Chief axes brother from junior post

MASERU – THE Principal Chief of Likhoele, Lerotholi Seeiso, has booted out his own brother, Chief Majara Seeiso, from the chieftaincy for alleged insubordination.

Chief Seeiso has replaced his brother with his own wife, Chieftainess ’Maletšabisa Seeiso.

Chief Majara Seeiso presided over 12 villages that formed part of Mafeteng urban and was directly reporting to his elder brother, Chief Seeiso.

“My wife is the one taking my orders hence I installed her as the chief of Mafeteng because these ones are rebelling against me,” Chief Seeiso told thepost on Tuesday.

The decision to axe his own brother has however not sat down well with some of his subjects. Some of the villagers on Monday marched to the office of the Mafeteng District Administrator Motinyane Motinyane requesting him to reverse Chief Seeiso’s decision.

The villagers want DA Motinyane to intervene.

What irked the villagers was a decision by Chief Seeiso to seize a stamp from the town chief after he told him that he was no longer the junior chief.

The villagers told the DA to respond to their grievance within the next 12 days.

They said they no longer have anyone to offer them services when they need them. The area chief’s duties include confirming ownership of livestock, allocation of sites and inherited properties.

He needs a stamp to validate some of the transactions.

In an exclusive interview with thepost, a defiant Chief Seeiso said he had axed his brother because he was refusing to carry out his orders.

“It is my responsibility as the chief to stop crimes when they happen,” Chief Seeiso said.

“I hear that people say I do not help them. I am only responsible to help Likhoele people and nothing more,” he said.

He said his brother had been acting as the urban chief since 1989. He said he had removing him because he was no longer cooperating with him.

“If you are a criminal or a thief, I remove you; what should I wait for?”

Chief Seeiso said his elder son died some years ago and now he has no one to take the office of the Mafeteng chief, “leaving me with no other option but to choose my wife”.

“I am not supposed to request chiefs under me to do things. I just give orders,” he said, adding that his subordinate chiefs “refused (to follow orders) yet I am the one who installed them as chiefs”.

He said he had installed his own wife because she listens to him and would not defy his orders.

Asked how he is to answer to the DA’s call, Chief Seeiso said he does not take orders from the DA therefore the community is just wasting its time by reporting him to the DA.

“My decision is final and is not subject to debate,” he said.

“I only account to the King (Letsie III) in Matsieng.”

He said he is number two amongst the experienced chiefs in the country, adding that he assumed the reins of the chieftainship way back in 1989.

“They should do whatever they want to do. The DA is just a coordinator and not our senior,” Chief Seeiso said.

He said the removal of an acting chief is not something new. It has happened before, he said.

He recalled that Chief Masupha Seeiso once acted on behalf of Prince Mohato Seeiso, now King Letsie III, when he was the Principal Chief of Matsieng.

“I put a spoon in their mouth but today they are defying my orders,” he said.

Chief Seeiso however declined to reveal how Chief Majara had been defiant and the instructions that he failed to carry out.

He said he is not a politician and was never installed by the DA to be the principal chief of Likhoele.

“Even the ministers, we do not account to them,” he said.

Chief Seeiso said the DA’s job is to coordinate between the chiefs and the central government not to lord over chiefs.

He said the aggrieved community could even take their fight against him to the Local Government Minister “so that the minister calls me for tea”.

Motinyane confirmed that he had received the letter of grievances on Monday from the community demanding the return of their chief in office.

He said the community stated in their letter that he should address their grievances within the next two weeks.

“They have threatened to take legal action if their grievances are not addressed,” Motinyane said.

He said the community argued that their chief was unlawfully removed because they were never consulted.

He said the community had insisted that their chief was always there for them and helped them.

Chief Majara could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.

Nkheli Liphoto