#times_live_news Lessons from Lesotho coup SThembiso Msomi | 04 September, 2014 00:04 A MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB: Life returns to normal in Lesotho after political tensions resulted in the army exchanging fire with the police in Maseru On Tuesday last week Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane had a tense meeting with his deputy, Mothetjoa Metsing, several ministers, the police commissioner and the then army chief, Lieutenant-General Kennedy Kamoli. The meeting was aimed at ironing out the political differences threatening to tear the fragile Lesotho coalition government apart and plunge the landlocked kingdom into a new political and security crisis. At the meeting Metsing, who leads the Lesotho Congress for Democracy, one part of the coalition government, complained bitterly about what he termed a political witch-hunt against him which, he said, was being spearheaded by the countrys police force. National police commissioner Khothatso Tsoana is said to have told the meeting that the corruption investigations involving Metsing were no witch-hunt but were based on evidence in the possession of the police. It became clear at the meeting that the police, who are widely regarded as close to the prime minister, were determined to arrest the deputy prime minister. This prompted an angry Metsing, say those who were at the meeting, to defiantly declare that no one would arrest him because he was under the protection of the countrys military. He is said to have told the meeting that, if the investigation of his activities were not stopped and the planned arrest aborted, he would lead a march against the government. The other side would not budge. We can extend an olive branch to the other side but we cannot budge on rooting out corruption, said a pro-Thabane politician who participated in the meeting. And so began the making of an attempted coup. The defence minister soon learned that, without his permission, the deputy prime minister had been put under the armys protection. Metsing, on his side, lived up to his threat. His supporters applied for permission to march through the capital, Maseru, to demand, among other things, that parliament be re-opened. Thabane had convinced King Letsie III to shut down parliament in June after getting wind that Metsing and opposition parties were planning to stage a vote of no confidence in him. On Friday the police refused permission for Metsings supporters to march, and the king agreed to remove Kamoli as head of the army at the Thabane factions insistence. In Kamolis place the government appointed Lieutenant-General Mahao Maaparankoe - a controversial decision, considering that he had been suspended from his duties in the army. That evening soldiers loyal to Kamoli and Metsing went on the rampage, attacking the tiny countrys four police stations, and the home of the prime minister and those of his allies. By the time the soldiers got to his official residence, Thabane had fled to South Africa. If the Southern African Development Community negotiations led by President Jacob Zuma are anything to go by, the situation in Lesotho will soon return to normal. Thabane is likely to resume his duties soon and, unless the king and prime minister renege on a deal reached in Pretoria on Monday night, parliament should be in full swing again very quickly. But there are a couple of crucial lessons to be learned from the latest coup attempt in Lesotho. Not least among them is the duty that South Africa - because of its economic strength and access to resources - has to ensure stability in the Southern African region and beyond. Without swift action by our government, Lesotho could easily be embroiled in a bloody civil war today. But, most important, the latest Lesotho crisis teaches us the importance of jealously guarding the institutions of state from being abused to serve the narrow political interests of individual politicians and political parties. Their independence must be sacrosanct. Lesotho is where it is today largely because neither the police nor the army are perceived as independent players, in place only to ensure the safety of the state and its citizens. Instead, the police are seen as the prime ministers private army and the countrys armed forces are regarded as being the deputy prime ministers vigilantes. South Africa should play a role in helping to return Lesotho to constitutional democracy - but, as citizens, we should ask ourselves if we are not slowly letting our own organs of state and other constitutional bodies be manipulated by competing groups for their own selfish ends. If indeed we have begun marching down that road - both in the government and the opposition - it is just a matter of time before we join Lesotho as one of Southern Africas banana republics.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 04:22:53 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015