’Mantoetse Maama
Three taxi-owners and five other suspects who were arrested at the Maseru border post on Thursday and detained overnight were released the following day without appearing in court.
The eight were nabbed after Maseru Region Transport Operators (MRTO) members blocked the country’s major gateway to South Africa on Wednesday and Thursday morning to protest their harassment by the police once their taxis cross the border.
The operators and drivers also said their protest was meant to force the Lesotho government into acting on their complaints and ensure they are not harassed by the police and their counterparts once they ferry passengers into South Africa.
According to MRTO spokesperson Lebohang Moea, local officers who arrested their members did not treat them fairly.
“The officers arrived where we were protesting at around 7am on Thursday. The previous day, we were talking to them in a very civil manner while we were protesting so we were surprised on Thursday morning when they acted completely differently,” Mr Moea said.
“They searched and started arresting our members without saying why they were doing so. All they told us was that they were doing their job. We are disappointed that our government is now also harassing us; we suffer when we cross into South Africa and now the same thing is happening to us in our own country. Our vehicles have been destroyed during attacks in South Africa but still that does not mean anything to our government; instead of sympathising with us, they arrest us.”
MRTO legal representative, Advocate Napo Khatala, said the prosecutor and police said they were going to think about the case before deciding on the next course of action.
“They did not appear in court as the prosecutor and the police said they were going to think about the case,” Advocate Khatala said on Friday.
On his part, police spokesperson Clifford Molefe said the eight men were arrested for allegedly breaking traffic regulations.
“During the arrest, police confiscated seven taxis (Quantum), one four-wheel drive vehicle and two firearms,” Senior Inspector Molefe said.
On this week’s two-day stay-away which begins tomorrow and has been organised by the country’s three main opposition political parties—the All Basotho Convention, Basotho National Party and Reformed Congress of Lesotho— to protest the alleged breakdown of law and order in Lesotho, Senior Inspector Molefe said: “The police don’t mind people being part of the stay-away but will take legal action against those who force others to join in against their will.”