Frustrated, the youth threaten to march

THABISO NTAOTE

MASERU – Unemployed and disgruntled, the youth are organizing a march to pressure government to declare youth unemployment a national crisis.

The march, the first of its kind, is scheduled for July 4.

The alarming unemployment figures in Lesotho, the youth say must be the government’s number one concern and must be addressed urgently.

The march, which is apolitical and includes the educated and un-educated is focused on heightening attention to the youth plight peacefully coordinated from the 10 districts.

The youth mobilization is an important cry to force those in power to address the situation.

Eric Adoro, a key mobilization organizer, has lamented the difficult process of obtaining a march permit form police authority.

Starting Monday this week, Adoro mentioned that they have approached several radio stations in the country to make their voices heard, requiring immediate action from the government.

“I plead with all youth in Lesotho to stand strong and united to move forward to address the alarming youth unemployment. This matter concerns majority of young Basotho who have capabilities of contributing to the economy of this country, including the disabled.

We have to take full responsibility as the youth as sometimes the government is unable to address our issues because we do not take full responsibility of our situation,” Adoro said, emphasising that the peaceful march is strictly not political.

“We have to hold hands to ensure that the march becomes a success. In this journey, there may arise challenges along the way such as criminal offences, therefore, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) presence will be felt during the march from Setsoto Stadium to the parliament to guarantee our safety,” he continued, indicating that the youth has suffered enough.

Adoro stated that the proposed date for the peaceful march to the parliament is expected to be on July 4.

The date set allows for the preparation in acquiring the permit for the march which takes 21 days from application. Adoro further mentioned that declaring unemployment a crisis would help in structuring programmes and strategies so that there is clear direction of what exactly needs to be done.

A case that glaringly demonstrated the plight of the youth is the recent call for employment at the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF). Thousands of young Basotho flocked to queue in all districts where interviews were conducted despite LDF’s clear indication that only 500 would be recruited.

According to the 2025/26 national budget estimates, presented by the Minister of Finance, Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, earlier this year, there is approximately 39 percent of young Basotho aged 15 to 35 who are seeking employment but are unable to secure jobs.

Most young Basotho have become discouraged and have ceased looking for jobs or quit looking for employment altogether.

The implications of these alarming figures is that, nearly 50 percent of Lesotho’s youth are either unemployed or have exited the labour force due to lack of opportunities.

Gender disparities are evident, with young women facing a higher unemployment rate of 40 percent, compared to 37.1 percent for young men despite women having more literacy rate than men in the country.