Through the eyes of Basotho wives
Bame Piet | Thursday June 30, 2016 12:23
The slain former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commander, Maaparankoe Mohao, Mamphanya, may have lost a husband at the hands of his former colleagues in the army, but she is nowhere near giving up the fight for justice.
She is determined for the rule of law against her husband’s killers sees the light of day.
Despite constant threats, victimisation and possibly a bullet through her head, she has made it her mission to ensure that her beloved country respected the rule of law and that justice was served to other women in her position, whose husbands are in detention without trial.
Whilst in Gaborone for the just-ended SADC Heads of State Extra-ordinary Summit attended by seven heads of state from the region, Mahao a team made up of close to 20 wives and children of the detained soldiers.
Their only hope is to shout to whoever cares to listen that Lesotho is in crisis and their husbands are subjected to torture, humiliation, and are denied food and medication.
“The international community does not care about what is happening in Lesotho right now. We have petitioned a lot of international organisations, but we are not seeing any improvement. It looks like we are on our own,” she told Mmegi on Tuesday.
The group, wearing T-shirts bearing the faces of their husbands, alleged that their biggest mistake came when their children organised a Father’s Day celebration last month to remember their detained and exiled fathers.
This idea did not go down well with the authorities who intensified visitation conditions and security around the detained soldiers.
“When we visited, we realised that the security around our fathers had been beefed up and one inmate was guarded by four armed men. The officers at (Lesotho) Maximum State Prison also threatened to deny them the blankets we bought them till the end of winter, should we continue with the celebrations,” one of the women whose name cannot be mentioned said.
“My chained husband was escorted by seven armed soldiers with rifles, and he told me that the LDF officers should not go ahead with the celebration or they will disappear – both the children and their fathers. He said to me to tell the children not to go ahead with the celebration.” Nonetheless the families went ahead with the celebrations and a few days later Mahao’s dogs were poisoned to death. She immediately knew who was behind the attack.
“We did not know that we have a military that is the law unto itself, breaking the law with impunity.”
The daughters of the soldiers said that their fathers have developed conditions of High Blood Pressure and Diabetes and they are denied access to basic medication.
They said that the families of around 23 soldiers who went into exile in South Africa have been kicked out of the institutional houses and have had their benefits such as salaries cut.
The soldiers were charged with mutiny last year. They said the main objectives of the Father’s Day celebrations was to console each other and raise funds for the families that have been left with no income.
They said that five senior officers were also put under solitary confinement in a bid to instil fear in them and their families.
The other seven soldiers have been granted bail. “For my husband I was told that when he heard about the mutiny, he did not report it,” said one wife.
“We came to Botswana to appeal to SADC leaders and the international community to focus their attention on Lesotho to afford justice for the families.
“For instance, the findings by Ntate Phumaphi were that there was never any plan for mutiny. We humbly appeal to the leaders to do something to free our husbands and accord them justice. The findings were promising, but we are not seeing any progress and whether SADC is putting enough pressure to have things done and moving. He found that the allegations of mutiny were just a fabrication.”
The group does not think that South African Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa fairly executed his role as mediator.
“He held separate meetings with conflicting parties, but he failed to put them together under one roof to listen to them and iron out their differences. He failed to do that before the murder of Mahao (husband) and even after. He only gave his report after the murder and we wonder why he had to wait for someone to lose his life,” Mahao said.
Apparently, the Deputy President went back to Lesotho a week prior to the extra-ordinary summit and left without calling the parties.
“He chose who he wanted to meet and ignored meeting the family of the slain commander. It is our view that the family is a stakeholder, but for some reason he has never sat down with the family to hear their story. Not even the Prime Minister recognises us as a stakeholder in this dispute,” Mahao said.
The group is wondering why the recommendation that the current army commander, Tladi Kamodi should be sacked, was not adhered to.
“We suspect that the Prime Minister is too scared to lose the army commander, or that the commander is now in charge of the country and he issues instructions to the Prime Minister,” one of the women said.
The group said that they have been warned against wearing the T-shirts in Lesotho or risk being detained as well.
“We were told we should burn these T-shirts because they say we are promoting ‘these criminals’. Yes, we are going back to Lesotho tomorrow and when we get to the border we will have to take them off,” said a member of the group.
Mahao has three sons aged 17, 13 and 11-years-old. She says they have accepted the demise of their father despite the unexplained circumstances that led to his death and post the assassination. The courts are not effective since they make decisions only for them to backtrack on the same decisions at a later stage.
The families are hopeful that the regional bloc could resolve the dispute.
Mahao said that the army is still withholding her slain husband’s cellphones, spectacles and his personal pistol.
“There was a time when they called my second son from his (her husband’s) phone and I told him not to answer. There was a time when the phone was constantly online (whatsapp) and I asked him if his life was eternal that he could go online from the mortuary. There was no response.” She said that her in-laws have written letters to the Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner, but there were no responses.
Mmegi was unable to independently verify the allegations the families and wives of the soldiers made against the government of Lesotho and Ramaphosa.