Pascalinah Kabi
LESOTHO’S prison inmates are currently reeling from an acute hunger crisis, Law and Justice principal secretary (PS), Lebeko Sello, has said.
So dire is the situation, according to Mr Sello, that some inmates are presenting with hunger-related diseases at Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) clinics in various parts of the country.
Mr Sello said he made the findings during his recent national tour of judicial institutions and prisons. Together with Law and Justice Minister Professor Nqosa Mahao, Mr Sello toured seven out of the country’s 10 districts where they also found shocking evidence of the collapse of the lower courts due to inadequate funding by successive governments over the years.
Their findings on widespread hunger in the prisons lends credence to claims by treason and murder-accused former army commander, Lieutenant General (Lt-Gen) Tlali Kamoli and other detained soldiers that they are being denied adequate food among other alleged violations of their rights.
In an interview with the Lesotho Times this week, Mr Sello said despite receiving the biggest chunk of the law ministry’s budget and spending 30 percent of it on food, the LCS was still unable to adequately feed the inmates.
“Our nationwide tour also covered the correctional services in the country,” Mr Sello said, adding their tour had taken them to seven districts, namely, Qacha’s Nek, Mohale’s Hoek, Mafeteng, Maseru, Thaba-Tseka, Leribe and Mokhotlong.
They are still to tour Berea, Quthing and Butha-Buthe.
“From our discussions with the inmates, we learnt that there are serious challenges.
“It is a worrying situation because hunger tops the list of the complaints raised by the inmates. It is heart-breaking to listen to a young middle-aged man complaining of being starved; they suffer from hunger related diseases. The inmates are malnourished. This was confirmed by clinicians attached to the correctional facilities. The clinicians say inmates lack iron and present with hunger-related diseases.”
Asked how they proposed to address the problem, Mr Sello said they had engaged Acting LCS Commissioner, Chabana Majara, and told him to address “certain issues” to ensure self-sufficiency within the LCS.
“We sat down with the Acting Commissioner Majara and we told him that a big chunk of the ministry’s budget goes to the LCS. We told that there are certain liabilities that he needs to deal with to ensure self-sufficiency within the LCS.
“He (Majara) has to deal with the hunger issue. The LCS must now engage in massive farming projects to avoid buying food at high prices. There is a very good poultry production model that we saw in Mokhotlong which they must replicate at all their facilities if they are to win the fight against hunger in the correctional facilities. Mokhotlong produces most of its food and one wonders why the LCS has not replicated this model at all its facilities.
“We are trying to turn the situation around at the LCS by limiting the number of items that we spend money on. We accept that they (prisons) cannot produce safety boots, cooking oil, soap, toothpaste but they must produce food items like meat, eggs and vegetables,” Mr Sello said.
Lawyers representing Lt-Gen Kamoli and other soldiers accused of various crimes have withdrawn their services in protest over the alleged denial of food to their clients as well as other alleged human rights violations at the Maseru Central Correctional Institution (MCCI).
The lawyers who have withdrawn their services are Attorney Qhalehang Letsika and Advocates Zwelakhe Mda, Karabo Mohau, Letuka Molati, Kao Theoha, Silas Ratau, Mkhantji Kao, Napo Mafaesa, Lintle Tuke and another only identified in their letter as Letuka.
In their 18 November 2020 letter to Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane, the lawyers demand that he urgently addresses their concerns about the alleged denial of their clients’ rights to adequate food, adequate time to consult their lawyers and time and documents to enable them to adequately prepare for their trials.
They even want Zimbabwe and Botswana who have provided judges to try their clients to withdraw them until their demands are met. Zimbabwe has provided Justice Charles Hungwe while Botswana provided Justices Tshosa and Kabelo Lebotse.
Justice Lebotse resigned earlier this year, citing poor working conditions. His resignation left Justices Hungwe and Tshosa with the huge task of presiding over the high-profile trials by themselves.
Lt-Gen Kamoli and some of his co-accused have been in remand prison since their arrest in October 2017 in connection with various crimes.
These include treason against the government of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane in August 2014. In this case, Lt-Gen Kamoli and others are charged alongside former Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing and current Development Planning Minister Selibe Mochoboroane.
Lt-Gen Kamoli and others are also charged with the June 2015 murder of another former army commander, Lt-Gen Maaparankoe Mahao.
In September this year, two of Lt-Gen Kamoli’s co-accused, Lance Corporals Leutsoa Motsieloa and Tšitso Ramoholi, also alleged that they were not given adequate food.
The duo made the claims in their ultimately unsuccessful High Court application for discharge from the Maseru prison where they have been detained since their arrest in 2017.
“There is food scarcity and since our arrival at LCS the only food we know of is pap, beans and cabbage with some porridge in the morning. We are given very little to eat and the reason given is that government does not have an adequate budget for inmates’ food. Sometimes when the food supply runs out, we have nothing to eat,” Lance Corporal Motsieloa said.
Prison authorities however, denied the claims and insisted that the inmates were well-fed.
