News from Lesotho is disturbing. Democracy and the rule of law are advancing backwards. Recently, a curfew was put up, after attacks were carried out on prominent politicians’ homes. That rings a bell. If you can link to this, or reproduce it on your blog, I would be most grateful. Or tell a friend over coffee. Or just read it and sympathise with us in spirit (or whatever deed). I know I sound desperate — I am. This needs to be talked about and shared. I have just received news from home that:
Thabo Thakalekoala of Seapoint in Maseru, a vocal and prominent freelancing investigative journalist, was arrested on Friday morning (22 June 2007) and charged with high treason. He is appearing in court today (25 June 2007) to be formally charged.On the day of his arrest he had just read a letter over the air on his popular morning programme “Rise and Shine” on Harvest FM. The letter was supposedly given to him by a group of army men and requested to read it on his show. The soldiers vehemently denounced the rule of one Mosikili in Lesotho who they say is a foreigner and therefore is not elligible to hold such office. This comes after it was discovered that the PM holds a South African identity document (a fact he has publicly admitted), no wonder the rampant looting of state coffers by way of the 84% salary increments and the M4000.00 Kompressors and the M2000.00 Camrys.
We look back in sadness at the deaths of Mahlomola Motuba and Mike Pitso, two journalists who were killed for their brave and fearless reporting of unfairness and prejudice in the past regimes. We have been taken back decades in our learning curve, and are now starting from scratch to plant the seed of unity and true freedom. We take courage from the fact, however, that history has not been kind to dictators who parade themselves as democrats. ‘Nete ke tutulu ha e patehe, or “Truth is ‘unhideable’.” We call on the international media to take note of this heinous act by the Lesotho Government to gag transparency and free access to information, especially as state media is totally not accessible to anyone else but the ruling party.
Re sa lebeletse. Khotso.
Background information:
www.protectionline.org
UPDATE (26 June):
News from The People’s Choice FM: Written by Falla
People`s Choice FM Management, Mr. Motlatsi Majara & Mrs Kholu Qhobela paid a visit to the detained Media Insitute of Southern Africa regional Chairperson and Harvest FM freelancer, Mr. Thabo Thakalekoala yesterday.
The Main aim for the visit was to give support and courage to him as a brother, colleague and journalist at this trying time that he is going through.
Mr. Thakalekoala who is charged with high treason is in police custody and is expected to appear before Magistrate Court today, and on the hand the Regional Director of Media Institute is expected to be in the country today.
He is in the mean time refusing to eat anything (hunger strike), insisting on his liberty and justice.
Submitted by ‘Marafaele Mohloboli
Links:
Yes, we have been taken back more than thirty years. It is not ironic that all those who are in power today have never felt the brunt of persecution, hence it is so easy for them to persecute others, to use the same dirty and inhumane tactics that were used in Lesotho thirty odd years ago. That is why they do not seek to concretely unite our country but instead thrive on dividing us.
Comment by Tšoanyane — 25 June 2007 @ 10:37 am
Divide and conquer has always worked. It works because it fuels vanity and pride: US against THEM. Hitler used it. Amin used it. Al Qaeda uses it. Question: In a country like Lesotho, with one people, one language, one main religion (Christianity), one culture, how the heck does one go about dividing us? It’s happened before (1970) and it’s happening now. But how? Two ways. Primo: Pride and vanity. Segundo: The promise of wealth. Neither has been known to fail. Now, put together, you have a lethal weapon with which people will do ANYTHING! Including murder. They will go as far as killing three-year-olds.
Think of it.
Comment by Rethabile — 25 June 2007 @ 10:46 am
I just learned that Thabo Thakalekoala is on a hunger strike, since last Saturday. He has said he is doing this to protest against what he calls his “unlawful detention” by the state.
Comment by Tšoanyane — 25 June 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Thinking of it, I see now what pride and vanity, and the promise of wealth, can do to the hearts of men. Thinking of it, I see now why men can kill three-year old children and be able to live with it.
What I can not fathom is the reason why my people shy away from their responsibility as citizens to stand up in unison and say NO to being divided. After all noone stands to gain anything meaningful by supporting dictatorships save for unstable jobs and petty favours for the diehards.
I see what is happening in my country as the first cracks of a sinking ship. You do not impose curfews, detain journalists on drummed up charges and threaten to shut down radio stations while monopolising state media yourself, deduct money from salaries of officers who did not make it to work on stay-away days, use army recruits to intimidate the people at roadblocks, sit back and relax when people are being ambushed and shot to death, manipulate an electoral model to favour yourself with a majority in parliament, and so on, if you have a stable government that is legitimate and democratic. The water has begun to flow in, and more cracks are bound to happen because this ship is not made of stuff that is stern. If it were, there would not be so much discontent and there would be no need for the captain to go down with it.
Comment by Tšoanyane — 25 June 2007 @ 4:44 pm
That’s a lot of things for chance to have had a hand in them. One, two, but not ten. Even in baseball with three you’re out, and baseball does not involve people’s lives and livelihoods.
So what’s to be done? I’ve written to my friends about this, and asked them to talk about it on their blogs or at their coffee machines at work, or at the dinner table at home. I don’t have a gun, and if I did, I wouldn’t use it. So spreading the word is a start.
But the most noise has to come from inside, which implies that Basotho have to ONE) know what’s going on, TWO) have a loudspeaker, a means of raising their voice (like a blog, like talking to the village chief, like using their vote conscientiously).
We must therefore make sure that Basotho are aware that they’re being cheated yet again. Party politics must go the way of the dodo, because they’re the only thing that can be used to put us into different groups. After using pride and money to get men to salivate, use parties to delineate US from THEM. Apart from that, in Lesotho, you’ve got nothing else to split people up. Nothing. So parties must be erased from people’s minds.
This is such a shame that my fingers don’t want to type anymore. I invite all Basotho who want to use this blog to vent (loudspeaker), to register (freely) and start either telling the world what’s happening, or telling our leaders what should happen, or else.
Register here: Registering to blog at Sotho. It’s quick, it’s free, and it’s easy. You can log on from anywhere, anytime, and talk to the world, and to other Basotho.
Why do you think ABC did well in towns and badly in remote villages? Because people in villages aren’t connected. Through no fault of their own, they don’t know what’s going on. They have stayed with party politics at the expense of the good of all Basotho. Our job is to tell them what we think is going on, and see what they think. So blog with me. You can register now, and use whatever nom de plume you want, or your real name, but blog. What do you say?
Comment by Rethabile Masilo — 25 June 2007 @ 5:25 pm
We slept late last night, awaiting the outcome of Thabo Thakalekoala’s bail application. Though the prosecution and the police opposed it, the magistrate did grant him bail at about 23:00hrs. This means the process took a good part of the day, and a good part of the night. There was jubilation all around, women ululating and hooters blaring.
The charge has been changed from treason to breaching the Internal Security Act of 1984 (this reminds me of apartheid). He is now being accused of having in his possession, and failing to pass on to the police, information that may help the government to circumvent subversive activities. There will be a remand hearing on July 25 where a date will be set for the showdown.
On reaching his home, he thanked everyone for their support and reiterated his commitment to report to the masses without fear.
We commend the magistrate who granted him bail for demonstrating to the world that, so far, it can be safely concluded that Lesotho’s judiciary is free of bias and can deliver judgement without prejudice. This has provided a lot of relief as people had lost confidence in the judiciary when some judges took advantage of the Kompressor offer and acquired the luxury cars for themselves, some selling them off almost immediately.
It is good that we have been able to salvage some sense of righteousness as Basotho.
Comment by Ntsetselane — 26 June 2007 @ 10:42 am
News from Lesotho
….in certi casi…purtroppo…non si può far proprio nulla…se non diffondere le notizie… Copio- incollo il post di Rethabile - http://sotho.blogsome.com/ - Learning curve News from Lesotho is disturbing. Democracy and the rule of
Trackback by zietti' — 30 July 2007 @ 4:19 pm