…after Justice Hlaele recuses herself from his bail case
Moorosi Tsiane
HIGH Court Judge, Mabatšoeneng Hlaele, has recused herself from hearing the bail application of former National Security Service (NSS) Director-General and Military Intelligence boss, Colonel Tumo Lekhooa, who is accused of attempting to topple her father’s government in August 2014.
Justice Hlaele is the daughter of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his first wife, ‘Matoka Thabane.
The case came before her because she is was the judge on call this week.
She therefore deemed it prudent to step aside to avoid any suspicion of bias. Lekhooa claims he fled the country in 2017 out of fear of Mr Thabane, who had just been reinstated as Prime Minister following his All Basotho Convention (ABC)’s victory in the 2017 general elections.
Lekhooa was arrested in February this year upon voluntarily returning from exile in South Africa. He asserts that he fled in 2017 after Mr Thabane removed him from the NSS, withdrew his bodyguards, and confiscated his service firearms, leaving him vulnerable.
He faces charges of treason and murder in connection with the attempted coup against Mr Thabane’s government on 29 and 30 August 2014, as well as the 25 June 2015 murder of former army commander Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao.
His bail application was set to proceed on Monday but was deferred to be reassigned to a different judge following Justice Hlaele’s decision to recuse herself. This means Lekhooa will remain in remand prison for a longer period while a new judge is allocated.
“Counsel, due to the fact that this charge of treason relates to Mr Thomas Thabane (my father), it is not prudent that I deal with this case. I therefore recuse myself from hearing the case,” Justice Hlaele said.
In his bail application filed last week in the High Court, Lekhooa claims that Mr Thabane publicly accused him of spreading “false” allegations that the former First Lady, ‘Maesaiah Thabane (née Liabiloe Ramoholi and Judge Hlaele’s stepmother), was responsible for the murder of Mr Thabane’s estranged second wife, Lipolelo Thabane.
Lekhooa argues that he had not been charged with any crime at the time of his departure in 2017 but feared for his safety. He claims that hostility towards him intensified immediately after Mr Thabane reassumed office. Despite multiple attempts to provide the Prime Minister with intelligence updates, as was expected of him as the NSS boss, Mr Thabane allegedly refused to meet with him, he claimed.
He states that his secondment to the NSS was abruptly terminated, his bodyguards were withdrawn, and his service weapons were confiscated.
Following this, he claims that upon returning to the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), he took annual leave with the approval of then LDF commander, Lieutenant General Khoantle Motšomotšo. However, his security situation deteriorated further when his bodyguards were withdrawn, and his service weapons—two rifles and a sidearm—were confiscated.
Faced with these threats, Lekhooa states that he decided to flee to South Africa in October 2017, with his family’s support.
He has pleaded with the court to grant him bail on conditions that he pays M1000 cash deposit, he attends remands, reports himself to the police every Monday, he surrenders his passport to the police and he stands trial to finality.
