Mosito says will be back

Leisa Leisanyane

MASERU – FIRED President of the Court of Appeal, Kananelo Mosito, says he hopes to return to the administration of justice “when the political climate will be conducive”.
In his emotional resignation letter to King Letsie III, a copy of which thepost has seen, Mosito says all indications are that the justice system in the country has become paralysed.
Mosito also says “the rule of law (has been) jettisoned, if not relegated to the dustbin of history in our kingdom”. “Although Your Majesty may have seen some value in my professional worth, leading to my appointment to such a high judicial office, Your Majesty’s current Prime Minister and his Attorney General clearly hold a different view,” he says.

Mosito says that the attorney general, Advocate Tšokolo Makhethe, “went out of his way to select three retired judges from South Africa and (handed) their names over to the Prime Minister for the King to appoint to serve as members of the tribunal”.
“Whether guilty or not, no one can expect judges selected by the complainant Attorney General to do justice in his cause,” he says.

He adds that with the “omnipotent Attorney General and the current Prime Minister’s government momentarily in place, there is no hope of any justice prevailing in Lesotho”.
“I have therefore decided as I do hereby tender my resignation as President of the Court of Appeal of Lesotho forthwith.” “The effect hereof is that the purported impeachment proceedings are hereby aborted and there will be no need for Your Majesty to suffer the indignity of having to remove me pursuant to the binding advice of the Attorney General’s selected former South African judges.”

Mosito’s resignation letter was written on December 13, ten days before the office of the King wrote him a letter of dismissal at the advice of the tribunal.
Mosito was appointed to the Court of Appeal presidency in January 2014 during the then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s administration, about a month before the general election.

The Attorney General and prominent lawyers like Advocates Salemane Phafane, Zwelakhe Mda, Karabo Mohau and Attorney Qhalehang Letsika challenged his appointment in court.
They alleged that he was being rewarded by Thabane for representing him in his attempt to remove the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecution Advocate Leaba Thetsane.

They also queried why he had been appointed weeks before the election.
Their case was however dismissed.
Also the opposition political parties, particularly the Democratic Congress (DC) and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) which are now ruling, rubbished the appointment as unlawful.

When the DC and LCD together with five other parties formed a new coalition government after the election, the DPP charged Justice Mosito for failure to submit tax returns on time.
While Mosito was fighting the charges the government set up the tribunal for his impeachment as a judge.

His attempts to stop his impeachment proceedings failed in the Court of Appeal.
Justice Mosito has always insisted that he is being persecuted by a government that is pursuing a political vendetta against him.
He has said the Attorney General and the DPP are getting back at him for providing legal services to former Prime Minister Thabane when he wanted to remove them from office.