COUNTRY FACT SHEET2 2 Location Southern Africa, and entirely landlocked by the Republic of South Africa Area Population Capital Main towns 30,555 km² Land use and topography Ethnic groups Languages Religion 9 per cent is arable land; highveld, plateau and mountains Districts Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha’s Nek, Quthing and Thaba-Tseka District councils Community councils Municipal council Cabinet ministries Constituencies Independence Constitution Legal system Executive 10 Legislature Bicameral Parliament [Senate (Upper House) and National Assembly (Lower House)] Judiciary Court of Appeal and High Court 1.88 million (2007 estimate) Maseru Butha-Buthe, Hlotse, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha’s Nek, Quthing, Teyateyaneng and Thaba-Tseka Basotho Sesotho and English Predominantly Christian, comprising Roman Catholic, Anglican, evangelical and other denominations; indigenous beliefs are still widely practised 128 One, in Maseru 25 80 (plus 40 proportional party representatives) 1966 2 April 1993 Based on Roman Dutch law, English law and customary law Elections were last held in February 2007, and the next are to be held in 2012 Sources: Except where indicated otherwise, compiled from statistics provided by: the Lesotho Bureau of Statistics (BOS); the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL); the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW); the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET); the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing (MTICM); the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MoFDP); the National AIDS Commission (NAC); and the Food and Nutrition Coordinating Office (FNCO). ix