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Tag: Thomas Thabane

  • Lesotho PM concedes election defeat

    Lesotho PM concedes election defeat

    Lesotho’s Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, has conceded defeat in a parliamentary election to his opponent Thomas Thabane, the government said, easing concerns of political instability in the mountain kingdom.

    “His Majesty King Letsie III has accepted the resignation of The Right Honourable the Prime Minister, Dr. Pakalitha Mosisili,” Reuters quoted a government statement as saying on Friday.

    Mosisili will remain in his position until Thabane is sworn in, the statement said.

    Results released on Tuesday showed that Thabane’s All Basotho Convention won 48 parliamentary seats, while Mosisili’s Democratic Congress garnered 30.

  • Lesotho: Sadc rejects Thabane’s troop request

    Lesotho: Sadc rejects Thabane’s troop request

    Regional leaders have rejected calls by Lesotho’s exiled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane for the immediate deployment of troops to help restore order in his country, an official has told the BBC.

    Instead, an observer team would be urgently sent to Lesotho, she said.

    Mr Thabane fled to South Africa on Saturday, claiming the military had staged a coup – a charge it denied.

    South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma hosted emergency talks with Mr Tabane and others on Monday.

    Lesotho, a mountain kingdom surrounded by South Africa, has experienced several coups since independence in 1966.

    The latest unrest is understood to be linked to a power struggle between Mr Thabane, reportedly supported by the police, and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, said to have the loyalty of the army.

    The army said it had seized these weapons from the police

    Lesotho is a largely rural country dominated by mountains and surrounded on all sides by South Africa

    The army denies taking power

    Both of them attended the talks convened by Mr Zuma in Pretoria under the banner of the South African Development Community (Sadc) regional bloc.

    The two leaders had agreed to “clear timetables” that would lead to the restoration of parliament, according to a statement by Sadc.

    Its restoration was a key demand of Mr Metsing.

     

     

     

    Earlier on Monday, his supporters abandoned plans to protest in the capital, Maseru, over Mr Thabane’s decision in June to suspend parliament after being threatened with a no-confidence vote.

    Maseru is calm, but there are fears that conflict could erupt again, reports the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko from South Africa’s main city, Johannesburg.

    The military is said to be rounding up policemen and stripping them of their uniforms, she says.

    Some policemen have reportedly abandoned their posts and fled to South Africa, our correspondent adds.

    Sadc executive Stergomena Tax told the BBC that regional leaders had ruled out sending troops to Lesotho any time soon.

    The meeting decided that a “facilitator” should be sent to help the parties resolve differences, Ms Tax said.

    During the talks, Mr Thabane appealed for a peacekeeping force to be deployed, his aide said.

     

  • Zuma leads talks on Lesotho crisis

    Zuma leads talks on Lesotho crisis

    South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma, will meet Lesotho’s Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane on Monday to try to resolve a political crisis in the small mountain kingdom after an apparent coup there over the weekend, a government spokesman said.

    Thabane fled Lesotho for South Africa early on Saturday, hours before the army surrounded his residence and overran police stations in the capital Maseru, in what the prime minister called a coup by the military.

    Lesotho’s army denied seeking to oust Thabane, saying it moved against police suspected of planning to arm a political faction in the southern African nation.

    One policeman was shot dead and four others wounded, Reuters reports.

    The unrest stems from a power struggle between Thabane, who is supported by the police and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, who has the loyalty of the army, diplomats said.

    Tension had risen since Thabane suspended parliament in June amid feuding in the two-year-old governing coalition.

    In Maseru, the atmosphere was quiet but tense on Monday after the police commissioner said soldiers had carried out further raids on police installations and even officers’ homes, taking away weapons and uniforms.

    Commissioner Khothatso Ts’ooana told Public Choice FM radio station that this meant police would not be able to carry out their normal duties. Police stations were deserted and some officers had fled over the border into South Africa.

    The Southern African Development Community (SADC) defence and security troika, which includes officials from South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, met Thabane.

  • Zuriel meets Lesotho PM on girls,ecomonic issues

    Zuriel meets Lesotho PM on girls,ecomonic issues

    In continuation of her campaign for Girl-child education in Africa, Zuriel Oduwole, the 11 year-old African Child Ambassador, Documentary Film maker has visited with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Lesotho Government, Hon Thomas Thabane, in a private meeting.

    She was very welcomed by Prime Minister Thabane, who congratulated her on her very achievements and accomplishments at such a very young age. At the meeting, Zuriel spoke about the need to develop a clear but simple program for the continued education of the continents Girl Child, and the opportunities it opens up for their future.

    Other subjects Zuriel spoke about was the country’s very good political stability, and the Lesotho Economy, and what she saw as a good opportunity to develop the water resources of the country.

    Prime Minister Thabane agreed with her, indicating they were already exporting their water to South Africa, and are looking at other markets for their precious  resources.

    Zuriel, who is an honorary Ambassador for the First Lady of Tanzania and the Global brand Ambassador for Ethiopian Airlines, has now interviewed 12 statesmen in the course of making her case for educating Africa’s Girl Child.

    They  include eight current African Presidents, an African Prime Minister and Head of Government [Lesotho], the last two former Ghanaian leaders [Presidents Jerry Rawlings & John Kufuor], and the Prime  Minister of Jamaica and head of that Islands Government – The Most Honorable Portia Simpson Miller.

    Last month, New Africa Magazine listed her as one of Africa’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013, for her campaign on Girls Education. She was the youngest person in that listing, which included three African Presidents, two of whom she has already interviewed; – Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, and Joyce Banda of Malawi.