Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MASERU439
2007-07-25 15:02:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Maseru
Cable title:  

LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Tags:  PREL PGOV ASEC KDEM PHUM LT 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2166
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHRN
DE RUEHMR #0439/01 2061502
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 251502Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3197
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 3586
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MASERU 000439 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT ALSO FRO AF/S;
GABORONE FOR RSO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC KDEM PHUM LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY
SPEAK OUT

REF: A) MASERU 436; B) MASERU 428; C) MASERU 398; D) MASERU 385

MASERU 00000439 001.2 OF 003


_____

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MASERU 000439

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT ALSO FRO AF/S;
GABORONE FOR RSO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC KDEM PHUM LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY
SPEAK OUT

REF: A) MASERU 436; B) MASERU 428; C) MASERU 398; D) MASERU 385

MASERU 00000439 001.2 OF 003


_____


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Lesotho's political crisis continues to
lumber forward, as the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS)
searched the home of a High Court Justice who recently issued
two rulings against the GOL. Leaders of Lesotho's five major
opposition parties held a press conference on July 24 addressing
the ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC)
mediation process and the Millennium Challenge Corporation's
$362.5 million compact signed in Washington the previous day.
Also, a civil society delegation returned from a visit to
Botswana designed to involve regional organizations in resolving
allegations of human rights abuses in Lesotho. And
unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering,
opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge
Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government. END
SUMMARY.



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Judge's Home Searched

--------------




2. (SBU) On the evening of July 24, the Lesotho Mounted Police
Service (LMPS) searched the home of High Court Justice `Maseforo
Makara, a judge who recently issued two rulings against the GOL.
According to Police Inspector Pheello Mphana, the estranged
husband of Judge Mahase is a suspect in the theft of military
rifles from ministerial residences in June 2007. The search of
the judge's home has led to an outcry on July 25 by callers to
local radio programs, who stated that the Justice has not lived
with her former husband in many years and they maintain separate
residences.




3. (U) On July 7, Mahase presided over a case in which she
ordered the immediate release from "police and/or military"
custody of five individuals implicated, though at that time not
charged, in the attacks against GOL ministerial residences and
alleged coup plotting (ref C). On July 2, she ordered the
immediate release of Makotoko Lerotholi, a bodyguard for

opposition ABC leader Thomas Thabane, in response to a legal
case filed by Lerotholi's wife after her husband's abduction by
unknown gunmen on June 22 (ref D). In this case, she issued a
strong statement from the bench, declaring that "the applicant's
husband's kidnapping and detention by [Lesotho Defense Force
(LDF) personnel] is an unlawful violation of his right to
liberty," and directed that Makoanyane Military Hospital provide
Lerotholi's attorney with records of "all physical examinations
done while he remained at Makoanyane Military Hospital (MMH)."
Lerotholi claimed that the LDF tortured him at the hospital.



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Opposition Leaders Address SADC Mediation, MCC

--------------




4. (U) Also on July 24, leaders of Lesotho's five major
opposition parties held a press conference at Lancer's Inn to
address the ongoing Southern African Development Community
(SADC) mediation process and the Millennium Challenge
Corporation's $362.5 million compact signed in Washington the
previous day. Present were All Basotho Convention (ABC) Leader
Thomas Thabane, Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) Deputy Leader
Dr. Khauhelo Ralitapole, Basotho National Party (BNP) Leader
General Metsing Lekhanya, leader of the rump National
Independent Party (NIP) Anthony Manyeli, and Marematlou Freedom
Party (MFP) Leader Vincent Malebo. The opposition leaders
declared that they were united in their desire to restart the
SADC-mediated talks led by former President of Botswana Sir
Ketumile Masire, and that as the MFP had withdrawn their court
case regarding the allocation of Proportional Representation
(PR) seats, the hiatus in the talks could end immediately. All
leaders expressed enthusiasm for the quick arrival of experts on
the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) model, which was agreed in

MASERU 00000439 002.2 OF 003


principal by all stakeholders during the last round of
SADC-mediated talks.




5. (U) Thabane stressed that the opposition did not dispute the
February 17 election results or plan to topple the government,
but merely wanted outside experts to evaluate the distribution
of PR seats. The ABC leader raised the recent spate of
extra-judicial arrests and alleged torture of individuals
associated with his party, stating that they continued despite
recent court rulings. Thabane disapprovingly noted the
increased prominence of Lesotho's military, which he stated
acted with impunity.




6. (U) Opposition leaders spoke disparagingly about the timing
of the signing of the $362.5 million compact with the Millennium
Challenge Corporation, and noted that a letter to the U.S.
Embassy urging a delay in compact signing had gone unanswered.
ACP Leader Dr. Ralitapole stated that it was "unfortunate that
the signing of a multi-million dollar compact with GOL will
boost a repressive government which has no respect for human
rights or the rule of law." BNP Leader General Lekhanya stated
that the opposition did not oppose the work of the MCC, which
they believed would benefit the nation, but emphasized that the
funds should come to Lesotho under the "right conditions," not
in the current climate of "human rights abuses."



--------------

Lesotho Civil Society Delegation

Takes Complaints to Botswana

--------------




7. (U) From July 18-21, a seven-person civil society delegation
from Lesotho visited Botswana to ask regional organizations to
help draw attention to reported human rights violations in the
Mountain Kingdom. The delegation included the President of the
Law Society of Lesotho (equivalent of the American Bar
Association) Zwelakhe Mda; Deputy President of the Law Society
of Lesotho Sekake Malebanye; Deputy Chairperson of the Lesotho
Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa Thabo
Motlamelle; Secretary General of the Lesotho Trade Unions
Congress Moletsane Jonathan; Treasurer of the Lesotho Law
Society 'Mabolae Mohasi; Executive Director of the Lesotho
Council of NGOs (LCN) Seabata Motsamai; and Director of the
Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) Mateliso Ntsoelikane. The
delegation met with SADC officials and civil society figures,
including Deputy Executive Secretary Joco Caholo; former
Botswana President (and Lesotho negotiation leader) Ketumile
Masire; SADC Lawyers Association's Program Director Elijah
Munyuki; and Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organizations'
(BOCONGO) Programs Manager Barulaganye Mogotsi.




8. (U) At the SADC meetings, the Lesotho delegation asked that
their concerns be relayed to the leadership of SADC through its
Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security under Tanzanian
President Jakaya Kikwete. At a later meeting with BOCONGO
Program Manager Mogotsi, he promised to inform other
stakeholders, including the SADC Council of NGOs, about the
situation in Lesotho and urge them to: 1) raise the matter up at
the SADC Summit in Zambia next month; and 2) to send a fact
finding mission to Lesotho. Of note, the SADC Lawyers
Association indicated at a later meeting that they would soon
send a fact finding mission to Lesotho. Program Director Munyuki
said that the group "had people waiting in the wings" to respond
to such events.



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More Troubling Signs

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MASERU 00000439 003.2 OF 003



9. (SBU) COMMENT: As noted in previous reports (refs),the
judicial independence displayed by Lesotho's High Court has been
a bright sign for Lesotho's democratization. While it is too
early to rush to judgment regarding the authority's motivations
for searching Justice Makara's home, her status as a prime
judicial skeptic of the GOL's methods in recent months raising
troubling questions. These questions are likely to be raised
increasingly loudly by both Lesotho's political opposition and
civil society. Lesotho's civil society delegation's visit to
Amnesty International in Pretoria during their return from
Botswana further illustrates their desire to pull the
international community into Lesotho's political impasse. And
unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering,
opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge
Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government. We will
continue to work against this counterproductive perception. END
COMMENT.
ANDERSON