…as he outlined plan for police budget
Mohloai Mpesi
CHIEF of Police (COP), Advocate Borotho Matsoso, says he has set aside a portion of the M560 million allocated to the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) to investigate corrupt officers within the police force.
Adv Matsoso acknowledged rampant corruption carried out by police officers on different assignments, where some received bribes from the public at roadblocks.
Irked by the infamous acts that paint a repulsive picture of the police, Adv Matsoso told the Portfolio Committee on the Law and Public Safety Cluster this past week that he had allocated part of the budget to first fight corruption within his own ranks.
Police officers have been notoriously known for receiving bribes as little as M20 at roadblocks from drivers found in breach of traffic laws.
Compol Matsoso has previously urged the public to report such police officers for the law to take its course.
In September 2024, three police officers were charged with stealing M180,000 in Mafeteng from a suspect they were supposed to arrest.
This followed an incident less than a month earlier in which more than 10 police officers were dismissed due to their involvement in criminal activities.
Adv Matsoso stated that despite the hard work of many officers, there were still “corrupt lice” within the police ranks that needed to be combated.
“There is another problem of corruption. I do not want to hide that we have some police officers who are corrupt. We have set aside a certain amount of budget to fight this problem,” he said.
He added that it was important for the police to evaluate themselves before providing services to the public.
“The plan is also to evaluate police work on the roads to see whether it is working well. There is no way we can work without evaluating ourselves as police officers first,” he said.
Compol Matsoso told the Sunday Express after his presentation that his intention was to build a reputable LMPS.
“The recurrent budget of the LMPS for this financial year is M560 million. However, I don’t have documents right now to give you the amount we intend to use to clean the police force. But we have to do it.
“We also have to look into the issue of inspection, on how dockets are handled and how their mannerism is handled. It is one of the top priorities, and if we find anyone involved in wrongdoing, we have to take action immediately. We must do more than what we are doing right now, because we have realised that corruption within the force is a problem.”
Bid to outlaw knives
Adv Matsoso challenged Members of Parliament to enact a law to outlaw knives, which he said were a cause of rampant killings in the country and were mostly carried by drunkards.
Although Adv Matsoso did not provide statistics on how many knife-related murders had been recorded, he expressed concern that nothing prevented people from buying knives.
According to police crime statistics, 687 murder cases were reported, of which 477 were sent to court.
“I challenged you MPs to make laws that prohibited knives. These kids and boys who get drunk carried big knives. We do arrest them, but what do we do thereafter? Nothing, because there is nothing to stop a person from carrying knives. So, we ask you MPs to outlaw knives.
“Five centimetres is enough to peel peaches and cut meat. These long brown Okapi knives, I do not know what they are for, or long machetes worn on the waist. We need to outlaw these knives,” he said.
Adv Matsoso said he was going to ensure that the DNA machine became fully operational this year so that cases could be completed locally, reducing the costs of taking samples to South Africa.
Strengthening community policing
He added that they had also intended to strengthen community policing through Community Policing Forums, noting that there were not enough police officers to cover all communities.
“We want to roll out policing across the country. Crime has deteriorated this year because of Community Service Forums (Mahokela). It is because communities are policing themselves. The problem is that we do not have enough police officers. We do not even meet the international ratio of how many officers are required to police a community.
“Part of the budget is allocated to train Mahokela so that they know their boundaries,” he told the Committee.
Increased visibility
He added that they had increased police visibility and intensified efforts to deter livestock theft in remote mountainous areas, where stolen stock was often sold in South Africa.
“We also have to improve police visibility. Officers are supposed to be seen in communities and towns.
“We want to establish satellite posts using the allocated budget. There are hotspots such as Tsatsane in Quthing. The biggest complaint there is stock theft, with animals stolen and taken to KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.
Training and new recruits
He said the police intended to train officers to meet professional standards, while also considering the recruitment of new personnel.
“When the public complains about professionalism, it is because some officers have been trained a long time ago. We want to retrain them, even if it is only half of them, to align with public expectations.
“There is also a plan to recruit new officers. We do not yet know how many would be taken in, as we still have to prioritise whether recruitment or retraining is more urgent,” he said.
He added that part of the budget had also been allocated to combat cybercrime.
“Lately, crime has been committed in cyberspace, where people are insulted and perpetrators cannot be easily identified. We want to allocate part of the budget to fight cybercrime, including training. We have no choice but to address it,” he said.