OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 10.00pm.
LESOTHO public servants who have stayed away from government offices in Maseru for three days due to pressure from opposition parties were ordered back to work on Friday.
An announcement on Radio Lesotho from Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s office said public servants should return to work at once. The government appeal came three days after the opposition party youth hijacked government vehicles and forced civil servants to stay away from work in protest against the delay in the release of the Langa Commission report on alleged election rigging.
Political observers believed the opposition parties would call off their protest as soon as the Langa Commission report was released on Thursday.
Some government offices remained closed on Friday morning, but opened as soon as the appeal was broadcast over Radio Lesotho. The Lesotho Bank, which had also been forced to close for two days, opened its doors on Friday morning.
Meanwhile the number of Lesotho Defence Force officers who have fled to Ladybrand, South Africa, following a mutiny last Friday has increased to more than 20. They are camping in a hikers’ hut at the edge of town.
One of the officers, 2nd Lieutenant Stephen Dabai, said on Friday that they expected the head of the LDF, Lieutenant-General Makhula Mosakheng — forced to resign at gunpoint last week — to meet them on Friday afternoon to discuss the political instability in Lesotho.