THE disturbing testimony by army commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela, before the High Court last week should serve as a clarion call to end political interference in the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) for good.
His frank admission that just like his incarcerated predecessor, Tlali Kamoli, he too continues to experience political meddling is not just a sobering reality check, but an indictment on the nation’s collective failure to insulate the military from the toxic grip of political opportunism.
It is deeply unsettling that eight years since Kamoli’s incarceration and the tragic death of former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao (2015), and Khoantle Motšomotšo after him (2017) the country is still contending with the same old demons.
Lt-Gen Letsoela’s testimony laid bare the contradictions that haunt the trial of Kamoli and eight other soldiers.
These are men, by the current commander’s own admission, were acting within the structured parameters of the LDF command but often compromised by hidden external political forces.
Kamoli’s prolonged detention — without conclusion to his trial — is a stark reminder of what happens when institutions, especially the military, are manipulated for political ends.
The military is supposed to be a disciplined, apolitical institution that safeguards national sovereignty, not a pawn in power struggles among political elites.
Once the army is dragged into partisan political schemes, the result is often deadly — as we have seen with the assassinations of two commanders and the broader destabilisation of the state.
The disturbing culture of a politicised army has brought the country where it is now, earning Lesotho the notoriety of being viewed one of the perpetual black sheep among its Southern African Development Community (SADC) siblings.
It is precisely this recalcitrant political meddling with LDF that led to attempts to establish broad-based national reforms across all sectors from 2018, with security sector reforms among the most sought after.
Lesotho’s development partners such as the European Union (EU) through the UNDP have sunk more than M100 million towards reforming this sector and it is therefore incomprehensible that the army under the current commander should be where it was before all these efforts.
It is worth pondering over the question Lt-Gen Letsoela put to the court: Can Operation Safe Lives truly be said to have been conceived and executed solely by Kamoli and his junior co-accused? Or is this a convenient narrative that shields the political masterminds who gave the nod from behind the curtain?
Justice must indeed take its course, but justice is not vengeance, and it is certainly not scapegoating; neither should the law be applied selectively based on political expedience.
Kamoli and others must answer for their actions — but so should all who bear the political responsibility, the puppet masters who pull the strings hiding behind an excitable army command. No soldier operates in a vacuum, especially in operations sanctioned at the highest levels of military and, often, political command.
The lesson here is painful but clear: Lesotho can no longer afford to politicise the army. The price has been too high — lives lost, institutions weakened, and justice delayed.
The Kamoli trials, including treason, murder of police Sub-Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko, attempted murders of former Police Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana and former First Lady ‘Maesaiah Thabane, are not just legal matters. They are mirrors reflecting the ongoing failure to build a democratic culture of accountability, transparency, and institutional independence.
The time to draw the line is now. The army must be allowed to professionalise, and justice must be pursued with consistency and fairness. Anything less is an invitation to repeat our darkest chapters.
Uhuru: Time to reflect