The lamentation of Basotho women
Oarabile Mosikare | Friday January 22, 2016 15:27
Mamphanya Mahao, the widow of the deceased former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commander, Maaparankoe Mahao, and Mamahali Mokhoro, the wife of the detained corporal Seboka Mokhoro, led this group. Although the heads of states that attended the SADC Double Troika Summit was only for invited guests, this did not stop these distressed women from travelling from Maseru to Gaborone to petition heads of states.
They submitted that petition titled “Plea to their Excellencies the leaders of SADC on the situation in Lesotho” to SADC executive director, Stergomena Lawrence Tax. They wanted Tax to convey to the heads of states the need to “address in earnest the plight our families and the country have been plunged into since May 2015”.
“We wish first to express our gratitude to their Excellencies, the leaders of SADC, for constituting Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi’s Commission to enquire into former LDF commander, Lt General Mahao’s death and the so-called mutiny he was alleged by the LDF and government to have instigated.
“For some of us our husbands were arrested or kidnapped, tortured and locked up at the Maseru Maximum Prison under inhuman and unbearable conditions allegedly because they were part of the mutiny. We had hoped therefore that Justice Phumaphi’s Commission would get to the root of the allegations and determine whether indeed there had been a mutiny in the LDF as was required by the commission’s terms of reference,” wrote Mahao and Mokhoro.
They said since the establishment of the commission, the LDF and the government have resolutely resisted all attempts by the Lesotho Police Service and by extension the Commission of Enquiry to access important evidence around Maaparankoe’s death. “The evidence denied the police and the Commission include the names of the personnel that carried out the operation that killed Lt General Mahao, the weapons and vehicles used in the operations to enable ballistic tests, Lt General Mahao’s personal possessions such as his mobile phones, spectacles and firearm. We have no doubt that these calculated acts of non-cooperation with the investigation were intended to protect not only those who carried out the killing but also the politicians who authorised it.”
The women said with the active support of government the LDF systematically obstructed their spouses who were in custody at the maximum prison from appearing before the Commission.
“It is apparent that the plan was to ensure that the side of the so-called mutineers would not be heard by the Commission.” They also said the LDF and the government sought to throw further spanners in the work of the commission. They brought a court case intended to obstruct the commission from hearing evidence from soldiers who had fled to South Africa, alternatively to have their evidence quashed through a proxy in the name of Lt Colonel Hashati.
They alleged: “With the government’s active support the LDF has systematically defied numerous court orders directing the discharge of the detainees from the maximum prison to be kept under ‘open arrest’ at home. In some cases the detainees were released and immediately re-arrested before they left the maximum prison’s premises. “Cynically after every court decision ordering release the LDF meted further punishment by placing the concerned detainees under a solitary confinement regime where to date they remain.”
They said the LDF has added new charges on some of the detainees for the testimonies they made in court papers. The purpose of such charges is to intimidate the detainees from placing any evidence before the courts.
“The courts of law have appeared helpless to enforce their orders on the LDF. The LDF has also appeared immune from contempt of court orders. Their Excellencies will appreciate from the foregoing the grave situation prevailing in Lesotho.
“The LDF has become a lawless force which does not respect the law and holds the country at ransom and impunity. We appeal to their excellencies to intervene and rescue the country from this situation which poses a threat to long-term peace and stability in the country and the region,” said the women in conclusion.