The TOR for discussants for this session ask for a critical assessment of the Country Study under four headings:
- methodology,
- conceptual framework,
- policy recommendations
- and other issues.
The discussants have been asked to focus on the core issues in 15 minutes. My brief comments are offered with the aim of adding value to an important piece of field research. I conclude that there is some tidying to be done before it is finalised.
The study is crucial to obtaining an understanding of the impact of the pandemic on land tenure and livelihoods in southern Africa, especially in rural areas under systems of customary tenure. Over 90 per cent of the land in Lesotho is under customary tenure.
Lesotho is one of the countries most seriously affected by HIV/AIDS. If recent estimates of HIV/AIDS levels are accurate, about one-third of the adult population may be infected; far more males are infected than females.
Lesotho is a home for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the sub region. Because of the mountainous conditions, the harshness of the climate, the erodability of the soils and the scarcity of cultivable land, the population is greatly dependent on income from migrant labour. The national economy has been hard hit in recent years by the slow down in the South African economy and retrenchment in the mining industry.
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