Members of Parliament (MPs) in Lesotho on Thursday brawled in the legislature as a result of a misunderstanding over regulating the country’s wool and mohair industry.
In a video that has since gone viral thanks to social media, the MPs are seen throwing projectiles at each other across the floor of the country’s parliament in the capital, Maseru.
Others too threw punches at one another.
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Earlier in October, some lawmakers called for the government to remove certain regulations overseeing the production of wool and mohair.
The issue has since dragged. In debates, lawmakers reportedly do not hold back from throwing harsh words to colleagues with whom they disagree.
Bloomberg reports that about 75% of Lesotho’s population, mainly rural, relies on wool and mohair for income.
Wool, for instance, secured the small kingdom about $67 million in 2018, a substantial amount for a poor country.
But since 2018, Lesotho’s government has awarded the right to sell the country’s wool and mohair abroad solely to a Chinese businessman, Guohi Shi. His Lesotho Wool Centre has, therefore, a monopoly over the industry.
Lesotho is the world’s second-biggest supplier of mohair, a raw material used in making socks, sweaters and scarves.
