…as Section 2 refutes police claims on his failure to cooperate
…but Police Minister says investigations are ongoing
Moroke Sekoboto
HUMAN rights organisation, Hands Off Basotho, is planning a march to Police Headquarters over the unresolved abduction, alleged torture and death threats against human rights activist and Newsday editor, Kananelo Boloetse.
According to a letter seeking a permit for the march, the demonstration is scheduled for 8 October 2026, starting at 9am from Pitso Ground and proceeding to the Police Headquarters.
“We write to you on behalf of Hands Off Basotho, a human rights organisation dedicated to advocacy and the protection of Basotho nationals. This correspondence serves as a formal notification to your office that our organisation, together with concerned citizens, will be conducting a peaceful march in Maseru on 8 October 2026,” the organisation said in the letter.
“The primary purpose of this peaceful march is to march directly to the office of the Chief of Police at the Police Headquarters to deliver a formal Letter of Demand concerning the unresolved and deeply concerning abduction of Kananelo Boloetse.”
Hands Off Basotho said the demonstration would be peaceful and that it was committed to maintaining law and order throughout the march.
“In accordance with legal procedures, we are also serving a concurrent notification to the Maseru City Council. By copy of this letter, we respectfully request the Lesotho Mounted Police Service to provide the necessary security and traffic management escorts to ensure the safety of the participants and the public during the procession from Pitso Ground to your headquarters,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, Advocates for the Supremacy of the Constitution (Section 2) has sought to clarify the sequence of events following police statements that Mr Boloetse had failed to cooperate with investigators.
“SECTION 2 sets out below the sequence of contact between Mr Boloetse and the LMPS since he reported his ordeal to them. We do so because the public record and the public narrative currently being advanced do not appear to align,” Section 2 said.
It said Boloetse first spoke with police on 9 September, three days after his alleged ordeal.
“On Thursday, 10 September 2026, the following day, the Chief of Police, Advocate Borotho Matsoso, told the public that Mr Boloetse was unreachable and appealed to journalists to advise him to come forward. A few moments after those remarks were made public, Mr Boloetse spoke with another police officer.
“On Friday, 11 September 2026, Mr Boloetse spoke directly with Adv Matsoso. On Wednesday, 16 September 2026, Mr Boloetse spoke for more than two hours, from around midday, with the head of the team investigating his case.
“The following morning, Thursday, 17 September 2026, an LMPS spokesperson (Superintendent Thabo Mohai) told MoAfrika FM and its listeners that Mr Boloetse had never spoken with investigators at all.”
Section 2 alleged that each time contact was established between Mr Boloetse and police, that contact was followed within a day by a public statement suggesting the opposite — that he was unreachable, uncooperative or absent from the investigation.
The organisation, however, stopped short of alleging that the apparent pattern was the result of a coordinated institutional decision or that individual officers were responsible.
“SECTION 2 wishes to be precise about what we are asserting. We are not, at this stage, alleging that this pattern is the product of a coordinated institutional decision, nor are we naming individual officers as responsible for it.
“What we are saying is that the pattern itself is a matter of legitimate public concern, that it has now repeated often enough to no longer be dismissed as isolated miscommunication, and that the LMPS owes the public a clear, consistent, and honest account of what contact has actually taken place,” it said.
Section 2 also said it had received information, which it stressed had not yet been independently verified, that the search for Mr Boloetse had extended to the northern districts, including Botha-Bothe.
“We are further informed, and we state this as information reliably received rather than as confirmed fact, pending verification, that the search for Mr Boloetse has extended to the northern districts of the country, including Botha-Bothe,” it said.
“If accurate, this raises a further question: why is a search of that scale apparently under way for a man who has, by the timeline above, spoken with the Chief of Police and spoken with the lead investigator for over two hours?”
The organisation said the apparent inconsistencies raised broader concerns about public confidence in the police.
“What concerns SECTION 2 is that if a case that sits squarely in the public spotlight, followed by local and international media, by civil society organisations, and by foreign missions, can be subject to this kind of inconsistency, what confidence can an ordinary Mosotho have when they walk into a police station alone, with none of that scrutiny behind them?
“If the system treats a high-profile case this way, we are entitled to ask what it does, daily, to citizens who have no one watching.”
Section 2 called on the LMPS to publicly clarify, with dates and details, the full record of contact between its officers and Mr Boloetse since 6 September 2026, and explain the alleged discrepancy between that record and its public statements.
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs and Police, Voeswa Tsheka, told Parliament on Monday that investigations into Mr Boloetse’s case were ongoing.
Ms Tsheka said the absence of further public statements from police following their 16 September press conference did not mean that investigations had stopped.
“Sometimes investigations are successful because investigators are given time and space to conduct them without interference. The hand of law doesn’t discriminate or treat people because of their status, either the victim or the suspect, either famous or unpopular. We are all equal before the law. Justice must be served to all,” Ms Tsheka said.
She said police had recorded 562 sexual offence cases and 215 cases of grievous bodily harm between January and August 2026.
“From January 2026 to August 2026, there were 562 sexual offence cases reported to the police and 215 grievous bodily harm across the country. These numbers are high and concerning and the police treat them with the seriousness they deserve.
“We assure all the victims that those who are guilty are apprehended regardless of status. We condemn all criminal activities meant to harm others. Where victims are not satisfied with the police they can file to Police Complaints Authority.”
