South African President Jacob Zuma will urgently dispatch Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa back to Lesotho to try to defuse “the apparently explosive security situation”, sparked by the killing of a former army commander and the flight from the country of all three opposition leaders.
Zuma said late on Monday night that the “unfortunate and tragic” killing of Maaparankoe Mahao, former commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), last Thursday threatened to undermine Lesotho’s transition after the February elections.
He said that Ramaphosa would consult Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
After a brief coup against Prime Minister Tom Thabane’s government last year, Ramaphosa brokered a political and security deal that brought forward elections from 2017 to February. Thabane’s coalition government was defeated and replaced by a new coalition led by Mosisili.
But renewed violence soon erupted mainly, it seems, because the Mosisili government and especially the new army commander, Tlali Kamoli, have accused Thabane and his supporters of plotting to oust the government by force.
Mahao was loyal to Thabane, who replaced Kamoli with him as army commander last August. That sparked the brief coup – or at least coup attempt – when Kamoli’s LDF soldiers attacked both Thabane and Mahao’s homes, and forced them to flee to South Africa.
Thabane was restored to office by South African security forces before Ramaphosa’s negotiations among all the political leaders begun.
After the recent violence, Thabane has once again fled to South Africa, along with Thesele Maseribane, leader of the Basotho National Party and Keketso Rantso, leader of the Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL).
Zuma is chairperson of the security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Ramaphosa is the SADC’s facilitator on Lesotho.
Zuma announced the decision to send him back on Monday night after receiving the report of an SADC fact-finding mission he had sent to Lesotho over the last few days, led by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
“President Zuma has reiterated the need for all stakeholders in the Kingdom of Lesotho to resolve their political differences through legal and peaceful processes, and further reiterated the pressing need to expedite the process of establishing institutional and security reforms, as recommended by the SADC Double Troika Summit held in Pretoria on 20th February 2015,” Zuma’s statement said.
“President Zuma has condemned the killing of Brigadier Mahao, who was killed on the 25th June 2015 outside of Maseru. This unfortunate and tragic incident threatens to undermine the Kingdom’s efforts towards the peaceful transition following the February 2015 elections.” – ANA