Fear grips Maseru

27 February 2015 - 02:41 By Graeme Hosken
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LAST-MINUTE CAMPAIGNING: Members of the All Basotho Convention, headed by Tom Thabane, the current prime minister of Lesotho, attend the last rally of the election campaign to drum up support before tomorrow's polls
LAST-MINUTE CAMPAIGNING: Members of the All Basotho Convention, headed by Tom Thabane, the current prime minister of Lesotho, attend the last rally of the election campaign to drum up support before tomorrow's polls
Image: MOELETSI MABE

As police increase their visibility on the streets of Lesotho's capital, Maseru, worries about the safety of voters in tomorrow's bitterly contested elections mount.

Hundreds of police officers from countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community - including undercover South Africans - continued to arrive in Lesotho yesterday.

More than a million of the kingdom's 2.7million citizens will vote in the election, brought forward by two years after a failed coup in September.

Joining the South African contingent, which includes counter-assault unit members, are officers from Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, operating under a development community mandate.

Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane yesterday told Pansy Tlakula, special rapporteur for the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, that the "elections are a difficult subject".

Tlakula said that, although assurances of orderly conduct had been given by all the contesting parties, "concerns remain".

"Political parties say they will accept the outcome for the sake of peace, but there are challenges.

"Hope is being pinned on whether those in the previous coalition government have learnt their lessons after that government collapsed," Tlakula said.

Thabane, who dissolved parliament in June ahead of a vote of no confidence in him, fled to South Africa in September. He had fired the army chief, Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli.

Kamoli, who along with the head of police have been placed on special leave, took to the mountains as troops shut down the judiciary, raided police stations for weapons and stormed Thabane's home.

Within hours of Kamoli's removal, Thabane's newly appointed army chief survived an assassination attempt.

The vote of no confidence was proposed after Thabane called for an investigation into the activities of his deputy, Mothetjoa Metsing, leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy party, whom he accused of corruption.

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, due to arrive in Lesotho today, has been trying to broker peace in Lesotho since the attempted coup.

South African soldiers were on stand-by at Tempe military base, in Bloemfontein, yesterday.

South African police and their SADC counterparts are protecting diplomats, key installations and members of the Lesotho power elite, and are guarding ballot boxes, voting stations and vote-counting centres.

Commonwealth mission head and former Botswana president Festus Mogae said: "We have found certain things very puzzling. There is some indication that Lesotho is still in for instability, although we're hoping it doesn't materialise."

He said a substantial effort would have to be made to clarify the roles of public entities, especially those of the police, the cabinet and the army.

"Concerning are some of the things emerging from discussions we have had with the army about their roles and responsibilities.

"They view their role as that of protecting the nation and of being able to intervene on behalf of the public without being asked. This role must be clarified."

Mogae said it was now a matter of waiting and watching.

If there were hitches, he said, they would be about attitudes towards the outcome of the vote.

Earlier this month , two bodyguards charged with protecting Thabane were shot and wounded. A bystander was reportedly killed in the crossfire, his advisers said.

Both the injured men were soldiers who had tipped off Thabane about the August coup attempt, an adviser told the AFP news agency.

"The two guards went against their own men that day, absolutely," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The bodyguards were not accompanying the prime minister at the time, AFP said.

SADC mission head Fannie Phakola said the mission would not allow the election to be stopped.

"The concerns have been neutralised. The police have saturated the area, especially the counting and voting stations. There is enough protection for key installations, VIPs and voters."

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