MASERU-‘Maesaiah Thabane flashed a sheepish smile as she elegantly strode into court on February 5.
Despite being a murder suspect ‘Maesaiah’s demeanour did not depict a woman whose spectacular fall from grace was just beginning to unfold.
She was still exuding the same aura of invincibility that had defined her rather eventful stint as the First Lady.

As the magistrate read her murder and attempted murder charges, ‘Maesaiah glared at the packed gallery.
Face glowing in fresh make-up and head held up high, she did not look like she had spent the previous night in a police cell.
The shame of being the first wife of a Prime Minister to be charged with murder did not seem to cause her much ache. She appeared unusually serene for someone in what was clearly an unnerving situation.

It was as if she was telling those thrilled by her comeuppance that they will soon have egg on their faces.
More like saying ‘celebrate while it lasts because I will be out of this temporary jam in a jiffy’.

And indeed her power and influence would come to her rescue a few moments later when she was granted bail in what has been described as record time.

As the Court of Appeal would later find, ‘Maesaiah’s release was unusual.
It was both hasty and dubious, the court said.
As dusk crawled into Maseru, ‘Maesaiah was walking out of the remand prison to the deafening cheers of her sympathisers who had camped at the gate. They joyfully escorted her to the State House as if they were welcoming a hero. The party dragged through the night.

Outside the State House many were outraged at the turn of events. There was a feeling that corners had been cut to grant her bail. A storm erupted on social media as people cursed both her and the court that had freed her. No previous bail had triggered such palpable anger.

In just two weeks she had fled the country as a fugitive, spent days on the run in South Africa and then casually walked into a Maseru police station as if she was meeting her friends for drinks.

The police promptly threw her into a cell but by the end of the next day she was back in her house on a measly M1000-bail that seemed to make a mockery of the heinous charges she faced.
Such was the power she wielded. It appeared that not even the courts were beyond her clutch.

A few weeks later her arrogance was in full display as she berated a journalist snapping a picture of her and her husband in court.
But something that would bring her back to earth, with a thud, was brewing.

First, her husband’s political fortunes were sliding fast. His political nemeses were aggressively shoving him towards the exit door even as he vehemently resisted.

Second, her controversial bail was being challenged.
In the end a few days separated the conclusion of those two processes.
Her husband fell from power and a few days later the Court of Appeal cancelled her bail.

Still, she appeared to be nursing a hangover of the power she had lost. It took her nearly a week to hand herself to the police. When she eventually handed herself in she appeared to have dressed for the occasion: Louis Vuitton trainers and tracksuit plus a fur coat.
That however did not change the reality that the world was crumbling around her.

Instantly, she had lost both her power and freedom. Only her dressing gave signs that she was once a woman of power and wealth.
Now bereft of the power that guaranteed her power, ‘Maesaiah is exceptionally vulnerable. No longer can she fight from high ground of power derived from the office of her husband.

That, in essence, is why her for quest bail is particularly tough.
Were she another ordinary person charged with murder, the battle would be between her and the prosecution only.
But because she is the once mighty ‘Maesaiah she has to deal with a battalion of people hell bent on blocking her bail.

The people on whose toes she stepped on are coming out of the woodwork, with guns blazing.
Rarely has a suspect’s bail been opposed by so many people.
‘Maesaiah is facing the police, the prosecution, victims, former friends and relatives who want her locked up until trial. And things are not looking good for her.

The affidavits against her have all but lifted the lid on the prosecution’s case against her. Her trial has already begun in the court of public opinion even before her prosecution starts.
Every affidavit contains damning and chilling evidence painting her as a callous, dangerous and scheming woman who doesn’t hesitate to kill those who stand in her way.

If Assistant Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete’s affidavit painted the outline of the case then ’Makarabo Mojakhomo, her former confidante, added the texture to the portrait.
‘Mabatsoeng Hlaele (Nkoya) (See Side Bar), her stepdaughter, gave it the rich background.

Thato Sibolla, the alleged victim, supplied the frame to the picture.
The result is a woman facing overwhelming evidence that might sabotage her bail application and possibly sink her for good.
The common theme in the affidavits is that ‘Maesaiah is an unhinged character capable of using her ostentatious wealth and power to eliminate rivals and witnesses. The pleas are therefore that the world is a better place if she remains in jail until trial.

ACP Mokete gives a terrifying account of how ’Maesaiah and Thabane hired five famo gangsters and promised them M3 million to kill Lipolelo Thabane. He alleges that one of the gangsters, later hired as a minister’s driver, has now become a state witness.

DCP Mokete names the hit men as Rethabile ‘Chakela’ Mokete, Seabata Joseph ‘Lieta’ Sello, Macheli ‘Lebese’ Koeshe and Molefi ‘Mokata’ Matima. Chakela is a notorious famo gangster and a staunch All Basotho Convention supporter.

ACP Mokete describes the hit men as “members of the infamous famo gang, notorious for displaying violence and for brutal killings”.
The crown witness is the fifth hit man.

DCP Mokete says ’Maesaiah initially paid Chakela M50 000 and Sello M20 000. The witness was paid M30 000 and rewarded with a job as a minister’s driver. Chakela, Sello, Koeshe and Matima later “became aggrieved” after Thabane and ’Maesaiah failed to pay the full amount that had been promised.

DCP Mokete says during late 2018 or 2019, Thabane paid M300 000 to the four gang members “who expressed their extreme displeasure with the above amount, which they believed to be too little”.
The police have since issued warrants of arrests for the four suspects who are believed to be in South Africa. The story of how the money changed hands is told in detail by Mojakhomo, herself a victim of ’Maesaiah’s influence and power.

Until June 2018 Mojakhomo was ’Maesaiah’s confidante and manager at the ’Maesaiah Thabane Trust Fund which critics say was largely a laundry room for illicit money. The two fell out after ’Maesaiah accused her of bilking the Fund.

The official story at that time was that Mojakhomo escaped from police custody and fled to South Africa.
Now Mojakhomo is telling the court that the police handed her over to kidnappers who were instructed to kill her by ’Maesaiah. She says ’Maesaiah was angry that she had pinched some money she was supposed to deliver to Thulo Motau whom she alleges had a hand in Lipolelo’s murder.

She says on five occasions ’Maesaiah sent her to deliver money to Motau.
On the third occasion she was given M65 000 for Motau but she admits that she nicked M10 000 as compensation, courting ’Maesaiah’s anger.
She says ’Maesaiah had requested the money from a Chinese man identified as David.

“She (’Maesaiah) went on to ask whether I want to die like Lipolelo,” Majakhomo alleges, adding that it was then that she knew the money was payment to Lipolelo’s killers.
Majakhomo later delivered another M120 000 to Motau who she says was later murdered “in order to bury evidence because dead men tell no tales”.
Her conclusion is that ’Maesaiah is “dangerous” and “not afraid of taking life of another person if it may give her a benefit or please her heart”.

She says ’Maesaiah might kill witnesses if released.
Sibolla gives details that point to ’Maesaiah’s alleged motive for killing Lipolelo.

She says relations between ’Maesaiah and Lipoleo “turned from bad to worse and escalated into a dangerous if not life-threatening one” just before the 2017 election.
Sibolla tells the court that ’Maesaiah would call to insult Lipolelo and threaten her “with all forms of physical assaults”.
’Maesaiah was allegedly angry that Lipolelo was resisting Thabane’s attempts to end their marriage.

Sibolla says Lipolelo showed her Whatsapp messages in which ’Maesaiah indicated that “she wanted that divorce taking place by hook or crook”.
She says Lipolelo told her that some people had informed her that ’Maesaiah was planning to kill her.

“Faced with the prospects of a life threatening situation, the deceased (Lipolelo) started to employ security measures to avoid death and engage in measures to sleep away from her home in fear of her life”.
As pressure mounted Lipolelo allegedly agreed to the divorce but wanted Thabane to help her financially.

Sibolla says she did not think much of Lipolelo’s fears until she escaped an attack at her home in Ha Masana.
In desperation Lipolelo asked Teboho Mojapela, a businessman who leads the Socialist Revolutionary, to mediate between her and ’Maesaiah.
Lipolelo was however murdered a few hours after meeting ’Maesaiah at Mojapela’s house in Ladybrand.

Sibolla, who was with Lipolelo, was injured. She says after recovering a friend warned her that there were people who wanted to kill her.
She was constantly tailed by suspicious vehicles until she escaped to South Africa.

Like Mojakhomo, she believes that ’Maesaiah is capable of killing if released.
“The accused would be more than happy if I am not available to testify against her in the criminal proceedings because I am the most important eye-witness in this horrific incident”.

It is ironic that ’Maesaiah is appearing in court in a week of the third anniversary of Lipolelo’s murder.
The dead might not tell tales but the African thinking is that the dead can still fight from the grave. Lipolelo might be dead but she appears to be fighting her battles.

Whether she will eventually get justice is yet to be seen but what is certain is that the living are fighting for her.

’Maesaiah Thabane timeline

January 2014: Liabiloe Ramoholi’s house is bombed allegedly by rogue elements within the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF).

April 2015: Thomas Thabane, then the official leader of opposition, flees to South Africa claiming his life was in danger. Ramoholi joins him in exile and they live in Ficksburg.

Before June 2017 – Thomas Thabane and Liabiloe Ramoholi allegedly meet famo gangsters in Ficksburg to plot Lipolelo Thabane’s murder. The couple promises the hitmen M3 million.

June 10: The hit men attack Lipolelo at her Ha Masana house but she escapes unhurt.

June 14: Lipolelo meets ’Maesaiah for mediation at Teboho Mojapela’s home in Ladybrand. On the same day Lipolelo is killed as she drives into her yard in Ha Masana. Thato Sibolla, who is in the same car, is injured.

August 2017: Liabiloe Ramoholi marries Thabane at an opulent wedding. Ramoholi becomes ’Maesaiah Thabane as per the Basotho customs.

June 2018: Health Minister Nyapane Kaya is fired after publicly accusing First Lady ’Maesaiah of interfering in government and party affairs. In the same month another minister, Motlohi Maliehe, complains that ’Maesaiah is meddling in the government’s affairs. He is later fired.

July: ’Maesaiah Thabane assaults a visitor at the Maseru Private Hospital. The hospital refrained from suing after the then secretary general of the All Basotho Convention, Samonyane Ntsekele, apologised.

October: Police Commissioner Holomo Molibeli calls First Lady ’Maesaiah Thabane for questioning over the murder of Lipolelo Thabane.

January 2019: First Lady ’Maesaiah publicly rebukes Principal Secretary for Finance, Motena Tšolo, and Public Works’ Mothabathe Hlalele. He accuses them of neglecting roads.  

May: ’Maesaiah is accused of insulting a bartender at a lodge in Butha-Buthe for serving another patron before her. ’Maesaiah insults Sports Minister Dr Mahali Phamotse for asking Thabane to go with her to greet players before an international match at Setsoto Stadium.

May: Famo musician Rethabile ‘Mosotho Chakela’ Mokete threatens to reveal secrets about ’Maesaiah and the then Police Minister ’Mampho Mokhele. Mokete is a suspect in the Lipolelo Thabane murder.

December: Police Commissioner Molibeli asks Thabane to explain why his phone number was used to call someone who was at Lipolelo’s murder scene.

Jan 2020: Thabane tries but fails to fire Police Commissioner Molibeli.

Jan 2020: Police Commissioner Molibeli again calls ’Maesaiah for questioning over Lipolelo’s murder. Instead of going to the police she skipped the country to South Africa.

Feb: The police quiz Mojapela over the killing of Lipolelo. ’Maesaiah returns from South Africa and hands herself over to the police. She is officially charged with murder and attempted murder. Acting Chief Justice ’Maseforo Mahase controversially grants ’Maesaiah bail.

March: Mosotho Chakela is charged with Lipolelo’s murder.

May: ’Maesaiah ceases to be the First Lady after her husband hands over power to Dr Moeketsi Majoro.

May: The Court of Appeal reverses Justice Mahase’s ruling and orders a fresh bail hearing before a different judge. ’Maesaiah Thabane was sent to jail pending trial. She applies for bail on the same day and her case, two weeks later, is still being argued in the courts.

Shakeman Mugari