“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” John C. Maxwell.
“The problems of Basotho migrants in SA are heart-breaking,” Ms. Halieo Lelosa.
By L. Lechesa
The Lesotho National Broadcasting Service (LNBS), a state-owned broadcasting organisation, has a demanding responsibility that ought not to be taken lightly. This responsibility includes collecting information that it prepares to broadcast as news, as well as producing other programmes of interest that are beneficial in many other ways than just news to its consumers and country.
In addition, the LNBS has the responsibility to inform and educate its clientele about any other issue of public interest, and not to mislead or confuse them by spreading disinformation, falsehood or utter rubbish – which is what it does as a matter of routine, thus leaving a consumer like me frustrated with unanswered questions. As if this is not enough, the LNBS does not seem to know what actually constitutes news or is newsworthy or relevant to its audience. As it will be demonstrated, it would appear that the LNBS has its own weird definition of what constitutes news to be broadcast.
Also disturbing is its tendency to keep on repeating for days whatever the news bulletin they may have already broadcast. For instance, a news bulletin aired the previous evening on any given date is repeated as is throughout the following day. Assuming, for instance, an incident or event occurs and is aired as news on a Thursday; the following day, which is Friday, the same incident is aired again in the present, not past tense as if it is still Thursday and the incident is taking place, yet it is Friday, and the incident may have already ended.
To reiterate for the sake of further clarity, news read today will be read again tomorrow as though it is still today, with changes in dates and times disregarded.
The 2023 Local Government Elections is an example. On September 28, 2023, a news reader, Neo Shoaepane was his name, read: “Ke se-mphete-ke-u-fete ho ea mabatooeng, batho ba il’o khetha boesa,” which means, in English, “Tomorrow voters are streaming to their respective constituencies to vote.” Boesa means tomorrow or tomorrow morning. Neo’s boesa was Friday September 29. The following day, Friday, September 29, Neo read his “… boesa” again in the same way as he did the previous day, disregarding the fact that the incident is now past, and has to be broadcast as such, taking into account the applicable past tense.
Did Neo mean boesa as Saturday September 30, or did he slip out? No, he was deliberate enough and actually meant Friday the 29th.
On October 3, 2023, Bohlokoa Mahlelebe, Neo’s colleague, read: “Soon after this news bulletin at 20:00, we will receive…election results.” The following day, October 4, at about 13:25, Bohlokoa repeated her “Soon … at 8 O’clock, we will receive … the elections results.” But her today’s 8 O’clock end of news was at 13:30, which she referred to as 8 O’clock, that is, yesterday’s 20:00. Strange but true! Because Bohlokoa was reading the English version of the bulletin, it is indicative that this garbage is repeated even with the English versions of the news.
It should be clear that the LNBS has little respect for the way it handles its news bulletins, as well as for its consumers, regardless of the language in which the bulletin is broadcast.
Do the LNBS journalists and their news staff – news reporters, editors and readers – smoke nyaope (a SA bane drug of the townships) when preparing their bulletins, and when actually reading the bulletins, or is it me who goes out to smoke dagga, then come back to tune in for news? We cannot both be right at the same time about one and the same bizarre news bulletin; one or the other has to be downright wrong.
To the LNBS and Lesotho in general this preposterous idea appears to be normal, nothing is odd. I am concluding Lesotho in general because I am aware that no one has ever publicly lodged a complaint or query against these anomalies. Otherwise, once more, strange but true.
It could be that the LNBS and its clientele, as well as Lesotho as a whole, are following a different calendar and time calibrations to mine and the rest of the world.
As far as I can imagine, the LNBS is the only news agency that handles its news the way it does, especially as it concerns timing and dating. Having to repeat a news item or whole bulletin more than once is not a wrong or strange thing to do; neither is it unique to the LNBS; all news organisations I am aware of do likewise, but not in this LNBS’s idiosyncratic way: the LNBS is repeating, without even a single new addition, the same bulletin whole over two days, and with reference to absurd timing, dating and weekdays – which presupposes Lesotho is moribund (perhaps worse) and, therefore, cannot be expected to make news in such a state.
Yes, indeed, Lesotho is in a moribund state and has been so since it was born out of its colonial slumber 58 years ago in 1966. Yet its leaders will never stop putting the blame on their colonial masters for all manner of challenges their country has had to grapple with, which include, as we are about to see as we go on reading, economic stagnation, destitution, perennial political instability, the dysfunctional social sector, the unprecedented corruption, poverty of governance and violent crimes.
The three phenomena of poverty, perennial political instability, and corruption have become synonymous with this country.
Surely, a 58 years old media organisation such as the LNBS, a government-owned entity, should have long ago taken a leaf out of the books of its SA counterparts, its one and only immediate neighbour, whose performance is better by far even though the SABC is itself deteriorating fast under the ANC.
One wise man once said, to paraphrase him, doing the same thing many times, but expecting different results is a sign of mental derangement. The LNBS ministers as well as its officials and journalists are an example; as we will see, they are crazy out there, seriously crazy or sheer idiots as we are about to see!
Not only the news is handled in this bizarre fashion, but so are all the other programmes; they too are routinely repeated over and over again, not by popular demand, or some other special need, but because it has become the norm with the LNBS and its audience, and also because it has nothing else with which to fill in that space due to its rather lackadaisical approach to its work.
It is practically unproductive due to, I venture to suggest, its intellectual incapacity, and not because of a shortage of financial and other material resources – of which, comparatively, it has more than enough. The form and substance or content of all its programmes leave much to be desired; equally so, its announcements or advertisements – be they commercial or otherwise.
I will also, and this too is very important, demonstrate that the LNBS journalists’ proficiency indices in both official mediums of communication, Sesotho and English, are lower than the basic minimum required to do translation either way, hence the garbage that will follow.
It should be clear that under Bethuele Mosisili and Thomas Thabane, the former Prime Ministers (PMs), merit was not a criterion in the selections, appointments, and promotions of the LNBS media workers as well as their officials.
I will further demonstrate that the LNBS is incapable in many other ways such as conducting ordinary interviews, let alone investigative journalistic interviews. For any of its journalists to investigate as a journalist is a minefield; it is like taking a trip or migrating to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea swimming. They just cannot conduct investigative journalism, nor even think of one.
Indeed, it would seem for the LNBS journalists, it is a no mean feat to report a speech; often a reporter will say something a speaker did not say at all, which happens every time with every other programme than just news. They either misinterpret or completely distort or say the exact opposite of what a speaker had said. The reason for this is poor cognition, language ability and listening skills, or limited translation or interpretation skills. Instances will be presented as proof of this observation.
Therefore, it should be clear that the LNBS does not understand and appreciate its onerous task properly, which fact makes it unfit for purpose. Hence this damning accusation: the LNBS is a Disgrace to Journalism, and so to the media profession and trade. Because its journalists – be the anchors, reporters or news readers and their editors – are not yet ready for their careers, yet they were appointed and are still retained in their jobs, the former US President Donald Trump (the man I would vote for and would not have hesitated to vote for again, had I been an American) would have long ago decried, if he had been the PM Lesotho, that the LNBS is not a genuine but fake media agency, and then told its workers a long time ago that they were fired, and then deservedly closed the agency.
Incidentally, despite ample and glaring evidence, no employee has ever been fired, demoted or punished anyhow for incompetence in this god-forsaken country; you can only be sanctioned for political affiliation.
Would asking where the LNBS journalists received their media work education and training, if they did at all, be not a fair question to ask, and why, for failing so dismally like they have been doing, they are still retained in their posts another? My conclusion is that they are far gone beyond redemption.
Of course, facts will be provided, living facts, to back up this uncompromising and unflattering condemnation of the organisation and its administrative and political leadership.
However, in condemning the LNBS, a caveat needs to be called for to be fair and balance the story: the LNBS has fallen flat on its face along with its political leadership, the Mosisilis and the Thabanes of Lesotho, and this is the reason, as it will be shown later, that its officials are still in charge, despite their dismal performance to make even the slightest attempt at improving the agency’s performance.
In addition, the LNBS may happen to be my target for now, but the fact remains that it is not the only public function failing as it does; the whole Public Service function is barely functional – fixing which will be a tall order for the likes of Samuele Matekane, an illiterate PM and a liar who, as did his predecessors, Mosisili and Thabane, ascended to the Premiership office through chicanery. Yes, he lied and cheated his way to the PM’s office; therefore, as they, so does he not deserve to hold that most important public office.
This is an excerpt from the forthcoming book, Lesotho at the Best of Times: A Cauldron of Shame and Disgrace—A Bird’s-Eye View of the Period 1998 to Date, authored by Lefu Lechesa.
Your Trusted Source for News and Insights in Lesotho!
At Newsday Media, we are passionate about delivering accurate, timely, and engaging news and multimedia content to our diverse audience. Founded with the vision of revolutionizing the media landscape in Lesotho, we have grown into a leading hybrid media company that blends traditional journalism with innovative digital platforms.
Click here to find more