MASERU – FOUR police officers suspected of murdering Constable Mokalekale Khetheng have been slapped with letters requiring them to explain why they should not be suspended. The officers were supposed to have furnished the Commissioner of Police Holomo Molibeli with their written explanations yesterday.

Police spokesman Inspector Mpiti Mopeli confirmed that the police authority had written to the officers.
Last night Mopeli said some had already responded while others were yet to do so.
The police officers Superintendent Thabo Tšukulu, Inspector Mabitle Matona, Haleokoe Taasoane and Superintendent Mothibeli Mofolo are being held in custody while investigations continue.

Two weeks ago a magistrate told the suspects that they have a right to apply for bail at the High Court. Mopeli said the move to suspend the police officers is meant to ensure that they don’t interfere with investigations. Asked if they would be paid their monthly salaries while on suspension, Mopeli said “that would be the decision of the employer”.

It was unclear whether the fifth suspect, Assistant Commissioner of Police Tšeliso Moerane had also received the ‘show cause’ letter.
Mopeli said his efforts to find out if Moerane had also received the letter were fruitless.

It is still unclear how Moerane is connected to the Khetheng case. He was arrested a few days after the arrest of the other four suspects.
Khetheng will be buried on Saturday in Mokhotlong district, three weeks after his body was exhumed from the paupers’ cemetery.
Khetheng was arrested in March last year in Sebothoane, Leribe, and transferred to Hlotse where he went missing.

One of the officers who arrested him, Sergeant ’Mabohlokoa Makotoko, told the High Court in a habeas corpus case that she had heard that Khetheng was taken away by a group of soldiers and police officers. She also told the court that her superiors instructed her to come to Maseru at the Law Office where she was pushed to change her statement about Khetheng’s disappearance but she refused.
Makotoko, who worked directly under some of the suspects in Leribe, was later charged with indiscipline and fired.
She has since been reinstated after her bosses’ arrest.

Staff Reporter

Leribe – EIGHT suspects were on Sunday arrested by the Leribe police for allegedly stealing Econet’s copper cables.
The suspects, seven men and one woman, are from the villages of Sebothoane, Khanyane and Mankoaneng.
In recent weeks, Econet has been grappling with an upsurge in incidents of cable theft in Leribe. This is in addition to what the telecommunications company has long suspected to be wanton vandalism of its network infrastructure around the country.

The incidents which include the cutting fibre and stealing of copper cables have cost Econet millions of maloti, money the company says could have been used to help connect other areas in the country.

In some areas Econet’s copper network has been totally wiped out, disconnecting individuals, government departments and health centres.
The vandalism in Leribe affected Motebang Hospital, Ministry of Education, Department of Traffic and Lesotho Electricity Corporation offices.
This is in addition to thousands of individuals and hundreds of businesses that rely on the network for communication.

Puleng Masoabi, Econet’s Public Relations Officer, said the arrest of the eight suspects was made possible by the help of villagers who tipped off the police.
“We therefore wish to take this opportunity to applaud members of the Leribe community who provided information that has been helpful to police investigations and led to the arrest of these perpetrators”.

Masoabi said it is important for communities to always remember that the Econet’s infrastructure in their areas belongs to them because it is there to help them.
“It is the duty of every person to protect the infrastructure because it’s a national asset out of which we all benefit,” she said.
“Those stealing cables and vandalizing the network are not only sabotaging Econet but also the economy, their communities and other essential services. Hospitals and banks rely on this network for communication.”

“As Econet we continue to appeal to the public to jealously guard the network infrastructure.”
The suspects also had LEC cables in their possession.

Staff reporter

MASERU – TWO nurses have been arrested for running illegal clinics in Maseru.

They are Mpho Maitin whose Molopi Health Clinic is located at Lepoqong taxi station and Joalane Khoarai who owns a clinic in the same area.
The police say they found expired medicines at Molopi Health Clinic.

Some of the medicines were supposed to have been used in 2012, 2015 and 2016 but she was still keeping them in the clinic.
The two women appeared before the Maseru magistrate’s court on Tuesday last week. They will return to court next Tuesday.
Maitin paid a bail M600 while Khoarai paid M500.

The police nabbed the two nurses after receiving tip-offs on January 25.
It is not clear whether Maitin prescribed and sold these medicines to her patients.

Maitin is a nurse clinician, a qualification that gives her authority to prescribe certain medicines and drugs without a doctor’s supervision.
Unlike a general nurse, Maitin works like a doctor although she has to refer her patients to a doctor for complicated illnesses.
As for Khoarai, she provides midwifery services but for some years she has been at loggerheads with the Ministry of Health over her licence.
The police say they contravened the Nurses and Midwife Act of 1998.

Police spokesman Superintendent Clifford Molefe said it is a serious offence to prescribe expired medicine.
“It is everyone’s right to demand to see a legal permit from a business providing him with services before or after the service,” Molefe said.
“This act shows that there are people outside there who can give or prescribe poison to others in order to get money,” he said.
“The arrest of these two women was done successfully by the Pitso Ground Police in Maseru.”

Senate Sekotlo