Arms fraud accused cops dealt a court blow

Moorosi Tsiane

TWO police officers implicated in a firearms fraud scandal face dismissal after Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane struck their urgent interdict application off the roll this week.

Police Constable (PC) Akhente Pule of Mazenod and Mashalane Tsita of Mokhotlong had rushed to the High Court in a desperate bid to block Commissioner of Police Borotho Matsoso from firing them over fraud allegations.

The two officers, together with PC Reekelitsoe Motoena and Rantso Makhakhe, were charged in June 2025 with fraud and document tampering in connection with fake firearm certificates.

They stand accused of selling two pistols — a 9mm Canik (serial number TG472-22BH05147) and a 7.65mm Sarsilmaz (serial number TII02-21B200129) — to Ntjapeli Ramoloko and Jeremane Motsoahae, both said to be illegal miners and members of banned famo gangs.

The quartet allegedly pocketed M150,000 from the illicit sales before they were arraigned in the Maseru Magistrates Court on 16 June 2025, where they were released on bail after paying M1,000 each. Their trial is still pending.

In July, Commissioner Matsoso issued letters of misconduct to the accused officers, demanding explanations. This triggered Pule and Tsita’s urgent High Court bid, where their lawyer, Advocate Mole Khumalo, argued that the Commissioner was bent on dismissing them without credible evidence.

“My Lord, we are concerned that after responding to the first letter of representation, the Commissioner issued a second letter purporting to contain evidence against my clients. We fear that he intends to use this so-called evidence to dismiss them unfairly,” Adv Khumalo submitted.

He maintained that the material supplied by the Commissioner did not prove their guilt and that dismissing them based on it would amount to abuse of power.

But Chief Justice Sakoane was unmoved, questioning why the matter was brought as an urgent application.

“Counsel, are you asking me to stop the Commissioner from exercising his powers under the Police Act? He has the authority to determine whether your clients have misbehaved or not. If they are dismissed, they can still challenge it in the ordinary courts. I cannot interfere with the enforcement of the law,” he ruled.

Faced with this, Adv Khumalo conceded and asked that the matter be shifted from the urgent roll to the ordinary roll. Justice Sakoane then struck it off the urgent list.

The ruling effectively clears the way for Commissioner Matsoso to invoke Section 31(1)(i) of the Police Service Act No. 7 of 1998, which empowers him to discipline officers for misconduct.