Predatory ants and parasitoids of the stemborers Busseola fusca Fuller (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) were collected during field surveys conducted in the 1995/96 and 1996/97 seasons in Lesotho. Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Dorylus helvolus (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were sampled at regular intervals in field trials. Two braconid species, Bracon sesamiae Cameron and Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron), were found to parasitize both B. fusca and C. partellus larvae in maize and sorghum. Two other species, Euvipio sp. and Bracon (Habrobracon) brevicornis (Wesmael), were reared from B. fusca larvae. Bracon sesamiae was the most abundant and widespread of the four larval parasitoids. Pupal parasitism was rare. Egg parasitism was not observed. Dorylus helvolus was found to be an important and widely distributed predator of both B. fusca and C. partellus larvae. Parasitism of B. fusca by B. sesamiae was higher in sorghum than in maize. Parasitism levels were generally low during the season except during April and May, when 21% and 31% parasitism was recorded on sorghum in the 1995/96 and 1996/97 seasons, respectively. Because the activities of natural enemies increased only towards the end of the growing season, they are unlikely to exert a pronounced effect on stemborer populations during the growing season. They may, however, play an important role in reducing the size of overwintering populations. none