Lesotho: Time for Visionary Leaders in Lesotho

Almost a month after the release of the report of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) inquiry into political instability in Lesotho, many citizens remain in the dark over both its contents and their implications for the future.

Led by Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi of the Botswana High Court, the 10-strong commission was established after a SADC leaders’ meeting last July.

Following months of political and legal and wrangling, its report was finally presented to Lesotho’s National Assembly and Senate on February 8 and 10 respectively.

The leaders set up the inquiry after the killing last June 25 of former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commander Maaparankoe Mahao, by soldiers sent to arrest him for an alleged mutiny plot. The killing occurred after Mahao had been replaced as commander by Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli.

The commission was mandated, among others, to review investigations into the alleged mutiny plot by elements of the LDF, and Mahao’s role in it, to investigate the circumstances surrounding his killing, and to identify wrongdoing with a view to bringing perpetrators to justice.

Mahao was appointed by former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane in 2014 and dismissed by incoming Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in 2015; while Kamoli was dismissed by Thabane in 2014 and reappointed by Mosisili in 2015.

(Premium Times)