Lesotho’s first lady Maesiah Thabane |
By Our
Correspondent, Maseru LESOTHO
Lesotho’s
first lady Maesiah Thabane has been charged with murder for her alleged links
to the brutal 2017 killing of the prime minister’s previous wife.
Maesiah
Thabane, 42, will spend the night in custody after she came out of hiding and
turned herself in to the police earlier on Tuesday.
“She has
been charged with murder alongside eight others who are in Lesotho and South Africa,” deputy
police commissioner Mokete Paseka told reporters, adding that investigations
had been “satisfactorily completed”.
He said
police had a “strong case” against the first lady, who was unable to appear in
court on Tuesday due to logistical reasons.
The eight
other accused will also be summoned by the police.
Maesiah Thabane went missing last month after
being summoned as part of an investigation into the killing of Lipolelo Thabane
– Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s estranged wife.
Lipolelo and
Thomas Thabane were involved in bitter divorce proceedings when she was gunned
down outside her home in Lesotho’s capital Maseru in June 2017, two days before
her husband’s inauguration.
New evidence
surfaced in early January, when a letter from Lesotho’s police chief was made
public alleging that communication records from the day of the crime picked up
the prime minister’s mobile number.
Thomas
Thabane, who is now 80, has since bowed to pressure and offered to resign at a
date not yet disclosed. He has also been questioned by the police over the
killing.
But his current wife Maesiah vanished when the
police called her in to testify last month, prompting the issuing of an arrest
warrant.
The prime
minister’s press attaché did not immediately respond to requests for comment on
the murder charge.
The murder
of 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane sent shock waves through the tiny mountain
kingdom, which is ringed by South Africa and has a long history of
political turmoil.
Senior
members of the ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC) party accused the prime
minister of hampering investigations into the killing.
Thabane said
last month he would leave office on the grounds of old age, but gave no
timeframe for his departure.
Hundreds of
opposition supporters marched through the streets of Maseru on the day the
prime minister was quizzed by police, demanding he step down with immediate
effect.
Maesiah
Thabane was picked up on the border with South Africa following an arrangement
between her lawyer and the police. - Africa
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