VETERAN politician and former Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) leader, Moeketse Malebo, who died on Sunday aged 93, will be remembered as one of Lesotho’s most illustrious and long serving public servants and politicians.
He stands in the league of the likes of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, who joined the civil service during the colonial era, and subsequently served successive post- colonial administrations in Lesotho as either civil servants or politicians.
Mr Malebo passed away from what his family described as “mental exhaustion”. He was born on November 26, 1931, in Maseru. He had a colourful career which began when he joined the colonial administration as a civil servant in 1955, later becoming a politician till his death.
He last served as a Member of Parliament (MP) aged 91 in 2022, making him the oldest legislator in the previous 10th Parliament. His MFP party is not represented in the 11th Parliament after it failed to win any seats in the October 2022 general elections.
Mr Malebo was ousted as MFP leader at the beginning of the 10th Parliament’s tenure in 2017. He had been at the MFP helm since 1982 when he assumed its leadership. The MFP had been founded in 1962 following the merger of the Marematlou Party and the Freedom Party.
Just before his 2017 ouster, an anti-Malebo faction of the party accused him of running the MFP as his “personal property’.
They also accused him of making decisions that were binding on the MFP without prior consultations.
Mr Malebo had become the MFP brand itself, perhaps even bigger, remaining its legislator throughout the party’s parliamentary tenures.
He would nominate himself as the party’s candidate for the compensatory (proportional representation) seat in parliament.
He served as either a civil servant or politician under different Lesotho governments, starting with the colonial administration.
illustrious career
- He joined the civil service in 1955 as an interpreter and elections educator until 1960 when he became a senior interpreter for the colonial administration until 1964. He was also instrumental in the launch of state radio, Radio Lesotho in 1964. He was also Director Information and Broadcasting in 1965.
- He subsequently worked as counsellor at the British High Commission in London as well as in Pennsylvania in the United States. He was also deployed to the United Nations between 1967-1968.
- Mr Malebo would later serve as Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Justice in 1972. Mr Malebo also served as Chief of Protocol and Principal Secretary (PS). He was Minister of Information and Broadcasting from 1986-1990 under the 1986-1993 junta administration.
- He served as Minister of Justice and Correctional Services under former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s 2015-2017 seven-party coalition administration.
- Prior to serving as a minister under a Mosisili-led administration, Mr Malebo had between 2012-2014, been an ally of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s 2012-2015 three-party coalition government comprising of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) and its junior partners, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the Basotho National Party (BNP).
PAC chairperson
Mr Malebo also served as chairperson of the 7th Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) from 2007-2012.
In 2011, the PAC chaired by Mr Malebo would issue a damning report on the abuse of state funds by the then LCD government led by Mr Mosisili.
According to the PAC report, the committee had noted with great concern “the rate at which pilfering, and embezzlement of public funds is (growing) alarmingly”.
Mr Malebo would later tell the Lesotho Times: “There is an increased disregard of financial regulations. I remember that when I joined the civil service (back in the 50s) there was a day I failed to sleep when I could not find two pennies (during reconciliation). At that time corruption was virtually non-existent but that has changed.”
He added: “…while the PAC is yet to fully understand why there is an upsurge in white collar crime in the civil service, we suspect it is because of poor management and lack of supervision.
“Finance is managed. If you don’t manage it, chaotic things will happen. This is specifically what has happened in this case.”
Fist Fight
Mr Malebo would be remembered as a no-nonsense man who was not afraid to engage in a fist fight if push came to shove.
Messrs Mosisili and Malebo almost came to blows in April 2012, after a heated argument at a meeting organised by the Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL).
The CCL had called the meeting with political leaders to discuss the May 26, 2012, general elections and the visit by the late Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Lesotho.
The CCL also wanted the political leaders who attended the meeting at the United Nations House in Maseru to sign a pledge to run a peaceful campaign and accept the election result.
The clash between Messrs Mosisili and Malebo started when they were discussing general security issues related to the election period.
Hell broke loose after Mr Mosisili who was prime minister under his DC which had been formed in parliament two months earlier, reacted angrily when Mr Malebo asked him why his security had been beefed up ahead of the elections.
Mr Malebo had asked because at the time, Mr Mosisili’s motorcade included heavily armed soldiers who at times put on balaclavas.
There were also more cars in his motorcade than before. That had raised questions among opposition leaders.
Other opposition leaders had prior to that meeting, questioned while addressing their rallies why Mr Mosisili suddenly had more soldiers around him.
After Mr Mosisili’s “rude response” Mr Malebo “just lost it” and accused Mr Mosisili of treating the Lesotho Defence Force “like his personal property”. Mr Malebo had told Mr Mosisili that he had no right to treat the army like it belonged to him. The feisty Mr Malebo had also demanded that, if Mr Mosisili was beefing up his security because of the elections, he must do the same for other political leaders because they were all at risk.
As if that was not enough Mr Malebo referred to Mr Mosisili as a boy while the then prime minister retorted by calling Mr Malebo an old man. At the time, Mr Malebo was 81 years old, while Mr Mosisili was aged 67.
They ended up raising voices and talking over each other while pointing fingers at each other.
Mr Mosisili was so angry that he challenged Mr Malebo to a fist fight. Mr Mosisili said if Mr Malebo wished, they could go outside the room and “take matters to another level”. The drama unfolded in the presence of Roman Catholic Church head in Lesotho Archbishop Tlali Lerotholi who was shocked by the drama.
They only stopped after they were reminded that they were mature leaders who should lead by example.
Mr Malebo would later discuss the incident with a local radio station but said he and Mr Mosisili had since resolved the issue.
