In Sotho there is a saying, “Matlo ho cha mabapi” — a fire at a neighbour’s house is likely to spread to yours. Look no further for proof of the proverb’s wisdom than how the chaos north of the Limpopo has rippled into SA . The Basotho are silent, however, on the consequences of a fire started by a neighbour. And fire is exactly what SA is about to unleash on its poorer neighbour in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu).

Access to mobiles phones has transformed the lives of rural women farmers boosting income and expanding knowledge, a pilot study in Lesotho has found. Three years ago, Evodia Matobo, then 62, a small-scale poultry farmer in Lesotho's rural lowlands, was stacking plastic containers to feed her chickens. Now she talks about "feeders, agricultural shows, workshops, experts."

Lesotho's drive to test all of its citizens age 12 or older for the virus that causes AIDS fell short of its goals, both in carrying out the program and in safeguarding the rights of those tested, said Human Rights Watch and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa in a new report.

British police will not investigate a construction company accused of corruption in Lesotho, they have said. British firm Mott Macdonald were implicated in an audit of a dam project in the southern African kingdom. But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it will not be looking into the accusations, two years after they received them.

Reporters Without Borders notes that Lesotho’s only privately-owned radio station, Harvest FM, was allowed to resume broadcasting yesterday after being suspended for three months. The station was forced to close on 21 July as result of a complaint by a police commissioner and a communications ministry official, who accused it of trying “to damage their dignity as individuals.” The country’s telecommunications authority said it failed to comply with broadcasting regulations.