Mohloai Mpesi
UNITED Africans Transformation (UAT) leader, Dr Mahali Phamotse, has expressed frustration over delays in tabling her parliamentary motion seeking an inquiry into the abduction and alleged torture of Newsday news editor Kananelo Boloetse.
Dr Phamotse and Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane filed an urgent motion in the National Assembly on 24 September 2026, calling for an independent commission of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mr Boloetse’s abduction.
Raising a point of order in the House on Friday, Dr Phamotse questioned why the motion had not yet been tabled, despite its urgency.
“Adv Rakuoane and I filed an urgent motion regarding the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate issues relating to the abduction of Kananelo Boloetse,” Dr Phamotse said.
“We filed the motion on 24 September 2026 but until now it has not entered the House. We have learnt that similar threats are now being directed at other journalists.
“When will the motion enter the House?” she asked.
National Assembly Speaker Tlohang Sekhamane, however, said the motion did not qualify as urgent and would be scheduled by the Business Committee.
“An urgent motion is number 29, otherwise a motion is a motion. Also, your motion was filed just before we adjourned for the Independence break,” Mr Sekhamane said.
Mr Boloetse was allegedly abducted from his home in Katlehong, Maseru, on 5 September 2026 by three unidentified men travelling in a silver-grey Toyota Starlet bearing registration number A 887 BBC.
According to Newsday and media freedom organisations, the men questioned him about his journalism and human rights work, assaulted him and threatened to kill him.
He was allegedly abandoned in the Thaba-Bosiu area but regained consciousness and made his way to a nearby road, where a passing motorist rescued him.
Newsday reported that neighbours had seen a suspicious vehicle monitoring his home in the hours before the attack. The incident also came days after a cyberattack disrupted the publication’s website and email services, which Newsday linked to its investigative reporting on education financing in Lesotho.
Mr Boloetse has since gone into hiding after his alleged attackers threatened to kill him should he go public about the attack.
Mr Boloetse is a former chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho chapter and a civic leader with the Section 2 coalition. Newsday, founded in 2017, operates a news website and publishes a weekly newspaper.
The attack drew condemnation from MISA, the International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International, all of which called for a prompt, thorough and independent investigation.
Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Nthati Moorosi, visited Newsday’s offices on 7 September to assure the publication of the government support.
Chief of Police, Advocate Borotho Matsoso, has said the police would investigate the incident but claimed that Mr Boloetse had been unwilling to cooperate with investigators.
The incident has renewed concerns about the safety of journalists in Lesotho. In 2016, then Lesotho Times editor Lloyd Mutungamiri was ambushed by armed men after the newspaper published an article examining the powers wielded by the Lesotho Defence Force.
Meanwhile, Mr Boloetse is expected to make his first public address since the attack when he participates in a virtual seminar organised by Intelwatch on Tuesday.
He will join three other panellists to discuss threats facing the media in Southern Africa.
Intelwatch is a volunteer organisation of researchers and activists focused on public oversight, accountability and civic space. It works with security sector experts, investigative journalists, researchers and human rights activists, particularly in the Global South.