LEABA THETSA 3 - 0 TOM THABANE - Lesotho Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Leaba Thetsane reports to office tomorrow. POSTED ON NOVEMBER 6, 2014 “Tomorrow is a working Day. I will be in office tomorrow”. So said the Lesotho Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Advocate Leaba Thesane King’s Counsel in an interview with newsline365.wordpress after the Constitutional Appeal Court judgement delivered today. The 56 year-old Thetsane has been out of the office for about three months waiting for the judgement day. He heads to the crown office and he will retire from the public office when attaining the age of 60 years. Thetsane is adamant that he wasbeing kicked out of office on grounds on political grounds, on pretext that he had attained a retiring age. “It’s clear that the whole matter of forced retirement by the government did not hang on the retiring age of 55, but on political grounds. When I reached 55 last year, I should have been warned there and then to retire but that did not happen,” he argued. He revealed that upon coming into power of the new government in 2012, he should have been alerted to the fact that he was to leave office when reaching the age of 55. He remembered that in one occasion he brought to the attention of the previous public service principal secretary that he preferred to leave office upon reaching the age of 60, a suggestion he said was admitted. Reacting to claims that he was failing to prosecute some court cases involving highly-placed figures, he noted such allegations only propped up after he was kicked out of office. He was at odds to remember any of such cases. Reading judgment in the Constitutional Appeal Court, Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara said Thetsane’s ousting from office was unconstitutional. She observed that some legal parameters that applied to public officers such as the principal secretaries were also applicable to Thetsane. The Constitutional Appeal Court also concluded that the letter written to Thetsane ordering him to vacate office by the Acting Government Secretary Moahloli Mphaka had no legal authenticity. The Constitutional Court had ruled that Thetsane was indeed to retire when reaching the age of 55 but ruled that it was the public service which had powers to effect his departure from office.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:30:33 +0000
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