MASERU — Former labour minister and All Basotho Convention MP Sello Clement Machakela was shot dead at his home Sekamaneng on Monday night.
Acting police spokesperson Senior Inspector, Kabelo Halahala, said Machakela was opening his door when unknown gunmen opened fire on him.
Deputy Prime Minister Lesao Lehohla who is also the home affairs minister condemned the brutal killing in a statement and appealed for people to help with the investigation.
“We have learned with disappointment that former Minister of Employment and Labour and Member of Parliament has been shot dead by unknown assailants according to police reports,” Lehohla said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Though Machakela was rushed to Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital, he was certified dead upon arrival.”
He urged the public to remain calm because the police are going to do all in their powers to bring the killers to book.
Machakela’s death came a day after newspaper reports suggested his relations with the ABC had soured and that he was now planning to join Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s Democratic Congress.
He had also dragged the ABC to court after the party allegedly blocked his bid to represent Malimong constituency in the upcoming election.
Before getting into politics Machakela worked as a security guard at Gold Fields Security Company in South Africa.
He returned to Lesotho in 1991.
Later he contested in the primary elections for the 1993 general election for his Malimong constituency but lost.
He however secured a seat under the LCD flag and became a member of parliament.
He was appointed labour minister.
In 2006 Machakela defected to the ABC with Thomas Thabane who was then communications minister.
In 2007 he became an MP through the proportional representation system after the ABC had formed an alliance with the Lesotho Workers’ Party.
Yesterday, his younger brother, Motlalepula Machakela, said they were yet to set the date for the funeral.
Machakela was born at Ha-Nkhahle in Berea on December 14, 1942.
He is survived by three sons and a daughter.
