Chapter three: Democracy and good political governance as a watchdog over it. The king is constitutionally also a member of the legislature. The king also has the role of giving royal assent to parliamentary bills. 74 237. The legal system of Lesotho is characterised by a duality: there is the judiciary, which uses common law, and the traditional courts headed by the chiefs, which use customary law. The judiciary is supposed to complement the executive and Parliament and is responsible for the interpretation of the law and for the administration of justice. A Judicial Service Commission appoints magistrates, whereas the judges of the High Court and the Court of Appeal are appointed by the king, on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission and the advice of the prime minister. 238. Different, but not completely separate, institutions therefore exist that are responsible for the executive, legislative and judicial functions of the state. The overlapping composition of the various institutions poses a problem of definition of roles and boundaries of responsibility of the different institutions. Although constitutionally defined, the respective functions, responsibilities and roles of the various governance institutions in Lesotho are far from clear to a casual observer. The separation of powers is difficult to discern. This lack of clarity has the potential for dysfunctional interactions and relationships among the various governance institutions. 239. To illustrate the complex interrelationships, consider the following examples: the constitution of Lesotho states that the executive is composed of the Monarchy, the Council of State and the prime minister. The king is also vested with executive authority, which can be exercised through authorities or offices of the government of Lesotho. The prime minister and the Cabinet constitute the executive branch of government. The Council of State has a mixed membership, comprising the king, some principal chiefs, and members of the executive and the judiciary. Parliament is composed of the National Assembly, the Senate and the Office of the King. This setup is supposed to ensure that there is some division of governance functions, as well as checks and balances. However, the king appears to be a member of, and functionally involved in, all the branches of government. 240. The key to comprehending the constitutional order and the Lesotho version of the separation of powers lies in understanding traditional Basotho governance, which is the basis upon which the constitutional monarchy was established. The traditional system of governance, which places the king at the apex, does not differentiate the branches of government. The king traditionally combines the decision-making (executive), rule-making (legislative) and administration-of-justice (judicial) functions. The traditional powers and authority are also vested in the king, that is, the functions of the custodian of culture, custom and tradition, as well as unifier of the Basotho nation. The traditional Basotho system of governance emphasises that the chiefs are the police, judges, enforcers and decision makers, the custodians of culture and tradition, and the unifiers. The king, being at the apex, presides over this system of governance and is therefore central to maintaining the coherence of the Basotho nation. The proclamation of a constitutional monarchy was the reaffirmation of the reverence that the Basotho have for this governance system. 241. Actually, the division of functions and the separation of powers as practised in Western democracy are not practised in a similar manner in the traditional governance of the Basotho. The apparent ubiquity of the king in the constitution of Lesotho is in keeping with the Basotho’s values, traditions and system of governance.