Confusion after Lesotho PM’s wife shot dead

JUST days before his inauguration, Lesotho’s incoming prime minister was left shaken by the murder of his estranged wife in a shooting highlighting the political uncertainty gripping the tiny mountain kingdom.

Thomas Thabane’s 58-year-old wife, Lipolelo, was shot dead on Wednesday night in Ha Masana village, 35km south of the capital Maseru where she lived, as she was driving with a friend.

Thabane’s All Basotho Convention party’s secretary-general, Samonyane Ntsekele, said the prime minister-elect was devastated by the shooting.

Thabane, whose party won a parliamentary election earlier this month, is due to replace Pakalitha Mosisili, prime minister since 2015, after forming a coalition with three other parties.

The gunning down of his wife less than two days before he was due to take office has created confusion in poverty-stricken Lesotho.

Thabane is expected to be sworn in today amid hopes his new coalition government will end the political uncertainty in the country.

His ABC party won snap elections on June 3 but failed to get an outright majority, leading it to negotiate joint rule with the Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL).

The new alliance will replace the government of Mosisili, a sevenparty coalition plagued by infighting and corruption.

Mosisili’s government was toppled in March and elections were triggered when opposition parties called a vote of no-confidence, which he lost.

Thabane, 77, previously served as premier of the nation of two million people after coming to power in 2012, but was forced to flee to South Africa following an attempted military coup in 2014.

Political analyst Mafa Sejanamane said the main challenge facing the new government would be to manage the security forces.

“The new government also needs to unscramble Mosisili’s government system, as it is known that he placed a number of allies in key positions in the last days of his tenure,” Sejanamane said.

Thabane has vowed that his new government will be committed to the rule of law, good governance, rebuilding, and strengthening of the pillars of democracy.

He has pledged to bring the country stability and address its chronic poverty and 22.7% adult HIV rate.

He secured victory just four months after his return from South Africa.

The Thabane-led alliance won 63 of the 120 seats in parliament, while outgoing Mosisili’s Democratic Congress (DC) scored 30.

Stability was the dominant theme of the election.

Thabane will be sworn in at the Setsoto stadium in Maseru, marking the country’s third attempt at a coalition government.

Both of the previous joint administrations collapsed.

Lesotho has a long history of political instability, having suffered coups in 1986 and 1991.

South Africa’s Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane warned Lesotho this week that Pretoria would not tolerate another putsch.

“The coup thing is clear – we will not allow it to happen. Not in our back yard,” Nkoana-Mashabane said.

South Africa led mediation efforts after Thabane’s ouster and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to attend his inauguration ceremony.