Mohloai Mpesi
NEWLY appointed Commissioner of Police, Borotho Matsoso, has been warned not to get entangled in politics if he is to discharge his mandate effectively.
This because Lesotho’s previous security chiefs had consorted with politicians to the detriment of their work and the national interest.
This advice was this week issued to Advocate (Adv) Matsoso by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO)’s Director of Public Education and Corruption Prevention, Litelu Ramokhoro.
Adv Matsoso is himself a former director general of the DCEO. While standing in for current DCEO boss, Knorx Molelle, at an anti-corruption workshop in Maseru this week, Mr Ramokhoro joked that the DCEO had “donated its former boss to the police”.
But on a more serious note, he hailed Adv Matsoso’s appointment as a “strategic and significant move” towards improving the effectiveness of law enforcement.
Mr Ramokhoro later told the Lesotho Times in an interview after the workshop that Adv Matsoso’s experience in both the DCEO and the police would put him in good stead to lead the fight against crime. Adv Matsoso was previously an assistant commissioner of police before he was appointed as founding director general of the DCEO in 2003.
Some previous commissioners of police had failed because they peddled the interests of politicians creating instability in the country, Mr Ramokhoro noted.
It was therefore essential that Adv Matsoso refrain from “being swallowed by politics” for him to succeed in executing his mandate, Mr Ramokhoro said.
Prime Minister Sam Matekane appointed Adv Matsoso as the new Commissioner of Police (Compol) last Friday on a three-year contract ending in May 2027.
He replaced former acting Compol, Mahlape Morai, who had been appointed in that capacity on February 23 2024 to fill the vacuum created by the retirement of Holomo Molibeli.
Adv Matsoso becomes the 17th commissioner of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). He has his work cut out. Crime has spiralled out of control in Lesotho and Basotho are being murdered daily like flies.
In 2003 after the establishment of the DCEO, former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s government asked then Commissioner of Police, ‘Malejaka Letooane, to provide a police officer of “high standing” to serve as the first head of the anti-graft body. Ms Letooane would recommend Adv Matsoso for the post.
Adv Matsoso then served as DCEO head for five years from 2003 to 2008, when he left the institution for the Revenue Services Lesotho (RSL), formerly the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA), where he worked as Assistant Commissioner: Intelligence and Investigations from 2008 to 2013.
He was replaced at the DCEO by Adv Leshele Thoahlane. Adv Matsoso was reappointed to the helm of the anti-corruption body again in 2014 after Adv Thoahlane left. He was unceremoniously removed by ex-prime minister Thomas Thabane in 2019 to be succeeded by Adv Mahlomola Manyokole. Adv Manyokole was in turn removed by ex-premier Moeketsi Majoro. Incumbent director general, Knorx Molelle, was appointed to the coveted post in February 2023 by current Prime Minister Sam Matekane.
After leaving the DCEO in 2019, Adv Matsoso took a break, before being appointed to head the Police Inspectorate as the Inspector of Police, a position he held at the time of his latest appointment.
Mr Ramokhoro said he was elated that his former colleague and boss had been appointed to head the LMPS. He said Adv Matsoso was well deserving of the post due to his knowledge and understanding of crime from all levers.
Mr Ramokhoro nonetheless advised Adv Matsoso to avoid being entangled in politics.
“We are truly excited. We hope that he will stick to his mandate and serve this country well, as he has always done,” Mr Ramokhoro said.
“Our problems as institutions or heads of institutions in this country, is that we submit to petty politics. When that happens, our work gets tilted towards serving political interests…That should be avoided at all costs.
“I personally hope that he (Matsoso) will stick to his mandate and ensure justice for Basotho… He has been an outstanding civil servant and I have no doubt he will excel.”
He said the DCEO stood ready to cooperate with Adv Matsoso to ensure justice for Basotho. As police commissioner, Adv Matsoso would be the lead official in fighting all forms of crime.
“The law itself is designed in such a way that the DCEO complements the police…. The police deal with all forms of crime, inclusive of corruption which is our mandate. So the more we collaborate, the better we can fight crime,” Mr Ramokhoro said.
“If he (Matsoso) sticks to his mandate and refrains from politics, I have no doubt that we will work with him smoothly as the DCEO…,” Mr Ramokhoro said.
He said the work of law enforcement agencies was never easy. For instance, when the DCEO goes after ruling politicians, it is accused of trying to overthrow the government. When it goes after opposition politicians, they accuse the anti-graft body of being lapdogs of those in power.
Effective law enforcement required such sentiments to be disregarded however. Law enforcement agencies must just focus on their work and not be detracted by political rhetoric.
Ruling politicians sometimes forgot that they were the ones in charge of the nation’s resources, and thus had the potential to abuse them, he said.
“The DCEO will not go to anyone without being invited by suspicions of corruption and fraud. We come to you to investigate and vindicate you if you are not corrupt or charge you if you are……,” said Mr Ramokhoro
Civil servants were scared to report incidents of corruption in their departments while their line ministers were still in power. They only came forward when those ministers had left. However, for the good of the country, no one should be scared to whistle-blow corruption and fraud to law enforcement agencies.
