OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 11.30pm.
DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki has told a Lesotho government delegation that the findings of the Langa commission of inquiry into electoral fraud in the mountain kingdom will not be made public until the Southern African Development Community meeting in Mauritius on Sunday.
He gave the same response to Lesotho opposition parties, who then requested an ajournment in their meeting with Mbeki on Wednesday night.
President Nelson Mandela is to host the 14-member SADC summit, which starts in Mauritius on Sunday.
Mbeki, who arrived in Maseru to receive the commission’s report on Wednesday, was forced to shuttle around the city. The governemnt delegation refused to meet him at the hotel where he held meetings with opposition delegates and the other members of the SADC troika dealing with Lesotho, instead insisting that he meet them at the United Nations building on the far side of town.
The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy won 79 out of 80 seats in the disputed polls. Five people have died in subsequent violent protests in which opposition leaders have called for the election to be declared null and void. The Langa commission’s investigation has involved a recount, and checking of the ballot papers.
Maseru was reported to be quiet and “normal” on Wednesday night.