Maseru - Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas
Thabane appeared in court on Monday to hear charges of murdering
his estranged wife, a Reuters witness said.
Thabane, 80, is suspected of involvement in the murder of
his then wife Lipolelo, who was shot dead in June 2017, two days
before he took office for a second stint as premier - and two
months before he married his current wife Maesaiah.
Maesaiah Thabane, 42, has also been charged with the murder,
and police suspect her of ordering assassins to do the job. Both
deny any involvement.
Thabane had initially been scheduled to hear the charges on
Friday, but left to South Africa, which surrounds this
mountainous kingdom on all sides, for what aides said was a
medical appointment.
He has said he will resign at the end of July, and several
members of his own All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have been
pressuring him to go sooner to avert a political crisis.
Lesotho, a tiny mountain territory of 2 million people, has
a history of coups and political instability. Many fear a power
vacuum unless the ABC can agree on a successor, and analysts
expect a general election will have to be called soon.