Tefo Tefo

THE Court of Appeal on Friday reserved judgment until 29 April 2016 for 23 Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) members seeking not to stand trial before a Court Martial for alleged mutiny. Seventeen of the soldiers also want to be released from Maseru Maximum Security Prison where they have been detained since their arrest between May and June 2015.

The LDF members are praying for the High Court to declare their detention unlawful.

The soldiers also want the court to review and set aside an order by Defence and National Security Minister Tšeliso Mokhosi to convene a Court Martial against them.

The applicants were further complaining a member of the Court Martial jury appeared to be a victim in the alleged mutiny plot hence he might not be neutral in his decision.

However, Justice Molefi Makara on 5 October 2015 dismissed all the applicants’ prayers and only granted that their detention was unlawful because it was done without observing relevant regulations.

The soldiers appealed the judgment and the case was heard on Friday with their lawyer, Senior Counsel Anna–Marrie De Vorse, urging the Court of Appeal to find Mr Mokhosi’s decision to establish the Court Martial “unreasonable”.

Advocate De Vorse said at the time the minister was issuing the order, the SADC Double Troika had already decided that Commission of Inquiry should be established to investigate, among other issues, whether there was any mutiny plot in the LDF.

“On 3 July (2015), the Double Troika decided that in order to stabilize Lesotho after the death of Lieutenant-General (Maaparankoe) Mahao, the correct solution was that any Court Martial processes should be put in abeyance for the Commission of Inquiry to establish whether there was a mutiny.

“After that, the Prime Minister admitted and he gazetted the Commission.

“But after the Double Troika’s decision, the appellants received notices saying why they should not be kept in custody,” Advocate De Vorse said.

She further said the defence minister then issued a convening order for the Court Martial—a decision the lawyer called “unreasonable”.

“His decision was unreasonable, taking into consideration that the Prime Minister had agreed for establishment of a Commission of Inquiry,” she said.

In response, King’s Counsel Motiea Teele said it was not correct to suggest that Mr Mokhosi’s decision to establish the Court Martial was unreasonable.

“The minister was not saying the Commission was irrelevant. He was merely saying he had facts for him to convene the Court Martial.

“He was answering a case by the appellants because they had alleged he did not have the facts to establish the Court Martial,” he said.