Change of heart adds a new twist to scandal that has rocked the mountain kingdom
The road where Lipolelo Thabane, estranged wife of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, was gunned down is seen on February 19 2020 in Hamasana village near Maseru, Lesotho. Picture: REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
Lipolelo’s change of heart, which has not previously been reported, adds a new twist to a scandal that has attracted rare international attention to Lesotho, the tiny kingdom of 2-million people tucked inside SA. In Thabane’s case, the high court must first decide whether he can be prosecuted while in office. The case has been postponed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, though Lesotho remains one of a small number of nations yet to register a case.
First lady Maesaiah also “wants to present her side of the story”, her adviser, Manama Letsie, said. “But she has already been found guilty in the public court.”Lesotho has seen four military coups since independence from Britain in 1966. SA, for whom this nation of jagged green mountains is an important source of tap water, is sometimes drawn in to help resolve upheavals, and it has stepped in as mediator in the latest crisis.
Three days before the killing, a Sunday, Lipolelo asked Sibolla to call Mojapela, a politically connected businessman who had funded the ruling party’s election campaign. On the Wednesday, Sibolla and Lipolelo set off in Lipolelo’s grey Chevrolet minivan to meet Mojapela at his lavish house, decked with Italian-style curtains and gilded furniture, in the SA border town of Ladybrand. He told them Maesaiah wanted more than anything to be first lady. Lipolelo gave her assent.
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