Kobile says police are not doing enough to track down thugs who destroyed his radio station last week
Keiso Mohloboli
Tšenolo FM founder, Mohau Kobile, has hired private investigators to probe the destruction of his radio station by unknown thugs on Wednesday last week.
Four unidentified men stormed the Ha Mabote-based radio station at around 11 am on the day in question, and demanded to see Mr Kobile before going on the rampage, destroying broadcasting and
office equipment worth more than M120 000.
The men also severely assaulted the presenter on duty, Tšokolo Toi, when they could not locate Mr Kobile, and by the time help came, Tšenolo FM, which went on air on 12 December 2012, was no more, and 20 staffers were jobless.
Mr Kobile, who is accusing the police of not doing enough to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book, said he had since hired private detectives to track down the thugs, who were so brazen that they never covered their faces during the savage attack.
“The police’s silence on the matter has forced us to engage private investigators; we are determined to establish who was behind this attack.
“We cannot let this attack go just like that. It is going to cost us thousands of maloti to re-make the studio, which was completely destroyed in the attack,” Mr Kobile said.
Mr Kobile further said so far, the investigators had unearthed “interesting information” relating to the attack.
“We cannot reveal the information at the moment for security reasons, but we will be doing so when the time is right,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Officer Commanding Ha Mabote Police Station, Superintendent Phahla Letsosa, yesterday told the Sunday Express that no one had been arrested in connection with the brutal attack,
which has left the local media industry shaken.
“Police investigations are now at an advanced stage, and hopefully, the suspects will be arrested soon,” Superintendent Letsosa said.
Commenting on the attack, the Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa- Lesotho, Tsebo Matšasa said: “MISA-Lesotho calls upon the police to ensure perpetrators of this crime are brought to book and also ensure the safety of journalists so that they can freely exercise their profession.”
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