—calls for implementation of death penalty to deter criminals
Moroke Sekoboto
PRIME Minister Sam Matekane government’s failure to provide Basotho with much needed passports is having dire consequences on citizens’ lives, main opposition leader Mathibeli Mokhothu, has said.
Addressing his Democratic Congress (DC) rally in Ha Thetsane at the weekend, Mr Mokhothu berated the Prime Minister for “incompetence”.
“The dire consequences of the passport crisis on citizens’ travel and business activities, is a glaring example of the RFP government’s ineptitude and neglect,” Mr Mokhothu said.
“Because of the passport crisis, Basotho are losing their jobs in South Africa. They are missing out on lucrative economic opportunities there and elsewhere in the world, due to their inability to travel.”
Since February 2023, the Lesotho government has struggled to issue Basotho with passports.
But things intensified towards the end of that year when the home affairs ministry was said to have completely run out of passports.
The reasons why Lesotho is now failing to produce passports when the contract for that work was originally controversially awarded to an Israeli company, NIKUV, without a competitive bidding process, by the then government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in 2012 are yet to be fully explained.
But to buttress his point, Mr Mokhothu said when he was the deputy-prime minister between 2020 and 2022, his deputy in the DC and former home affairs minister, Motlalentoa Letsosa, had ensured that the ministry was run smoothly. But things had fallen apart when the RFP coalition took over, he said.
Mr Mokhothu said Mr Letsosa had even brought passport and ID services closer to the people by decentralizing passport issuance. Mr Matekene’s coalition had nonetheless abruptly ended that project, he complained.
The DC leader was referring to the recently ended decentralization of the National Civil and Identity Register (NCIR) project, which Mr Letsosa spearheaded throughout his tenure as home affairs minister.
Mr Mokhothu also bemoaned the ever-escalating crime levels which he said had claimed at least 583 lives from 2022 to date. He called for the implementation of capital punishment to curb the high murder rates in Lesotho, now ranked the sixth most homicidal nation in the world.
The DC leader said he was both “surprised and shocked” that Mr Matekane’s government, lacked the wherewithal to combat the rampant crime that had spiraled out of control.
He accused Mr Mokhothu’s coalition of failing to both protect Basotho and fulfilling its other many election promises.
“The death penalty exists but I don’t know why it isn’t being implemented…..?” he said.
“The government is reluctant to fight crime as they don’t have a clear policy to tackle it.”
Mr Mokhothu also chastised Mr Matekane’s government over its “failure” to secure jobs in the textiles sector.
He claimed the sector, which used to boast 45 000 jobs, coming only second after government as the biggest employer, had now shed more 25 000 jobs.
He said when the DC was in government, it could negotiate with investors to protect jobs, something Mr Matekane’s government “has failed dismally to do”.
“The RFP government has neither grown the textile sector nor at least maintained it at the level the industry was when they (RFP) assumed office,” Mr Mokhothu said.
He also bemoaned the government’s failure to protect consumers against spiraling maize prices.
However, the government’s spokesperson, Thabo Sekonyela, dismissed Mr Mokhothu’s claims.
He said the DC leader had no business chastising Mr Matekane’s government over the rising crime rate when he (Mr Mokhothu) had failed to deal with the problem when he was still in the government.
Mr Sekonyela said it was during Mr Mokhothu’s days as DPM, that weapons went missing at Mafeteng police station and “his government did nothing” to resolve the matter. Some of the weapons had allegedly been sold to Famo gangsters who were now using them in crime.
He said Mr Mokhothu had also been aware of Famo music gangsters who were giving money to people at rallies “but he did nothing as he was also benefiting”.
“Under Mokhothu’s watch, ammunition was stolen at Mafeteng Police Station, the very same weapons that are now being used to kill people but he did nothing about the issue because he was also benefiting from Famo gangs,” Mr Sekonyela charged.
“At their (DC) rallies you will see Famo gangs giving their supporters money. They were in government, but they didn’t combat crime. Our government is making efforts to fight it. So he cannot accuse us of failing to resolve problems they themselves did nothing about when they were still in government.”
As a demonstration of the government’s commitment to eradicating crime, Mr Sekonyela said, an operation coined Fiela (sweep), had been launched “to show that we are committed to fighting crime”.
