MASERU — The citizen’s arrests of four opposition leaders by an ex-soldier, who has a checkered history, on Tuesday might have “stolen” the headlines but that does not mean what was said at the press conference was less important.
This is especially so because it is the serious allegations that the leaders made against the government that led to their “arrest”.
Hosanna Sako, a former soldier convicted for the 1998 military mutiny, only moved into action after the opposition leaders had made serious allegations of corruption in the government.
The Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Thesele ’Maseribane told the press conference that they had evidence that someone had stolen M20 million from the Ministry of Health.
He alleged that the authorities, the police and Finance Minister Timothy Thahane knew that the money had been deposited into a bank account in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Said ’Maseribane: “Why is it a problem that this M20 million should be recovered from Bloemfontein and the culprits arrested?”
’Maseribane did not give evidence on who had stolen the money and how it had been spirited away.
’Maseribane also said parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Auditor General had investigated the matter but the alleged culprits had not been arrested.
“Some of the Auditor General’s recommendations were that top government officials from 11 ministries should be prosecuted,” ’Maseribane said.
He said there was evidence that M600 000 meant to fund the repair of a rural road in Rothe had been stolen but the alleged suspects had not been brought to book. ’Maseribane also made claims that there was proof that foreigners corruptly acquire Lesotho passports and residence permits for bribes ranging from M4 000 to M15 000.
There is evidence that there is rampant nepotism in the awarding of government jobs, he claimed.
The Lesotho Times could not verify these allegations but ’Maseribane and his colleagues have since promised the police that they will bring evidence to prove their allegations on Monday.
