Recent developments in Lesotho
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| Monyane Moleleki |
I tried to find the name Thabo Thantsi on the Internet, and actually found two links, his voter details (if it’s the same Thabo Thantsi): here, and mention of him in the Lesotho Forum: here. I looked up the minister allegedly involved, and found a Wikipedia mention, an article about the 2006 attack on him, a speech in Iran Daily (scroll down a bit), and a short interview.Thabo Thantsi, the abductee who was hospitalised at Makoanyane Army Hospital, has escaped and resurfaced somewhere in South Africa. He came on air on Harvest FM’s “Rise and Shine” morning show and gave a thorough detail of his ordeal at the hands of the army. He is a former soldier himself.
The details of his ordeal are gory and I shudder at the mere recollection. He says he was in the hands of the army and he has divulged the names of the officers who were interrogating him, demanding that he produce the guns taken from ministers’ bodyguards recently. He says another question was why he had resigned from the army (in 2003) and why he is now a bodyguard to Motsoahae Thabane, the ABC leader.
He has named the Minister of Natural Resources, Monyane Moleleki, as the mastermind behind these abductions. According to Thabo, his feet were chained and padlocked, his hands cuffed behind and to the chain around his feet. When his folks came to see him he was uncuffed and unchained and asked not to reveal his condition to them. He further reveals that many of the abducted men, some still actively employed in the army, are at the army hospital in varying conditions of torture.
From what he says he heard while his abductors were talking, the Minister has already paid up and the elite group has two weeks to finish off all members of the ABC who are perceived to be active and dangerous.





Jeff sent me this Economist link: www.economist.com. Thanks Jeff.
Comment by Rethabile — 3 July 2007 @ 8:50 am
The economist link is very interesting. In a coup situation, there are perpetrators and there are plotters. The secretary-general of the LCD, Mpho Malie (at whose house an aid worker was killed not so long ago), says a coup was foiled but fails to say who plotted it and who attempted to carry it out. Even if he would not say it to the Economist, he should be able to tell Basotho who these people are.
On the other hand, rumour has it that these gun-snatching acts were staged by the government precisely to create an unstable atmosphere in Maseru that would justify these terrible acts of abductions and torture to ex-soldiers. He further states that there are still rogue elements within the army and police who are causing problems. Are they the ones abducting and torturing? No.
Comment by Ntsetselane — 3 July 2007 @ 12:43 pm
interesting — I always learn something here. Thanks.
Comment by Andrew — 5 July 2007 @ 8:12 am