Keiso Mohloboli and Motsamai Mokotjo
Professor Nqosa Mahao—the elder brother of slain former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao—yesterday said there was no mutiny in the Lesotho Defence Force and that the SADC Commission of Inquiry will liberate Lesotho from its political and security problems.
According to Professor Mahao, he had seen the SADC report hence his statement that there was no mutiny in the LDF.
His brother, Lt-Gen Mahao was shot dead by the military on 25 June 2015 in Mokema, allegedly while resisting arrest for suspected mutiny. Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi was subsequently tasked by SADC to probe the circumstances surrounding the death, and has since produced a report which is expected to be released tomorrow.
“I saw and read the SADC Commission of Inquiry report and I can assure you all that there was no mutiny plot in the findings of the commission and soon Lesotho will see its liberation. After publication of the report, peace and stability will come back to Lesotho,” Prof Mahao said.
Professor Mahao was thanking scores of Basotho who had attended a prayer gathering in Mokema in commemoration of the late former army boss whose birthday was 27 January.
The prayer gathering was organised by the Mahao family and a civil society body called Action for Peace and Solidarity (APS).
Consoling the wives of soldiers detained at Maseru Maximum Security Prison for the alleged mutiny, Prof Mahao said: “To the wives of the soldiers detained at the Maseru Maximum Prison, we have heard that only last week, some of the officers were tortured.
“Freedom is upon us; I read the Phumaphi report; there’s nowhere where it states that your husbands committed mutiny; the time for tricks is over!”.