MASERU — Two Zimbabweans were beaten to death in Thaba-Tseka on Thursday night following an employment dispute.
Police spokesman Masupha Masupha told the Lesotho Times on Tuesday that the deceased were managers at a South Africa-based construction company, Trencon Construction.
He said the names of the deceased had been withheld as their next of kin were still to be informed.
“The two male Zimbabweans were managers at Trencon Construction that is currently building a clinic at Ha Lejone (in Thaba-Tseka),” Masupha said.
Masupha said the dispute began earlier on Thursday after the two managers informed some workers their contracts were not going to be renewed as the clinic they were building had been completed.
The announcement did not go down well with some of the workers.
Three locals allegedly then threatened to kill the managers if they terminated their contracts.
The workers are alleged to have broken into the managers’ house and attacked them on Thursday night.
“When police arrived at the scene they found the deceased with open wounds and bruises all over their bodies,” Masupha said.
Two suspects were arrested on Friday while the third is still at large, Masupha said.
The two are in police custody pending their appearance in court to answer murder charges.
Meanwhile, two Standard 5 pupils from a primary school in Teya-teyaneng, Berea district, were last Monday raped on their way from school.
The police said the two girls, aged between 10 and 12, were passing through a bush when an unknown man approached them.
Berea police district commissioner, Superintendent Lerata Fobo, said the man is said to have asked the minors to assist him gather some firewood and they obliged.
The man then began asking them “naughty questions before raping them after threatening to stab them with a knife if they screamed”.
Superintendent Fobo said police were looking for the suspect.
“We will stop at nothing to bring him to justice.
“Rape cases are escalating in Berea and we want to bring an end to that,” he said.
The two girls were taken to Berea hospital for treatment.
