Taking the fight to the gangs!

MASERU – When Thabo* (not his real name) split with his wife, he was devastated and fell into a major depression.

To cope with his depression, Thabo thought he should drown his sorrows in alcohol. He also began taking drugs such as marijuana.

From that moment on, his life went downhill.

“I had a private car, a Noah vehicle, in which I kept all sorts of beers and wines because I wanted to be drunk,” he told thepost this week.

He however later sold the car and a 4+1 taxi after his drunkenness plunged him into serious debts.

“Now I am left with nothing,” he says.

Having had his fingers burnt, Thabo says he wants to share his story so that he can help youths who are struggling with alcoholism.

He was speaking at the launch of Hape-Le-Hape Progressive Movement, a social initiative that seeks to help youths avoid drug and alcohol abuse in Khubetsoana.

Thabo, who has since stopped drinking with the help of medical doctors after he seriously fell sick last year, says he hopes his story will inspire other youths to quit heavy drinking and the abuse of drugs.

“I urge people to stop abusing drugs, I know that we have different problems but alcohol is not the solution and they should try to talk to people about their problems,” he says.

The Khubetsoana community had for some time expressed serious concerns that the village is sinking into lawlessness as the youths are in illicit drugs and are crawling in drunkenness every day.

The Hape-le-Hape Progressive Movement is meant to fight crime, poverty and help stranded people to recover.

Motloheloa Phakela, who is driving the Hape-le-Hape Progressive Movement, says Khubetsoana “is a village well-known for youths who abuse drugs, corruption is high and we as the villagers want to change that”.

“This is not only for the Khubetsoana community, any community is allowed to join if they love what we are doing and we will be more than pleased to help other communities,” Phakela says.

He adds that they want Manomoro, a notorious gang identified by a number, to come forth and tell them their worries so that they can find help for them.

“A hungry stomach has no ear, it might happen that these people joined the gangs because of hunger and being poverty stricken,” he says.

He says they are willing to get help from any NGOs, companies, the Mohlomi Mental Hospital and others.

“We want oneness in the village and want the community that can express itself and have no fear of telling anyone anything,” he says.

“We are not going to judge anyone and therefore we want to help the community to be better.”

The launch of the Hape-le-Hape Progressive Movement comes at a time when the Lesotho Defence Force commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela, has called for a new approach to tackle the problem of gangsterism in Lesotho.

The Manomoro gang has terrorized the people of Khubetsoana in the last two years. They are notoriously known for burglaries, robberies, theft, housebreaking, rape, assault, and murder.

Lt Gen Letsoela, addressing youngsters at the army trained at a boot camp held at the Makoanyane Barracks recently, said he was worried with the escalating gangsterism in Khubetsoana.

The army took the initiative to train the youths on patriotism and quelling peer pressure to join gangs after a public outcry in Khubetsoana, Koalabata, Sekamaneng, Ha-Mabote, Motimposo, Ha-

Tšosane, Tšenola, Ha-Thamae, and Qoaling.

At least nine people have been killed as a direct consequence of gangsterism in Maseru since 2021.

Despite the army’s intervention, the problem continues.

“There are some kids who threaten others into joining them in their bad behaviour,” Lt Gen Letsoela said.

“They should be reprimanded and if they (do not heed the reprimand) something will happen,” he warned.

Alice Samuel