By ‘Mantoetse Maama
MASERU –– The police have launched an inquiry into the shooting of seven Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (Tšepong) employees during a violent strike which erupted at the Botšabelo-based health facility yesterday morning.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Masupha Masupha told a press conference held at Police Headquarters that soon after the shooting, a group of investigators was dispatched to the referral hospital to find out what had led to the shooting, which has since been widely condemned by Basotho.
Tšepong workers embarked on an indefinite strike over salaries yesterday morning, and according to DCP Masupha, this was despite a police officer having read a court order issued on Tuesday, stopping the industrial action.
DCP Masupha said when some workers were about to enter the hospital — which was opened on October 1, 2011 and is 70-percent owned by a consortium called Tšepong PTY Ltd and 30-percent by the Lesotho government — they were pelted with stones by their striking colleagues, leading to the chaos and subsequent shooting.
“We will investigate the case speedily and take legal action against everyone responsible for the shooting that took place at Tšepong this morning. We would want to find out if the rules of engagement were followed when the police arrived at the strike,” DCP Masupha said.
“We cannot judge whether the police were wrong or right, as we are not judges; the courts of law will prove whether the police followed the law. Our duty is to protect the public. There are steps that are used to disperse people during industrial disputes. We have water-canons that could be used to disperse people but the senior officer who was in charge of that operation will explain why the police acted that way.”
DCP Masupha assured the public that any police officer found to have acted contrary to regulations would face the full might of the law.
“In the past, police officers who acted against the law during industrial disputes, have been charged before the courts of the law and some are still serving their sentences in jail as we speak. It will not be different should the same be the case in this instance,” he said.
Public order policing, DCP Masupha further said, was a challenge for the Lesotho Mounted Police Service, hence the invitation of a Malaysian expert to Maseru later this month.
“On May 19, we will have a delegate from Malaysia to offer our members, training on public order policing,” he said.
