Keiso Mohloboli
LESOTHO Mounted Police Service (LMPS) Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana, Colonel Matela Matobakele and Brigadier 
Maaparankoe Mahao both of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) have been implicated in a plot to overthrow the army command.
The three security chiefs are accused of holding secret meetings between August 2014 and May 2015 during which they allegedly planned to violently remove Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli as LDF Commander and replace him with Brig Mahao.
According to Court Martial papers signed by Major General Lineo Poopa on 28 May 2015 — copies of which the Sunday Express has managed to obtain — six soldiers, namely Second Lieutenant Talasi, Sergeant Motene, Sergeant Semakale, Corporal Makara, Lance Corporal Koali and Lance Corporal Letsilane — have since been detained at the Maseru Maximum Security Prison for allegedly being complicit to the plot. The soldiers were served with the papers on the same day, according to the endorsements after their respective names.
Read the papers headlined ‘HOLDING CHARGES’ and with the names of the six soldiers listed below:
STATEMENT OF OFFENCE
The accused…soldiers of the Lesotho Defence Force are jointly charged with taking part in an intended mutiny involving the use of violence or the threat of the use of violence contrary to Section 48 (2) of the LDF Act No 4 of 1996 (the Act) read with subsection 3 thereof.
PARTICULARS OF THE OFFENCE: COUNT ONE
In that upon or from the month of August 2014 until the month of May 2015 at or near the residential place of one 2Lt Mokhothu, and at or near Brig Mahao’s place, and at or near the place of Commissioner of Police (Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana) in the district of Maseru and other places and times unknown to the prosecutor, the said accused, acting in concert, one or other or one with the other , to take part in an intended mutiny involving the use of violence or the threatened use of violence, when they, as persons who are subject to the Act, held meetings, communicated via whatsapp text messages and through telephonic calls, to overthrow the command of the Lesotho Defence Force by engaging in or doing one or more of the following acts:
(A) Conspiring to arrest and/or kill officers and soldiers of the LDF, namely Brigadier Mokaloba, Lt Colonel Phaila, Lt Colonel Lekhooa, Major Ntoi, Major Sechele, Captain Hashatsi, Second Lt Nyakane and Second Lt Hlehlisi being their superiors, including Corporal Mokhesuoe, and Lance Corporal Moleleki in order to remove Lt Gen Kamoli from the command of the Lesotho Defence Force.
(B) Conspiring to take arms and rams and arm themselves so that they could use, with violence, to surround Makoanyane Headquarters and arrest Brig Mokaloba and eight other LDF officers with intent to place them in the Maseru Maximum Security Prison.
(C) Agreeing with one another to seek and hire rifles, including Snipers, with M14 000, so that they could shoot to kill LDF officers to be able to remove Lt Gen Kamoli from office.
COUNT TWO
Failure to report an intended mutiny involving the use of force contrary to Section 49 (b) of the Lesotho Defence Force Act No 4 of 1996 read with subsection 3 thereof.
PARTICULARS OF THE OFFENSE
In that upon or between the period of August 2014 and May 2015, at or near the residential place of one 2nd Lt Mokhuthu and at or near the place of commissioner of Police (Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana) in the district of Maseru and other places and times unknown to the prosecutor, the said accused being persons subject to the Act, one or other or all of them, knowing that a mutiny is intended, unlawfully and intentionally failed to report one or more or all of the following plans:
- That Colonel Matobakele, Brigadier Mahao and Commissioner Tšooana and some LDF members held secret meetings from which they planned to arm themselves so that they could, with the use of violence, arrest and kill some of the LDF officers and a few soldiers with intent to overthrow the command of the LDF and place Brig Maaparankoe Mahao as commander of the Lesotho Defence Force.
Charges B and C read the same as those under COUNT ONE.
Meanwhile, Colonel Matobakele went AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) when his sick leave sick ended on 13 February 2014, and the LDF has since been looking for him for breaching provisions of the LDF Act of 1996.
Brigadier Mahao was appointed LDF commander on 29 August 2014 by then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, in place of Lt Gen Kamoli who had been fired by the premier for alleged insubordination. Lt Gen Kamoli subsequently refused to vacate office, arguing the dismissal had not followed due process, which resulted in (Lt Gen) Mahao failing to resume duty and tensions within the LDF and between the army and LMPS.
On the other hand, Commissioner Tšooana was appointed top cop by Dr Thabane in January 2014, but has since been served with a letter asking him to show cause why he should not be sent on early retirement. In the letter, the new Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili—who came to power as head of a seven-party alliance after the 28 February 2015 snap elections—accuses him of gross incompetence and polarising the police, hence the ultimate.
In the meantime, Dr Mosisili has since removed Mahao as LDF commander and reinstated Lt Gen Kamoli. In addition to being demoted from lieutenant general to brigadier, Mr Mahao faces a court martial for allegedly threatening fellow officers in January last year over their opinions regarding the LDF command.
The court martial proceedings were underway when he was promoted, although Brig Mahao insists the trial had been terminated by Dr Mosisili before the elevation.
Both Brigadier Mahao and Commissioner Tšooana have indicated that they would fight their forced removal from office through the courts of law, but it is not unclear how they would be dealing with this latest development.
Both could not be reached for comment yesterday while the LDF has since indicated it would not grant the Sunday Express and its sister paper, the Lesotho Times, an interview because of the way the two publications report issues relating to the army.