The Kingdom of Lesotho is on track to become the third country with the highest number of murders in the world. The fault, according to several specialists, to the "famo gangs", a popular musical genre in the small country of southern Africa.
According to figures from the Dutch Worlds Population Foundation (WPF), Lesotho is the third country with the highest number of murders in the world, with 43,56 people killed per 100 population, or more than 930 homicides per year in the country.
Rates that more or less correspond to the latest edition of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Homicide Study. The UN agency ranked Lesotho, in 2019, sixth in the world in this area.
In short, the small kingdom of southern Africa would be the deadliest country on the continent. The only other African country in the top 10 of the ranking, Nigeria. But if the latter has been assailed for a long time by the threat of terrorist groups and the phenomenon of “bandits”, Lesotho seemed, at first glance, to be a relatively quiet country.
However, this is not the case if we are to believe the figures. But besides some political turmoil last year, and a crime rate in the world average, what explains this anomaly?
Is the famo's music to blame?
Recent reports by British media The Guardian and BBC have shed light on the phenomenon of "famo gangs". The famo is a traditional song accompanied by the accordion, a bass and a drum. Often called “the miners' song”, in reference to its origins – since it originated in the mines of southern Africa at the beginning of the XNUMXth century – the famo dominates the music scene in Lesotho.
But due to its links with a certain "street culture", the famo has become the epicenter of organized crime in the country. Today, in the small kingdom, the best-known groups are led not by artists, but by drug lords or mobsters. The rivalry between the stars of the famo thus becomes the pretext for bloody wars and several tragedies, killers going so far as to massacre entire families.
This is reminiscent of the rap wars in the United States in the 1990s. The "famo gangs" in Lesotho took their current form from 2004. A star of the musical genre had been shot, leading to a cycle of violence and vendettas that continue to this day. One of the best famo singers in Lesotho, Puseletso Seema, says she survived only because she is a woman.
According to Lesotho radio presenter Sebonomoea Ramainoane, "whole villages have turned into orphanages because of famo music". "They come to a house to look for you, if you're not there, they kill the wife, the children, they eliminate everyone in the family," he describes.
A real gang war
It's not just the artists and their entourages who are taking part in this war. Some documentaries on the subject show fans of one band or another joining in with their favorite musicians, wearing clothes of a particular color. According to the artist Ntate Lekase, exiled in South Africa because of this gang war, the vicious circle of blood feuds is quite commonplace. Asked by the BBC about his participation, he simply replied: “I defended myself, because when I see someone buried, knowing that they have been killed by other groups, I was angry. So I have to take revenge”.
As the “famo war” in Lesotho escalated, a majority of artists adopted provocative lyrics to accompany the music. Others do the exact opposite. Puseletso Seema, for example, claims to sing about his marriage, or more generally about life as a couple.
Another radio presenter, Tsepang Makakole, claims that DJs have been killed in the name of famo music. “When you're on the radio, you have to make sure that every day you play all the bands. If you leave one out, they say, 'you don't like us'. Then they shoot you,” he said.
Another problem, elements of the forces of order are in cahoots with certain groups of fame. In November 2021, dozens of firearms disappeared from a police station in Mafeteng, Lesotho's third largest city. The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Maomane Maphate, had announced the involvement of police officers, who allegedly sold the weapons to famo groups.