US President Donald Trump is no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth. He was at it again earlier this month, describing Lesotho as a country that “nobody has ever heard of” while announcing to the US Congress that he had slashed $8-million in gender equality aid to the Mountain Kingdom.

Well, Elon Musk, his South African-born multibillionaire sidekick, possesses more than a fleeting familiarity with Lesotho. If Trump had bothered to ask, Musk – who has become a key figure in spreading anti-South Africa fake news within the corridors of power in the US – could have filled him in on everything he needed to know about the Southern African country.

Lesotho is one of the African countries where Musk’s company, SpaceX, is seeking to have its satellite broadband service, Starlink, licensed. But if special-interest groups in Lesotho have their way, that’s not going to happen. One such group, Section 2, has written to the Lesotho Communications Authority, objecting to the licensing of Starlink unless local equity partners are included.

In its letter, reproduced in local and South African media, Section 2 wrote: “The telecoms sector in Lesotho has long been shaped by a deliberate approach to balance foreign investment with local participation. Econet Telecom Lesotho, for example, is 70% owned by Econet Wireless Global, but the government of Lesotho retains a 30% stake.

“Similarly, Vodacom Lesotho is 80% owned by Vodacom Group, yet 20% is held by the Sekha-Metsi consortium, a group of local Basotho businesspeople and public figures.”

It’ll be interesting to see how Musk reacts to this development. He has previously criticised the South African government’s insistence on a 30% shareholding for historically disadvantaged South Africans in telecoms ventures, ranting on X – the social media platform he acquired for a cool $44-billion in October 2022 – that Starlink cannot get a licence in South Africa because “I am not black”.

Will he pull out the race card again, given that Econet Wireless Global founder and majority shareholder Strive Masiyiwa was required to allow Basotho to own 30% of Econet Telecom Lesotho, despite being a black African man from Zimbabwe?

Other useful informants for Trump regarding Lesotho would be the CEOs of apparel retailers in the US whose product lines include brands such as GAP, Reebok, Levi Straus, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein Jeanswear and JC Penny.

These are all jeans brands, and Lesotho has been a significant supplier to the US market for more than two decades – since the early days of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which was enacted by former US President Bill Clinton to permit duty- and quota-free importation of select merchandise from qualifying African countries. In fact, it’s said a whopping 80% of garments manufactured in Lesotho are destined for the US.

As soon as the Agoa window of opportunity became available, the Lesotho government scaled up efforts to encourage foreign investors to set up shop in its clothing and textile industry. An additional sweetener was the relatively low monthly remuneration, which is about $150 currently. The majority of those that responded to the call were Taiwanese companies and their counterparts from mainland China.

Thanks to these new investments, the country’s clothing, textile and footwear industry has grown to become the biggest private- sector employer, providing jobs for about 44 000 people in 2020, according to statistics from the US International Trade Administration. After a Covid-19-induced slump to about 31 000 in April 2020, employment numbers rebounded to about 45 000 in March 2021 but had slid to about 34 000 in December 2022.

To get an idea of how significant Lesotho clothing and textile exports to the US are, these amounted to $242.46-million in 2024, according to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database.

The government and people of Lesotho – like other Agoa beneficiaries – should be keeping their fingers crossed that the Lesotho-oblivious Trump renews the unilateral concession when it expires this year. The evidence from Eswatini, Ethiopia and Madagascar – apparel-manufacturing countries from whom Agoa benefits have been withdrawn in the past – shows that exports to the US decline significantly and manufacturers may relocate elsewhere.

I know Trump was just being a comedian. In all likelihood, he knows that Lesotho is a country his billionaire mate is trying to do business with – a country that exports more than $200-million worth of jeans and other apparel to the US every year.