Maseru - The political temperature is rising in Lesotho ahead of general elections later this month with Prime Minister Thomas Thabane accusing his foes of plotting to kill him.
Thabane is due in Pretoria this week to complain to President Jacob Zuma about Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “lacklustre” handling” of security issues in mediating the crisis.
Last week’s shootout in Maseru, which left two of his bodyguards injured was an indication of the deteriorating security in Lesotho, said Thabane.
In a joint statement with his close coalition ally, Thesele Maseribane of the Basotho National Party (BNP), Thabane listed issues that he wants Ramaphosa to deal with. He said he fears more violent insubordination by undisciplined soldiers.
Thabane’s two bodyguards were recovering in a hospital in Bloemfontein but Home Affairs Minister Joang Molapo (of the BNP) claimed on Friday that a second attempt had been made on their lives by four members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) who were sent to “finish them off”.
Molapo said the four had been arrested by South African police before they could do this, but this could not be independently verified.
The same bodyguards had saved Thabane on August 30 last year by informing him of an impending plot against him. This gave him time to flee to South Africa just before the LDF, under the leadership of their then renegade commander Tlali Kamoli, raided his official residence.
Under a plan brokered by Ramaphosa, Kamoli, with Thabane’s key ally, police commissioner Khothatso Tsooana and Maaparankoe Mahao, the man Thabane had appointed to replace Kamoli at the helm of the LDF, were sent to foreign countries on a “temporary leave of absence” last year to stabilise Lesotho ahead of the elections.
The feuding between the heads of the security agencies was seen as the main cause of the instability in Lesotho.
But since the three left, Thabane, who also controls the defence and police portfolios, has struggled to win the loyalty of the army and now appears to be losing his grip on the police in the absence of Tsooana.
The acting LDF commander, Khoantle Motsomotso, has defied prime ministerial directives on numerous occasions.
And acting police commissioner Masupha Masupha recently fought a public battle with the prime minister after he attempted to fire another senior police officer who is seen as an ally of Thabane and had been handling high-profile corruption probes against the prime minister’s foes.
Thabane has since demoted Masupha but the latter has opted to take early retirement upon being paid all his benefits rather than stay where “I am not wanted”.
Thabane last month tried to recall Tsooana but Rampahosa stood his ground, reportedly telling the prime minister that all the South African security detail seconded to protect him would be withdrawn if he breached the accords reached by the warring parties by recalling Tsooana.
Tsooana was reportedly already on his way to Lesotho from Algeria when he was apprehended at OR Tambo International Airport by South African police and returned to Algeria.
Thabane subsequently confirmed that he had sought Tsooana’s return so that the latter could help take charge of security ahead of the elections.
Thabane and his aides have alleged that there is a plot by local and hired mercenaries to kill him.
Independent Foreign Service