ACTING Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the National University of Lesotho (NUL) and the President of the Court of Appeal Professor Kananelo Mosito, says the media decides tenures of governments.

He was substantiating a point he raised at the launch of Metropolitan Research Chair on Thursday, that the media is a fourth estate of governance, after the executive, legislature and judiciary.
Prof Mosito said the media decides whether or not a government continues or collapses, adding that it also monitors institutions such as universities and government operations.
Although he applauded the media for the roles it plays in society, the local media has however also been blamed over the years for among others, the collapse of governments since Lesotho’s first coalition government of 2012.
The first coalition government which was led by a then six-year old All Basotho Convention (ABC) along with the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the Basotho National Party (BNP) collapsed just after two years in office.

LCD leader, Mothetjoa Metsing who was also the Deputy Prime Minister accused the then Premier, Motsoahae Thabane of making unilateral decisions. Nonetheless, the media later shouldered the blame for the collapse of that government.

Nonetheless, the media later shouldered the blame for the collapse of that government.
In 2015, Lesotho went for its second general elections after the fall of the first coalition government and the polls culminated in a seven-party coalition administration led by the Democratic Congress (DC) under Pakalitha Mosisili.
Like its predecessor, before the end of its first two years in office, internal conflicts paved way for the second coalition government’s fall, opening doors for the 2017 general elections.

During the elections campaigns ahead of the 2017 polls, politicians blamed journalists and their media houses for the failure of the government. LeNA