Moorosi Tsiane
A JAILED Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) member, Corporal Litṧitso Mahase, who was once accused of rebelling against former army commander, Tlali Kamoli, has petitioned the High Court to review his conviction and two-year sentence by a Court Martial.
Cpl Mahase was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by the Court Martial on 12 September 2023 after he was found guilty on a separate charge of defying orders from his superiors early this year.
He wants to be placed on open arrest pending the review of his two-year sentence. His trial started in May this year and was completed in September when he was verbally sentenced and informed that he would automatically be discharged from the LDF after serving the sentence.
According to the court martial charge sheet, Cpl Mahase “on or about 20 February 2023 between 11am and 12 midday at or near Ratjomose Barracks unlawfully and intentionally disobeyed a lawful order given to him by one Lieutenant Khalechane to perform a military duty of manning a Vehicle Check Point operation (VPC)”.
Cpl Mahase rejects the charge in his papers filed at the High Court this week. He wants the Court Martial’s “verbal” judgement set aside.
He argues the Court Martial trial was not fair as he was not afforded time to prepare for the case, among other things.
He also hasn’t been favoured with a written judgment of the Court Martial as originally promised but had decided to file his appeal anyway.
Cpl Mahase is pleading with the court to free him pending the finalization of his review.
Cpl Mahase was one of the soldiers accused of mutiny in 2015 against then LDF commander, Lieutenant General (Lt-Gen) Tlali Kamoli.
Cpl Mahase had in June 2021 teamed up with 15 other soldiers to sue the incumbent LDF commander, Lt-Gen Mojalefa Letsoela, for a staggering M32 million for the alleged torture they were subjected to by their colleagues during the time he was accused of mutiny.
He was among those suspended for lodging the civil suit. He believes he is now being victimised for having sued the army boss. He claims he had tried to retire from the LDF but to no avail. He has vowed to continue with his M32 million suit.
