Lesotho’s Anti-Corruption Paradox – Empowered but Undermined

Over the past decade, Lesotho’s political landscape has been marked by repeated leadership turnover and fragile coalition governments, which have steadily eroded public trust. Power oscillated between Pakalitha Mosisili–first as leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and later the Democratic Congress (DC)–and Tom Thabane of the All-Basotho Convention (ABC), itself an offshoot of the LCD. Thabane’s first term (2012-15) ended abruptly after his deputy, Mothejoa Metsing, who faced