A jungle called Lesotho

Oarabile Mosikare | Friday January 22, 2016 15:31

 

As the Southern African Development  Community(SADC) Double Troika Summit met this week in Gaborone to discuss the political and security situation in Lesotho, opposition leaders were also busy lobbying for the return of the rule of law in their country.

All Basotho Convention (ABC), Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) members sent representatives to Gaborone to present to the delegates their plea as important stakeholders.  Speaking on behalf of the three parties, the BNP deputy leader Joang Molapo said they represent a sizable and important portion of the people of Lesotho.

“Our main focus is to make sure that there is a return to the rule of law in Lesotho. We saw the events of August 30, 2014, which saw the then Prime Minister having to flee out of Lesotho. The main perpetrators of that act must be brought to a court of law. We have seen numerous incidents including the most tragic and unfortunate being the murder of Lt Gen Maaparankoe Mahao. We want to see his murderers brought before the court of law,” explained Molapo.

He added: “We are here to ensure that SADC appreciates and understands that it is in the best interests of peace and security in Lesotho if those people who are the perpetrators of these crimes are known and identified and a process is then put in place to bring them before courts of law in the interest of justice in Lesotho.

And it is that message that we intend to bring to SADC. We are not presenting a message of our political ambition. We went for elections and accept the fact that we did not reach 50 percent and therefore could not form a government”.

Molapo said if the government is unwilling to respect the laws of the country then they would do everything in their power to bring to the attention of the world the situation in Lesotho so that they can maintain the democracy of Lesotho.

“That is what has brought us here. We have communicated to the SADC Double Troika through letters sent to SADC secretariat. We have written to the various SADC Heads of State and our leaders have had the opportunity to speak to SADC leadership. The forum of today is really intended for the Heads of States to look at various issues in Lesotho,” he said.

He said they did not expect to meet the SADC leadership.

“We expect to get an opportunity to speak to ministers and various members of the delegation to ensure that when they go in for the summit they do so with understanding of the situation in Lesotho.”