OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Sunday 9.00pm.
A MAN was beaten to death and four more seriously injured by an enraged crowd at a Lesotho Congress for Democracy rally on Sunday.
The rally in Maseru, attended by around 5000 people, had already been scattered by an earlier shooting in which one person was injured. Several people believed to be opposition party gatecrashers were stopped and searched, but released once they were found not to be armed.
However the crowd followed the men and set upon them. SADC forces attempted to intervene, but were to late tro save the life of one of the men. Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and several of his cabinet were hurried to safety and accused the political opposition of trying to assasinate them.
Police said a group was in the process of “setting up a bomb”.
The opposition alliance dismissed the LCD accusations as “absolute trash”.
A smaller opposition rally outside the royal palace in Maseru was terminated by a late afternoon storm. Opposition leaders who spoke before the downpour urged the alliance to continue pushing for a government of national unity.
LCD deputy president Kelibone Maope, speaking at Sunday’s rally, ruled out any amnesty for the Lesotho Defence Force soldiers who mutinied and forced the army’s commander to resign at gunpoint.
“As far as the LCD government is concerned this is a legal process. We will leave it to the courts to decide but I can assure you that we will not pardon them,” he said.
Meanwhile the government on Saturday stopped King Letsie III’s address to the nation through radio and television.
The king’s message was reportedly broadcast only once on radio, although it was supposed to have been repeated. It was not broadcast on television as promised. Information and Broadcasting Minister N’yane Mphafi said the broadcast was stopped because the king did not follow constitutional procedures.
In the intended broadcast, King Letsie II reportedly appealed to opposition supporters, who have been camping in the grounds of tbe royal palace since early August, to disperse and go home peacefully. The king also called on politicians to put aside their differences and put Lesotho first on their agenda.
According to sources in Maseru, the King and Mosisili have not met since August, and Mosisili has turned down two invitations from the king for talks. The prime minister claims fear for his life when entering the palace as the reason for not honouring the king’s request.