OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 11.30am.
SOUTH Africa’s announcement that the Langa Commission report on alleged electoral fraud in Lesotho will be released on Thursday has been met with threats that the report will be rejected by Lesotho opposition parties.
Frank Chikane, secretary-general in the office of the deputy president, announced Johannesburg on Wednesday evening that the report will be handed over to opposition parties, the Lesotho government and King Letsie III in Maseru on Thursday morning.
Speaking on behalf of Acting President Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Chikane said he was not in a position to reveal the contents of the report.
The Langa commission investigated opposition party claims that the general election in May was rigged to favour the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy, which won 79 of 80 seats in the National Assembly. Discontent with the election result has sparked prolonged protests and an army mutiny last week in which junior officers arrested their seniors and forced army chief Lieutenant-General Makhule Mosakheng to resign.
Basotholand Congress Party leader Malapo Qhobela told SABC3 he was on the verge of telling the Southern African Development Community leaders who delayed the report’s release that it was no longer needed. Qhobelo accused the SADC leaders of sidelining the report to plan military action against Lesotho, SABC3 said.
Basotho National Party leader Evaristus Sekhonyana said the release of the report would “remove a very big load, as late as it is”. He described as “very disturbing” rumours that SADC leaders had sidelined the Langa report to plan military action against Lesotho.
He said Zambian Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa had apparently recommended that SADC forces should be sent to Lesotho to reinstate military officers ousted by junior officers last week. “The situation surely does not warrant that a SADC force should enter Lesotho.”
Lesotho National Party youth leader Thesele Maseribane said: “It has angered the nation that the head of state, King Letsie III, doesn’t even have a copy yet, while the report has been widely discussed at the SADC meeting in Mauritius. We are a sovereign country, not a colony.”