Gabasheane Masupha
THE recent actions by the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) of disarming peaceful protestors and seizing the national flag from their hands mark a dark stain on Lesotho’s democratic fabric.
What transpired is not merely a policing misjudgement, it is a deliberate insult to national pride, an attack on the spirit of Basotho unity and a betrayal of the democratic covenant enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Lesotho.
When the police, who are meant to protect citizens, become instruments of intimidation, they weaponise the very institutions that were built to uphold freedom.
This act is a weapon of mass distraction, diverting public discourse from governance failures to manufactured conflicts between state and citizen.
The national flag is not a piece of cloth; it is a sacred symbol of collective identity and sovereignty. To snatch it from peaceful citizens is to desecrate the spirit of Basotho independence and insult the memory of those who fought for national self-determination.
The flag represents unity, peace, and the right of every Mosotho to participate in the destiny of their nation. Disarming peaceful protestors who merely carry the flag transforms a democratic expression into an act of state-sanctioned humiliation. It sends a chilling message that patriotism is now punishable, that citizens’ loyalty is conditional, and that dissent equals disobedience.
The Lesotho Constitution, the supreme law of the land, explicitly protects these fundamental freedoms.
Section 4(1) affirms that every person in Lesotho is entitled to fundamental human rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and the right to participate in governance issues.
Section 15 strengthens this by declaring that every person shall not be hindered in their enjoyment of freedom of peaceful assembly.
Section 20 ensures citizens’ participation in governance, while Section 2 further declares that any law or act inconsistent with the Constitution is void.
These provisions clearly criminalise the LMPS’s actions for, in disarming unarmed citizens and seizing a national symbol of unity, the police violated not only the law but also the moral essence of the kingdom.
The act of confiscating the flag and silencing peaceful demonstrators is more than an institutional overreach, it is a generational curse which teaches the youth that their patriotism is suspect and their voices disposable.
It perpetuates the politics of fear, ensuring that each generation grows more detached from civic engagement and becomes more distrustful of the state.
When the flag becomes a forbidden symbol in the hands of citizens, the nation has begun to turn against itself. This self-destruction, cloaked as law enforcement, is the seed of long-term instability. A country that humiliates its own symbols through the hands of its protectors curses its future with disunity.
Such actions also reflect deep disloyalty to the state and its democratic principles. A true democracy does not silence its citizens; it listens to them. When those entrusted with maintaining order instead engage in repression, they betray the Constitution they swore to uphold. The LMPS’s behaviour signals a distortion of loyalty, a loyalty no longer to the people, but to authority, power, and fear. The police are meant to shield citizens, not suppress them.
Their legitimacy is drawn from the trust of the people, not the command of the powerful. When they turn against peaceful Basotho waving their own national flag, they forfeit that legitimacy.
This incident constitutes a direct violation of fundamental human rights as recognised both domestically and internationally.
It infringes on freedom of expression and assembly, the right to equality before the law, and the right to participate in governance. It fails every test of proportionality and necessity required under democratic policing standards. No threat justified such an act. The LMPS did not protect the peace, they disturbed it because the protestors did not provoke chaos but were exercising democracy. What was violated was not order, but justice.
Therefore, the LMPS must issue a public apology to the nation for this violation. The officers involved must face disciplinary or legal consequences, not as vengeance but as a reaffirmation of the rule of law. The government must further ensure that protocols are established to prevent the abuse of power against peaceful citizens. The national flag must never again be weaponised against those who flaunt it with pride. Without accountability, the people’s faith in law enforcement will crumble, and the very idea of democracy will stand mocked.
Lesotho’s Constitution begins with the affirmation that the Kingdom is a sovereign democratic state. Sovereignty does not reside in uniforms or guns but resides in the people. When citizens hold their flag aloft in peaceful protest, they are exercising the highest form of sovereignty. When the LMPS rips that flag from their hands, it rips the soul from the nation. Democracy demands that we speak truth to power, and power must learn to listen. Until justice is done, the flag that was seized will haunt the conscience of the state, fluttering not in pride but in shame. Is this just a pseudo democratic government?
