PRESS RELEASE BY THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (DC) ON THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN LESOTHO INTRODUCTION In the early hours of Saturday 30th August 2014 the Lesotho Defence Force carried out an operation which covered three police stations in Maseru. The Prime Minister and others, including the Leader of the Basotho National Party (BNP), some All Basotho Convention (ABC) ministers, the Commissioner of Police (Khothatso Tšooana) and Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao fled and sought refuge in South Africa. We have called this press conference to share with our people and the international community the position of the Democratic Congress with regard to these developments. We attach to this press statement a more detailed document entitled, “Exposition by the Democratic Congress (DC) on the Current Political Situation in Lesotho”. 1. The Politics of Self-Entrenchment: We must state unequivocally from the onset that the current political impasseᶦ in Lesotho starts and ends with one person, and one person only, Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane. The mission that he has pursued consistently, relentlessly and with unsurpassed passion in the last two years has been to consolidate his position such that he can eventually rule Lesotho for a long time to come outside the confines of the Constitution. Approached from this angle, all the puzzles of his actions fall nicely into place. Through a quick and ruthless staccato of dismissals and other manoeuvres he is now close to achieving full control of the courts, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the office of the Government Secretary, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Police and the Army. In fact, if he succeeds in his current bid to replace Lieutenant General Kennedy Tlali Kamoli with Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao, then “Cry the Beloved Country”. The atrocities and blood bath that will befall this country will completely dwarf 1970. General Kamoli is quite literally and without exaggeration, the last thread by which Lesotho’s democracy is hanging. Mark our words. 2. The Politicisation of the Police and the Army: 2.1 These days it is difficult to explain the actions and statements of top police officers such as COMPOL Khothatso Tšooana, DPC Masupha Masupha and PRO Lebona Mohloboli outside political considerations. For example, Hon. Jeremane Ramathebane’s arrest after eight years of committing the alleged crime, but within less than a week after submitting a motion of no confidence in Parliament; COMPOL Tšooana pointedly refusing to see Deputy Prime Minister Metsing although the latter is the Chairman of the Security Committee of which COMPOL Tšooana is a member; confronting the Deputy Prime Minister with a court summons at the airport with the explanation that the DPM is always surrounded by fierce dogs (referring insolently to his bodyguards); using the police to forcibly throw both the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions out of their offices; fleeing with the Prime Minister and accompanying him to the talks in Pretoria. All these activities have unmistakable hallmarks of politics. Our police officers have been completely politicised. COMPOL Tšooana says that during their operation the army officers were looking for the Deputy Prime Minister’s docket. This is ludicrous because the Deputy Prime Minister had already been assigned to court. Clearly his docket would already be in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Why would the army officers be looking for it in the police stations? This is a hopeless attempt to give a political bent to what was otherwise a purely technical operation. What COMPOL Tšooana is hiding from the Basotho is that in this operation the army officers did in fact find explosives and assault riffles in the police stations. Yet in the recent Maseru bombings the police authorities told this nation over and over again that the police do not have explosives, thereby implicating the army in those heinous acts. COMPOL Tšooana has a lot to explain before the people of this nation. For example, he is a policeman: Why did he form part of the ABC delegation at the talks in Pretoria? 2.2 There is then the issue of the purported dismissal of Commander Kamoli. It surely does not take rocket science to see that this is a politically motivated dismissal. It is a logical part of the Prime Minister’s mission of hegemony described here above. Most atrocious, however, is that General Kamoli has not been given the chance to be heard. This makes his dismissal not only unfair, but also illegal. There is already a decided case here. Giving judgement in 2002 in a case where four army officers had been dismissed without a hearing, the Court of Appeal came down strongly in their favour, quoting the audi alteram partem rule. In other words, His Majesty has been advised to sign a gazette that could never stand in a court of Law. With this strong and established precedent from the highest court of the land, this purported dismissal of General Kamoli is a blatant contempt of court. 2.3 The Prime Minister proffers to replace General Kamoli with Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao. Brigadier Mahao was, on 15th January 2014, suspended from duty and charged before a Court Martial for contraventions of the Military Law. On 24th February, while the Court Martial was in progress, the Prime Minister purported to dissolve the Court Martial. He was, however, advised that he had no power in law to dissolve a Court Martial; and by a letter under his hand, dated 4th March 2014, he revoked the purported dissolution and allowed the Court Martial to proceed with its work. In law, the fact that Brigadier Mahao is on suspension and is before a Court Martial, itself precludes the possibility of his promotion. Additionally, Brigadier Mahao has now become an army politician. He frequents radio stations where he is at times welcomed with ABC songs before he makes his fiery statements. In his speeches both on radio and print media he spews venom, inciting army officers, insulting Commader Kamoli and the Deputy Prime Minister, and publicly asserting that he will sieze power by hook or crook. Brigadier Mahao has effectively declared war on General Kamoli, calling him a renegade soldier. For a man who has not even assumed power, this all leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. It smacks of bad omen. Like COMPOL Tšooana, Brigadier Mahao owes Basotho an important explanation: Why did he form part of the ABC delegation at the talks in Pretoria? And are we to believe that his wearing a yellow suit at these talks was only a coincidence? 3. The Need to Involve the Democratic Congress (DC): Lesotho’s first Coalition Government assumed power with 61 seats in Parliament. From the time that the ABC lost Honourable Thabiso Litšiba to the DC, and Honourable Mophato Monyake who formed his own party (PD), Lesotho is being run by a minority government with 59 seats in Parliament. But the Democratic Congress (DC) alone boasts 48 seats. It is the Official Opposition which also enjoys the support of the three other Congress Parties in Parliament, making a total of 51. The point is that we in the DC have been quietly looking on as events unfolded. We were content constituting His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. But we have now come to the conclusion that we can no longer sit idly by and watch as our country slides into a political abyss. Afterall, we are the biggest party in Parliament with the biggest followership among the populace. We ca no longer allow ourselves to be ignored. In this regard we can proudly say that the Commonwealth has consistently included us in their missions. President Pohamba also gave us audience during his visit to Lesotho. Recently we had long and very cordial deliberations with the UN delegation led by Dr. Abdel-Fatau Musah from the Political Affairs and Good Offices Pillar. We call upon all other authorities and agents of peace to include us accordingly in their efforts. 4. Assistance by South Africa: We note with absolute bewilderment that these days the Prime Minister of Lesotho is under the guard of the South African Police who have brought their sniffer dogs with them. We reckon the President of South Africa wanted to ensure the personal safety and security of the Prime Minister. This is a noble thing to do, and we appreciate this gesture. However, this is fraught with all kinds of intricate considerations. We note that in the aftermath of the 1998 upheavals Lesotho was presented with a huge bill to refund South Africa for the costs it had incurred in its role as peacemaker. We hope that this time there will be no such bills. We have two major concerns about this security measure. First, it seems to target the personal security of the Prime Minister without an equal and simultaneous passion to ensure that the Prime Minister complies with the terms of the roadmap that he signed in Windhoek and in Pretoria. So we now have in our midst a prime minister with a heightened sense of security which is independent of his own people. In his opinion, there is now no urgency around the roadmap. He is now free to go back and pursue his sinister agenda, top of which is the removal of General Kamoli. Our fear is that he will do this with steel determination and resolve. As indicated earlier, from that point on the history of Lesotho will be written in blood. Mark our words. Second, we feel that the whole thing is totally unacceptable. For a prime minister to be under the security of foreign forces in his own country is an undeniable disgrace. It is unprecedented. In fact, looked at from all angles, it is a serious affront to the independence and sovereignty of our country. 5. Our Demands: We call upon SADC, the AU, the Commonwealth, the UN, and all the peace-loving agencies, groups and individuals to use their influence and: - put pressure on Lesotho’s prime minister to submit to His Majesty instruments to open Parliament on 19th September, 2014. - put pressure on Lesotho’s prime minister to adhere strictly to the terms of the roadmap signed by the Coalition in Windhoek and in Pretoria. - put pressure on Lesotho’s prime minister to abandon his crusade to remove Lieutenant General Kennedy Tlali Kamoli from office. - put pressure on Lesotho’s prime minister to re-instate the Attorney General, Adv. Tšokolo Makhethe, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv. Leaba Thetsane. - strongly encourage Brigadier Maaparankoe to stop his political escapades in the media. - put pressure on Lesotho’s prime minister to stop the escalation of politically motivated activities on the part of the Police. - actively involve the Democratic Congress in all activities that are intended to work towards a resolution of the current political crisis in Lesotho. CONCLUSION In conclusion, we need to point out that we strongly believe in democracy and the rule of law. We also believe that there are definite and decisive democratic avenues that can be followed to enforce these fundamental precepts of good governance. We hope and pray that we will not get to a point where we are forced to take our struggle to the streets of Maseru and other towns of this country. ’NETE KE THEBE; SECHABA KE POHO!!!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:39:45 +0000