Keiso Mohloboli

Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana left  the country on Thursday allegedly after receiving information that members of the Lesotho Defence Force planned to arrest him.

Commissioner Tšooana (37) yesterday told the Sunday Express that after hearing about Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao’s fatal shooting that afternoon by LDF members, he took the tipoff about the danger he was in very seriously and fled the country.

The embattled LMPS chief—who has been accused of maladministration and polarising the police by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and has since been asked to show cause why he should not be sent on early retired because of these alleged shortcomings—told the Sunday Express that he could not reveal the country he was in for security reasons.

“I had to flee the country on Thursday because I had established that my life was in danger following ntate Mahao’s assassination. For security reasons, I am not comfortable to disclose if I am currently in South Africa or not,” Commissioner Tšooana said.

Brigadier Mahao was killed as he left his farm in Mokema with the LDF claiming he was resisting arrest when he was shot.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Tšooana joins former Prime Minister and ABC leader Thomas Thabane, his BNP and RCL counterparts Thesele ‘Maseribane and Keketso Rantšo fled the country on 11, 13 and 26 May 2015 respectively, allegedly after being alerted of a plot to kill them by LDF members. Government denies these claims.