OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Monday 8.30pm.
LESOTHO opposition supporters, protesting against the delay in publicising the Langa Commission’s final report into alleged electoral fraud, gathered outside the residence of South Africa’s High Commissioner Japhet Ndhlovu in Maseru on Monday to demand that the findings be released immediately.
Earlier the protesters marched from the royal palace in Maseru to the government complex where South African Defence Minister Joe Modise was holding separate talks with Deputy Prime Minister Kelebone Moape and mutinous army officers who on Friday forced the commander of the Lesotho Defence Force to resign under duress.
Lesotho police commissioner Bolutu Mokoaba confirmed that opposition supporters had marched to Ndhlovu’s residence and that he had deployed officers to ensure the High Commissioner was safe. “I have no reason to believe he could be hurt,” he said.
Modise meanwhile held a 40-minute meeting with Maope and a government delegation, followed by a second round of talks with army officers on the problems in the LDF. The meeting with the defence force’s top management included the LDF’s new commander, Lieutenant-General Anthony Thibedi. His predecessor, Lt-Gen Makhula Mosakheng, resigned under duress after he and 22 other senior officers were arrested on Friday during a mutiny.
Earlier, Mosakheng said he had been informed of Modise’s visit and was on stand-by for a meeting. On Monday night he said had not yet met the South Africans and was unable to say what time he would do so.
President Nelson Mandela, speaking in Mauritius on the second day of a SADC heads of state summit on Monday, said Modise’s return to Maseru might result in Mosahkeng’s reinstatement. Mandela, who chairs the SADC, said the South African, Zimbabwean and Botswanan troika on Lesotho had met on Saturday night to discuss the turmoil in that country sparked by opposition party claims that the May 23 polls were rigged. The meeting also included his SADC deputy Zambian President Fredrick Chiluba and Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
On the Langa Commission’s findings into claims of electoral fraud, Mandela said the troika presidents had all seen the report. He gave no indication of when the report would be made public.