there are no consequences for attacks on journalists because since Lloyd Mutungamiri was killed in 2016, his attackers have not been jailed,” commented the Media Institute of Southern Africa. In turn, Angela Quintal, coordinator of the Africa program of the Committee to protect journalists (CPJ), he said that “the authorities must send a clear signal to those who believe they can attack or kill journalists without consequences and that, at least in Joki’s case, there will be a rapid ascertainment of responsibility”.