Keiso Mohloboli
MASERU — Deputy Commissioner of Police Khothatso Tšooana was this week appointed Acting Commissioner of Police, replacing Keketso Monaheng, who went on leave in December to attend a three-week initiation school.
Former Acting Commissioner of Police Monaheng was informed in a letter upon returning to work on Monday that Tšooana would be taking over from him with immediate effect.
The Sunday Express’s sister paper, the Lesotho Times, reported last September that Monaheng was appointed acting commissioner after his predecessor, Kizito Mhlakaza, was sent on forced leave in the same month.
Monaheng, formerly known as Kholokholo, has served in the police for more than twenty years.
The appointment, made on Monday, was only formally announced on Thursday.
Police spokesperson, Senior Inspector Lebona Mohloboli, this week said Minister of Police, Prime Minister Motsoahae Thabane, had to “appoint another senior officer to take over the office of the Commissioner since it was vacant”.
Mohloboli explained that Monaheng was not demoted as he had not been confirmed commissioner of police prior to his departure for the initiation school.
Instead, Mohloboli said Thabane acted in line with the provisions of sections six and nine of the Police Act of 1998, which state that it is “not specific how long a senior officer should act in a certain position”.
The police spokesperson added that the Police Act also grants Thabane the powers to “appoint any senior officer of his choice, at anytime to any vacant position inside the police service”, adding that the Act also grants Thabane the powers to change acting senior officers “from time to time”.
“It is not obligatory to appoint one senior officer to act for a certain position, the act provides for a change,” Mohloboli said.
Following his appointment in an acting capacity, speculation was rife Monaheng would eventually take up the post on a permanent basis.
This was because, sources said, he had worked closely with Thabane during his tenure as Home Affairs Minister in former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) administration.
Highly-placed sources said Thabane’s relationship with Monaheng continued to flourish even after the premier had defected from the LCD to form the All Basotho Convention (ABC), which is now the main partner in the coalition government with the LCD and the Basotho National Party (BNP).
Tšooana, who is Monaheng’s junior both in terms of age and experience in the police force, landed the deputy police commissioner’s post after serving only eight years in the force.
Tšooana holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and was a senior inspector who acquitted himself well and thus skipped the three ranks of superintendent, senior superintendent and assistant commissioner, and catapulted to Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Meanwhile, an ABC source who is a former police officer told this paper yesterday former Commissioner of Police ‘Malejaka Letooane, who retired under controversial circumstances during the Mosisili-led administration reportedly due to sour relations with former Natural Resources Minister Monyane Moleleki, could be engaged on contract as the new Commissioner of Police.
“Ntate Thabane is sceptical about appointing one of the current senior officers as commissioner of police. He is likely to bring a retired senior police officer on board, instead,” the source said.
“There’s been talk that although there are many names on his list, former commissioner ‘Malejaka Letooane is most likely to be appointed.”
When contacted for comment yesterday, Mhlakaza told this paper he took an early retirement on January 9 but would not elaborate except to say “it was for personal reasons which I don’t want to share with people”.
Mhlakaza also refused to comment on whether or not the early retirement was forced saying “I do not want to talk about that issue at the moment”.