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’Maesaiah fights for bail

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MASERU-FORMER First Lady ’Maesaiah Thabane, who spent last night in custody, is today expected to file a bail application.
But she is likely to face a monumental pushback from the police who have always insisted that she is likely to abscond if freed.

Also, the three people who appealed against her hurried and controversial bail in February are also likely to put up a fight.
The prosecution, whose curious decision not to challenge the initial bail was condemned by the Court of Appeal, will be in the spotlight.
The prosecution has already been criticised for seemingly siding with ’Maesaiah when her bail was challenged.

With Acting Chief Justice Maseforo Mahase barred from hearing the case, all eyes are now on the judge who will preside over Maesaiah’s fresh bail application.

Yesterday Magistrate Thamae Thamae remanded her in custody after her lawyer Advocate Setlojoane Setlojoane handed her over to the police.
This follows the Court of Appeal’s overturning of the High Court’s decision to grant ’Maesaiah bail without hearing arguments and written reasons.
The apex court cancelled the initial bail and ordered the High Court to reconsider her application after hearing all sides.

Although Magistrate Thamae remanded ’Maesaiah in custody until June 16 pending her application, this does not mean she will spend the next two weeks in remand.
Last night her team was finalising her bail papers.
’Maesaiah is accused of the murder of Lipolelo Thabane, former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s estranged wife. The police say the motive was

for her to freely marry Thabane and become the First Lady.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of Thato Sibolla who was in the same car with Lipolelo. Sibolla was injured and spent weeks in hospital.
Thabane too has been named as a suspect in the murder but has not been charged after he filed a constitutional case arguing that he could not be indicted as a sitting Prime Minister.

But with him out of office he might now have his day in court. The police have said they have a strong case against him.
Yesterday Advocate Lepeli Molapo, of the crown, told the court that the Court of Appeal ruling means that ’Maesaiah had “to be in custody and re-apply for bail”.

Clad in a matching Louis Vuitton sneakers and tracksuit, ’Maesaiah appeared relaxed as she walked into the court. A brown fur coat protected her from the chilly breeze.
In court she appeared to be sharing a lighter moment with a friend.
But it appeared that her circumstances had greatly changed this time around.

This time she no longer wielded the same power she had when she first appeared in the magistrates’ court.
Back then she was the wife of a Prime Minister. Justice Mahase, who later controversially granted her bail, seemed to be fighting in her husband’s corner.
Back then ’Maesaiah was granted a M1 000-bail a few moments after being charged.
The circumstances surrounding that bail have come back to haunt her.

Itumeleng Khoete

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Mahao’s party implodes

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PROFESSOR Nqosa Mahao’s Basotho Action Party (BAP) is imploding, amid fierce factional fights.
The party’s chairman, Tello Kibane, this week abruptly resigned from all his positions in the party. He was the chairman of the party’s central executive committee (CEC), the working committee and the parliamentary caucus.

Kibane cited the fights between Professor Mahao and his principal secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Tankiso Phapano, as one of the reasons for resigning.

He accused Professor Mahao of making false allegations against the working committee that has been trying to broker peace between him and Phapano.

He also claimed Professor Mahao had accused the working committee of being bribed to ask Prime Minister Sam Matekane to remove him as energy minister.

“This conflict between our leader and the principal secretary (Phapano) now affects people who are trying to intervene,” Kibane said in his March 3 letter to the party.

thepost can reveal that MPs ‘Mamoipone Senauoane, Manyaneso Taole, ‘Masebuoeng Nkuebe are also considering resigning from the working and executive committees.

If that happens Professor Mahao would have lost the support of four of the six MPs who are the very basis of the BAP’s participation in the coalition government.

The other two MPs are the professor himself and Motlatsi Maqelepo, his deputy who is the Minister of Sports.

The source said Maqelepo is also frustrated but is waiting to see where the chips fall before making a decision.

Mahao has been battling to hold the party together for the past few months.

Although fissures have always been there, it is Professor Mahao’s fallout with Phapano that has triggered an all-out war between the factions.

Phapano is said to enjoy the support of the majority of the working committee while Professor Mahao still has control of the executive committee.

Party insiders however say his grip on the executive committee is now precarious.

Youth league spokesman Tlhabeli Mojapela also resigned on Monday, citing dictatorship and lack of peace in the party.

Like Kibane, Mojapela also blamed the factional fights on the rift between Professor Mahao and Phapano. He told thepost last night that he is frustrated that Professor Mahao had refused to reconcile with Phapano.

Mojapela said the party’s MPs are unhappy with Professor Mahao for not censuring youth league members who attack them.

“We have lost a lot of members due to the infighting. We are tired of fighting,” Mojapela said. He accused the leader of imposing his decisions on the executive committee.

“I like both our leader and Phapano, so, I want to resign for the sake of my peace of mind”.

The BAP’s secretary general, Leponesa Makutoane, confirmed both resignations but said Mojapela is being dishonest about the reasons for his resignation.

“He resigned after some youth members wrote a no-confidence letter to him,” Makutoane said.

“After the letter was read, he announced that he would resign, we were not surprised”.

The letter from the youth league members accused Mojapela of discussing party secrets on social media.

He said the party has investigated the Professor Mahao-Phapano conflict and recommended that they reconcile or be separated.

He said the BAP had now requested the prime minister to move Phapano to the Ministry of Sports.

Makutoane said the prime minister had no choice but to move Phapano as per the party’s recommendation.

“We are in a coalition, they will have to explain why they are failing to reshuffle Phapano.”

In a no-confidence letter that thepost has seen, the members of the youth league committee are clear that Mojapela should be removed.

They stated that Mojapela has drifted from aligning with the party position on many issues.

Staff Reporter

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MP, school in bitter fight over land

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AN MP, her husband, and a former senior police officer are locked in a bitter dispute over some piece of land with the Thaba-Tseka Technical Institute (TTI).
The school wants to eject the Thaba-Tseka MP ’Mamamello Holomo, her husband Mosiuoa Holomo, and the former district police boss Senior Superintendent Litsietsi Selimo from a piece of land it claims belongs to it.
The TTI falls under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) department.

The school, together with the Ministry of Education principal secretary and the ministry itself are the applicants.
They are arguing that the Holomos and Selimo unlawfully built their houses in the school yard.

In their court papers, they said the trio were warned that they were building in the school compound but they disregarded the warning and continued to build.
The school submitted a letter it wrote to the trio in their court papers.

The TTI director, Khotsofalang Rabale, wrote a letter of notification to Selimo on October 24, 2018, warning that he should stop the construction as the land belonged to the school.

On August 26, 2020, Mosiuoa Holomo was also slapped with a letter warning him that the land that had been allocated to him belonged to the TTI.
However, they continued building their structures on the land despite a call not to do so.

The Holomos are erecting a residential home on the land while Selimo has built a restaurant, having leases with plot numbers 39361-036 and 39361-037.
The leases were issued by the Thaba-Tseka Urban Council, who are the fifth defendant in the case.

The school told the court that the allocation of the land in dispute by the council was unlawful because the land was already lawfully allocated to it.
The TTI said it has been using the land for years without any interference.

“The respondents should be ordered to vacate from the land of the TTI,” the court papers said.
Further, the school told the court not to incline to grant the Selimo and the Holomos the expenses that they had incurred in building the structures because they had been warned before they could do anything on the site.

“Yet they decided to build and make the improvements on the site which they did not have the title,” the school said.
The school informed the court that it had title over the land in dispute and that the two families are “presently in an unlawful occupation of the disputed land”.

“Despite being warned, they continued with construction and improvements.”

As a result, the TTI said it has suffered irreparable harm because it had been dispossessed of the portion of its land which it had intended to build more structures to be used by the students to advance their skills.

Majara Molupe

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BAP wants PS moved to Sports Ministry

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THE Basotho Action Party (BAP) has requested Prime Minister Sam Matekane to reassign the principal secretary of energy, Tankiso Phapano, to the Ministry of Sports.

The BAP made the request on Monday as the rift between Phapano and Energy Minister Professor Nqosa Mahao, the BAP leader, widened.

The bad blood between Professor Mahao and Phapano has divided the BAP and triggered fears of an imminent collapse of the party.

In a letter seen by thepost, the BAP’s secretary general, Lepolesa Makutoane, tells the prime minister that the central executive committee had resolved to make the request at its plenary sitting on Monday.

“The resolution comes as one of the most efficacious remedies the committee considered to bring a peaceful solution to the longstanding challenges that concerns (sic) the Minister (Professor Mahao) and the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Energy,” Makutoane said.

“I trust that you shall heed the advice of the Committee and grant the request of Basotho Action Party (sic).”

The prime minister is yet to respond to the letter but some observers speculate that he might reject the request. He rejected the idea when it was broached by Professor Mahao a few weeks ago.

Matekane was also unfazed when Professor Mahao threatened to resign from the coalition government if he didn’t fire or reassign Phapano.

The party’s request is seen as a last-ditch solution to the fights between Professor Mahao and Phapano.

Previous attempts to get the two, who were once close allies, reconcile have failed.

Peace brokers shuttling between the two have reportedly told the party’s leadership that a reconciliation between the two is now impossible.

Professor Mahao has told the leadership that he cannot work with Phapano.

Phapano has allegedly sworn that he will not allow Professor Mahao to push him out of the ministry. The result has been an impasse that is now threatening to upend the BAP.

Sources say the coalition partners have become increasingly worried about the BAP’s infighting and are already working on a plan to mitigate the impact of the party’s implosion on the government.

The prime minister is also said to have told Professor Mahao to get a grip on the crisis in his party.

Staff Reporter

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