The wrong signal

LESOTHO’S coalition government this week announced it was going to implement a process that would result in “the dignifi ed, graceful and secure retirement” of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. That process, we were told, would result in Thabane’s “immediate” retirement from offi ce. The deal, brokered by a South African delegation led by former minister Jeff Radebe, would mark the end of what has been a tumultuous and testing period for Thabane and Lesotho. Of course, there have since been discordant voices of protest from hawks within Thabane’s camp who say the weekend deal will not hold and that the premier was not going anywhere. That “war talk” was to be expected given the high stakes in the fi ght to succeed Thabane. We are not surprised that this cabal that is close to Thabane has been fi ghting to protect their turf and the trappings of power. In a bizarre address on Lesotho TV last Saturday, Thabane accused certain elements within the police and members of his own ABC party of seeking to subvert a lawfully constituted government. He then sent the army onto the streets. Thabane’s deployment of the army, which caught everybody by surprise, startled regional powerhouse South Africa forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately dispatch a high-powered delegation to Maseru. However, it is the contents of the communique issued after the meetings that is of interest to us. We are sure that no Mosotho would want to deny Thabane “a dignifi ed” exit after his outstanding contributions in the public service for the past fi ve decades. Their only problem would be in interpreting what constitutes a “dignifi ed and secure retirement” for the Prime Minister. That is because Thabane is facing a very serious charge of murdering his estranged wife, Lipolelo Thabane, in June 2017. Thabane’s new wife, ’Maesaiah Thabane, is also facing the same charges. Political analysts have always argued that Thabane would not leave offi ce until he secured some kind of deal to stop his prosecution over the Lipolelo murder. If the “secure retirement” insinuated in that communique refers to an amnesty deal for Thabane and his wife, then it would be a travesty of justice. Thabane and his wife have always insisted they were not linked in any way to the Lipolelo murder and it would only be fair for them to have their day in court. With their privileged standing in society, the two will certainly have access to some of the sharpest legal brains in the land. It is our hope that the politicians will not rush to cut deals behind the scenes that leave a bitter taste in the mouths of ordinary citizens. Such a move would also set a very bad precedent for Lesotho. And before we conclude, we wish to comment briefl y about the controversial deployment of the army last weekend. We know we have a very sad and unfortunate history of an army that has not been shy in the past to wade into the political arena on behalf of politicians. That must not be allowed in a democratic society. Politicians must therefore not be in the habit of using and abusing state machinery to fi ght what are effectively narrow and partisan interests. These are the same things Thabane fought against when he was in the opposition. What was wrong four years ago can never be right merely because Thabane is now in power. The deployment last weekend therefore sent the wrong signals about the direction we are taking as a country.