By Lisa Vives
Citizens of Lesotho looking forward to some good news about their country to go viral, are instead watching the tragic story of the prime minister, his first and second wife, unfold. It’s been called an African “Game of Thrones” and has Lesotho’s 80-year-old prime minister, Thomas Thabane, walking the plank since his latest wife became a key suspect in the murder of his prior wife in June 2017.
Fortytwo-year-old Maesiah Thabane is the woman he married a little over two months after the slaying of his first wife, Lipolelo. Police have issued a warrant for Mrs. Thabane’s arrest, and she’s on the run.
Thomas Thabane was inaugurated prime minister two days after his second wife, Lipolelo, was shot at the age of 58. There’s was a legal battle between Lipolelo and Maesiah over who should be recognized as Thabane’s rightful wife.
The killing was initially blamed on unidentified gunmen. But this month details emerged that implicate both Thabane and Maesiah, his third wife, in court documents filed by Lesotho’s police commissioner as he successfully fought his sudden suspension by Thabane. One is a letter linking Thabane’s phone to the scene of the crime.
Motlamelle Kapa, associate professor of Political Science at the National University of Lesotho, observed that “the country was in trouble” with Thabane at the helm. “There was no effective leadership, the ministers were delinquent and nobody was putting anyone in order or holding them accountable for their actions.”
The opposition this week said it would organize protests if Thabane doesn’t resign within seven days, while a faction within his All Basotho Convention also urged him to step down.While awaiting news of the appearance of Maesiah or the resignation of Thabane, visitors to this mountainous country of about 3 million can enjoy its natural beauty, diamond and mohair exports and conical straw hats.
The government is now pushing for the establishment of plantations of cannabis — long used by as medicine by the native Basotho people — to supply the burgeoning global medical cannabis industry. w/pix of T. Thabane and the Obamas
Africa Global News Publication
