—also blames Ramaphosa for the death
Moorosi Tsiane
FORMER Police Commissioner, Khothatso Tšooana, has accused former army commander Tlali Kamoli of directly masterminding the murder of his slain successor, Maaparankoe Mahao.
Lieutenant General (Lt-Gen) Mahao was fatally shot by his colleagues on 25 June 2015 at Ha Lekete, Mokema, in the outskirts of Maseru, allegedly for resisting arrest. That theory was however discredited by a commission of inquiry appointed by SADC to probe the murder.
Kamoli, stands accused for the murder alongside his then juniors Captains Litekanyo Nyakane and Haleo Makara; Sergeants Lekhooa Moepi and Motsamai Fako; Corporals Marasi ‘Moleli, Motšoane Machai, Mohlalefi Seitlheko and Tšitso Ramoholi.
Mr Tšooana appeared before Justice Hungwe as the Crown’s 14th witness in the Mahao murder case. He directly implicated Kamoli in masterminding the murder.
Mr Tšooana had been appointed as Police Commissioner by former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane in December 2013. He chronicled a number of feuds between him and Kamoli since his appointment.
He told the court that after his appointment, he had followed up on a number of criminal cases involving soldiers under Kamoli’s command. The cases had been left by his predecessor as police commissioner, Kizito Mhlakaza.
Upon assuming office, he found on his table savingrams written to Kamoli by Mr Mhlakaza, requesting the then army boss to handover some soldiers and guns involved in two crimes in Mafeteng district.
A request had been made to Kamoli because soldiers cannot be directly arrested by the police. The police instead make a request to the army chief who is then supposed to instruct the Military Police to arrest such suspects and hand them over to the police.
Mr Tšooana told the court the savingrams were in relation to a murder case of one Mojapela of Motsekuoa (Mafeteng) in which the notorious Capt Nyakane was a suspect. Another cases involved the killing of three civilians in Ha Motanyane Mafeteng. It involved Capt Nyakane again and four other soldiers.
Mr Tšooana said his attempts to get Lt-Gen Kamoli to release the implicated soldiers had failed. He then asked for help from the then National Security Services Director General (NSS-DG), Seeiso Lerotholi, to convene a meeting with Kamoli.
Mr Tšooana said Kamoli had been unruly in that meeting and it ended without yielding any positive results.
“Kamoli became unruly and took over the meeting, making threats that he has Commandos (army Special Forces) who could shoot from here (Maseru) to Pretoria (South Africa). It became clear in that meeting that he had no intentions to release the soldiers,” Mr Tšooana said.
“I then asked the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s office, Pitso Maisa, to call another meeting and intervene. Chief Thesele Maseribane (former Basotho National Party leader), as the then coalition partner (to PM Thomas Thabane’s government) was also present. In that meeting, Kamoli displayed the same behaviour and it became clear that he was not going to comply with our requests. It was after that meeting that he called a press conference to belittle me,” submitted Mr Tšooana.
Mr Tšooana told the court that after tensions escalated between him and Kamoli, he got an intelligence report that there was a plot to kill him and Lt-Gen Mahao.
He said at first, he didn’t believe it. But he then received a lot of death threats and he started to take the issue seriously.
“We then also discovered there was a plot to attack and kill Mahao, and I accorded him the Special Operation Unit (SOU) police to give him security. On the wee hours of the 30th August 2014, the home of Mahao was attacked and one of the police (seconded to guard his house) was shot.
“The investigations revealed that it was soldiers who shot Mahao’s home. I also discovered that there was a plot to kill me on the same day by Kamoli,” said Mr Tšooana.
The first Crown witness in the matter, Lance Corporal Mokete Halahala, in June 2021 confessed he was in the company of now deceased Colonel Tefo Hashatsi, Brigadier Bulane Sechele and one Private Posholi when they attacked Lt-Gen Mahao’s home that night. As a junior officer, Halahala said he had been only following instructions. He had been asked by Hashatsi to go show them where Lt-Gen Mahao stayed.
Col Hashatsi and Brigadier Sechele were later shot dead on 5 September 2017 after they had themselves shot and killed then army commander Lt-Gen Khoantle Motṧomotṧo in his office at Ha Ratjomose Barracks in Maseru.
Lt-Gen Mahao had survived the 30 August 2014 attack, the day of Kamoli’s attempted coup to topple Mr Thabane. The former Prime Minister had, a day earlier, appointed Lt-Gen Mahao as the new army commander after deciding to fire Kamoli. Kamoli would have none of it. His refusal to vacate the office kickstarted a chain of events that resulted in massive chaos in Lesotho.
Apart from Lt-Gen Mahao, Kamoli had also tried to kill Mr Thabane himself at State House. The ex-premier had to flee to South Africa to only return under heavy South African police guard two weeks later.
Mr Tšooana told Justice Hungwe that on 29 August 2014 after Lt-Gen Mahao was announced as new LDF Commander, some of the Kamoli loyalists such as Col Hashatsi and Brigadier Sechele had openly expressed their unhappiness at the decision. They vowed Lt-Gen Mahao would be LDF Commander over their dead bodies. They then participated in the fateful events of 30 August 2014.
In the aftermath of the chaos of the attempted coup, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, had then brokered the Maseru Facilitation Declaration — a roadmap for the holding of early polls — in an effort to defuse the crisis.
The roadmap saw Mr Tšooana, Lt-Gen Mahao and Kamoli being sent abroad to enable the restoration of normal relations between the security agencies disrupted by their intense rivalries which had brought Lesotho to the brink of civil war.
SADC resolved to send Mr Tšooana and Lt-Gen Mahao to Algeria and South Sudan respectively, while Lt-Gen Kamoli was sent to Uganda to allow for peaceful snap elections in February 2015. However, Kamoli never went to Uganda but instead stayed in South Africa.
After Mr Thabane was ousted in the February 2015 elections, the new coalition led by ex-Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili immediately restored Kamoli as army commander and fired Lt-Gen Mahao.
Kamoli then begun his reign of terror that saw Thabane escaping into exile again and Lt-Gen Mahao being murdered by the men under Kamoli’s command.
Mr Tšooana said he was not present at the scene when Lt-Gen Mahao was killed. However, he had no doubt Kamoli was the mastermind because of all that had unfolded in his eyes as police commissioner.
Mr Tšooana also blamed Mr Ramaphosa for his inane mediation efforts and for enabling Lt-Gen Mahao’s death by not being tough on Kamoli. He said had it not been for Mr Ramaphosa’s mollycoddling of Kamoli, Lt-Gen Mahao would still be alive.
He accused Mr Ramaphosa of giving Kamoli preferential treatment. As a result, Kamoli had become a law unto himself when he was given the command of the army again and begun targeting his opponents.
“I am very emotional about this issue because I know that had he (Ramaphosa) handled this matter differently like he was directed by SADC as its facilitator to Lesotho, Mahao would still be alive,” said Mr Tšooana.
Lt-Gen Kamoli is represented by Adv Letuka Molati; Adv Silas Ratau represents Captains Nyakane and Makara; Adv Napo Mafaesa represents Sgt Fako and Corporals ‘Moleli, Machai and Seitlheko; while Adv Kabelo Letuka represents Corporal Ramoholi.
The case continues today.
