…as Kamoli’s guards are convicted of Tang’s murder
Moorosi Tsiane
CHIEF Justice Sakoane Sakoane has delivered a scathing judgment condemning the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF)’s conduct during one of the Kingdom’s most turbulent periods of 2014/15, describing former army commander Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli’s controversial “red alert” order as an unlawful licence to kill civilians and police officers.
In a strongly-worded ruling convicting two of Kamoli’s former bodyguards over the fatal shooting of Lisebo Tang, Justice Sakoane accused the former military command of subverting the Constitution, weaponising soldiers against civilians and elevating unlawful verbal commands above the rule of law.
A “red alert” is the highest level of warning indicating an immediate and severe threat to safety or operations.
Kamoli is accused of creating or “weaponising” the red alert notice issued in 2014 as a subversive tool authorising special forces to shoot suspicious vehicles and shield rogue soldiers from arrest by police.
“The Red Alert Order was a machination of General Kamoli to weaponize the Special Forces against protection of arrests by the police,” Justice Sakoane ruled.
“This is totally out of kilter with the Constitution and the role of the army. It is also subversive of the rule of law.”
The landmark judgment was delivered after Kamoli’s guards, Sergeant Tjekane Sebolai and Corporal Selone Ratšiu, were found guilty of the murder of Tang with direct intent, attempted murder of Tšepo Jane and malicious damage to property after riddling Jane’s vehicle with bullets outside Kamoli’s Ha-Leqele residence in Maseru on 9 May 2014.
The conviction marks the first successful State prosecution in a string of high-profile criminal cases involving Kamoli and his allies, who stand accused of terrorising the nation during the politically volatile years of 2014 and 2015. Kamoli himself has been in remand prison since his 2017 arrest and is facing separate trials on charges including treason, murder and attempted murder.
In Tuesday’s judgment, Justice Sakoane said the evidence revealed a “merciless” and unlawful use of lethal force by soldiers acting under an illegal military directive that effectively authorised them to kill perceived enemies of the former army commander.
“It did not provide clarity on principles and rules to constrain the use of lethal force.
“These shortcomings gave soldiers licence to kill and the red alert order is therefore clearly unlawful and should not have been obeyed by the accused.”
The judgment places renewed scrutiny on the conduct of the LDF during Kamoli’s tenure and raises fresh questions about the abuse of military power during one of Lesotho’s darkest political periods.
The court heard that Jane’s vehicle sustained 42 bullet holes on the exterior and 59 inside during the “merciless” shooting which left Tang dead and Jane seriously injured.
But beyond the convictions themselves, the ruling exposed what Justice Sakoane described as a dangerous culture within the military command structure during Kamoli’s reign — one in which unlawful verbal orders were elevated above constitutional governance and the rule of law.
Murder outside Kamoli’s home
The two convicted soldiers were members of the LDF Special Forces unit assigned to guard Kamoli’s Ha-Leqele residence on the night Tang was killed.
A third soldier, Private Kopano Matsoso, was acquitted in 2020 after the court found no evidence linking him to the shooting.
According to evidence led during the lengthy trial, Tang and Jane drove near Kamoli’s residence on the night of 9 May 2014 before soldiers opened fire on their vehicle.
Justice Sakoane found that the soldiers pumped bullets into the vehicle from all angles with the clear intention to kill.
“The accused were fully aware that there were human beings in the vehicle,” he ruled.
“They pumped bullets into the vehicle with the intention to destroy it and kill them.”
Tang died during the attack while Jane survived with serious injuries.
“They succeeded in killing Lisebo but by the grace of God failed to kill Tšepo,” Justice Sakoane said.
The Crown, represented by Advocate Motene Rafoneke, called six witnesses while several forensic exhibits and statements were admitted into evidence.
Among the exhibits were seven empty cartridges, six bullet jackets, recovered bullets, two AK-47 rifles and medical reports compiled after the shooting. A post-mortem report prepared by Dr Tlhabi Moorosi also formed part of the evidence.
After the Crown closed its case last year, defence lawyer Advocate Sello Tšabeha unsuccessfully applied for the accused to be discharged. Justice Sakoane dismissed the application on 13 May 2025, forcing the defence to present its case.
Defence
The defence later called seven witnesses, including Kamoli’s son, Atlehang, and current army commander Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela.
Central to the defence case was the controversial “red alert” order allegedly issued by Kamoli following the January 2014 bombings at the homes of former police commissioner Khothatso Tšooana and former First Lady ‘Maesaiah Thabane, née Liabiloe Ramoholi.
Adv Tšabeha argued that the country was unstable at the time and soldiers had been warned about suspicious white 4×4 vehicles and blue bakkies allegedly linked to the bombings.
The defence further claimed the soldiers had received orders to stop police officers from arresting Kamoli.
But Justice Sakoane firmly rejected that defence.
The Chief Justice said the so-called red alert order was illegal from the outset because it was verbally communicated, lacked legal authority and effectively encouraged soldiers to use deadly force recklessly.
“A red alert order directed all soldiers to be on maximum alert and they should be fully armed and be prepared to kill the occupants of a 4×4 vehicle and police officers who would attempt to arrest General Kamoli.
“The communication of the red alert order seems to have been done without gathering intelligence on the registration number of the suspected vehicle and factoring in the possibility that the use of lethal force might take innocent lives,” he said.
Justice Sakoane noted Lt-Gen Letsoela’s testimony that any legitimate red alert should have been sanctioned by the Minister of Defence and limited to a specific threat.
However, Lt-Gen Letsoela said he did not remember any official red alert being issued in 2014 or 2015.
“His evidence undercuts the legal basis of the red alert order. The red alert order was unwritten and communicated verbally down the chain of command,” Justice Sakoane ruled.
Justice Sakoane said the bombings that triggered the military panic were ordinary criminal acts that should have been handled by police.
“But of more importance is that the bombing of residences is pre-eminently a criminal act.
“That ought to have been dealt with by COMPOL Tšooana himself.”
He added that if Kamoli genuinely feared arrest, he should have surrendered himself to police rather than militarising the situation.
“What General Kamoli could not do is to use soldiers to resist and even kill police if they enforce the law.”
‘No one is above the law’
Justice Sakoane also directly challenged what he described as a culture of military impunity during Kamoli’s era.
“General Kamoli and the entirety of the command of the Lesotho Defence Force are not above the law.
“They operate under the Constitution and the Lesotho Defence Force Act and like civilians, they are amenable to arrest by the police on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminality — that is the imperative of the rule of law.”
He warned against abuse of military power in a constitutional democracy.
“No government, however powerful be its military arsenal, however awesome is its police power, indeed however popular be its actual or perceived support, dare be permitted to invade any of fundamental human rights.
“The law is not a respecter of uniform, position, status, power or might.”
Justice Sakoane also stressed that soldiers do not enjoy immunity from criminal investigations simply because they wear military uniforms.
“The Lesotho Defence Force Act 1996 does not give soldiers and their commanders immunity from investigation.
“They are not immunized from investigation. It doesn’t prevent them being arrested and being prosecuted.”
The court also dismissed claims that the shooting occurred while the soldiers were attempting to stop suspects fleeing arrest.
“Jane and Lisebo were not aware that there was an attempt to put them under arrest and fled.
“Thus, it cannot be said that they resisted or they were about to take flight from a lawful attempt to arrest. For what offence?”
He further noted that the shooting occurred on a public road — not inside Kamoli’s property — meaning there was no immediate threat to the former army commander.
“The vehicle was shot at a spot in a public road, not the private property of General Kamoli,” he ruled.
“At that spot, it did not pose a present and immediate danger to life, property or limb.”
Justice Sakoane said forensic evidence proved the intention was not merely to immobilise the vehicle but to kill its occupants.
“The vehicle was shot from the rear, front and all sides,” he said.
“Three of its tyres were intact except the left rear tyre. This proves that the lethal force was not used with the aim of immobilizing the vehicle but to kill and destroy.”
He said the accused failed every legal test governing the use of force.
“The use of lethal force failed to meet the test of necessity,” he said.
“It follows that the defences of superior orders, mistaken belief and justifiable homicide have no merit and are rejected.”
Guilty on all counts
Justice Sakoane concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly proved the accused intended to kill.
“In shooting at the vehicle with lethal force of the magnitude revealed and the resultant injuries and death, the accused subjectively intended to kill them.
“On the totality of the evidence I find both accused guilty of the crimes of murder with direct intent and attempted murder and damage to property,” he ruled.
Following the conviction, the court immediately revoked the soldiers’ bail.
“By virtue of this conviction your bail is cancelled automatically,” Justice Sakoane ordered.
As the judgment was read, Lt-Gen Letsoela sat quietly inside the packed courtroom listening to Justice Sakoane dismantle the legality of the military’s controversial red alert operation.
The two convicted soldiers remained expressionless throughout most of the proceedings, both dressed in black jackets and face masks.
Emotional scenes unfolded after the guilty verdict.
Several LDF members who attended the proceedings, including Lt-Gen Letsoela, exchanged fist salutes with the convicted soldiers moments after the judgment. Family members also gathered around them quietly as police prepared to escort them to the Maseru Central Correctional Institution.
In one emotional moment, Sebolai received what appeared to be a final kiss from his wife before he and Ratšiu were led away to begin their imprisonment.
