VZCZCXRO2166
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHRN
DE RUEHMR #0439/01 2061502
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 251502Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3197
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 3586

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MASERU 000439 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FRO AF/S; 
GABORONE FOR RSO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC KDEM PHUM LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY 
SPEAK OUT 
 
REF: A) MASERU 436;  B) MASERU 428; C) MASERU 398; D) MASERU 385 
 
MASERU 00000439  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
_____ 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Lesotho's political crisis continues to 
lumber forward, as the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) 
searched the home of a High Court Justice who recently issued 
two rulings against the GOL.  Leaders of Lesotho's five major 
opposition parties held a press conference on July 24 addressing 
the ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) 
mediation process and the Millennium Challenge Corporation's 
$362.5 million compact signed in Washington the previous day. 
Also, a civil society delegation returned from a visit to 
Botswana designed to involve regional organizations in resolving 
allegations of human rights abuses in Lesotho.  And 
unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering, 
opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge 
Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the 
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
--------------------- 
 
Judge's Home Searched 
 
--------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) On the evening of July 24, the Lesotho Mounted Police 
Service (LMPS) searched the home of High Court Justice `Maseforo 
Makara, a judge who recently issued two rulings against the GOL. 
 According to Police Inspector Pheello Mphana, the estranged 
husband of Judge Mahase is a suspect in the theft of military 
rifles from ministerial residences in June 2007.  The search of 
the judge's home has led to an outcry on July 25 by callers to 
local radio programs, who stated that the Justice has not lived 
with her former husband in many years and they maintain separate 
residences. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) On July 7, Mahase presided over a case in which she 
ordered the immediate release from "police and/or military" 
custody of five individuals implicated, though at that time not 
charged, in the attacks against GOL ministerial residences and 
alleged coup plotting (ref C).  On July 2, she ordered the 
immediate release of Makotoko Lerotholi, a bodyguard for 
opposition ABC leader Thomas Thabane, in response to a legal 
case filed by Lerotholi's wife after her husband's abduction by 
unknown gunmen on June 22 (ref D).  In this case, she issued a 
strong statement from the bench, declaring that "the applicant's 
husband's kidnapping and detention by [Lesotho Defense Force 
(LDF) personnel] is an unlawful violation of his right to 
liberty," and directed that Makoanyane Military Hospital provide 
Lerotholi's attorney with records of "all physical examinations 
done while he remained at Makoanyane Military Hospital (MMH)." 
Lerotholi claimed that the LDF tortured him at the hospital. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Opposition Leaders Address SADC Mediation, MCC 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) Also on July 24, leaders of Lesotho's five major 
opposition parties held a press conference at Lancer's Inn to 
address the ongoing Southern African Development Community 
(SADC) mediation process and the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation's $362.5 million compact signed in Washington the 
previous day.  Present were All Basotho Convention (ABC) Leader 
Thomas Thabane, Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) Deputy Leader 
Dr. Khauhelo Ralitapole, Basotho National Party (BNP) Leader 
General Metsing Lekhanya, leader of the rump National 
Independent Party (NIP) Anthony Manyeli, and Marematlou Freedom 
Party (MFP) Leader Vincent Malebo.  The opposition leaders 
declared that they were united in their desire to restart the 
SADC-mediated talks led by former President of Botswana Sir 
Ketumile Masire, and that as the MFP had withdrawn their court 
case regarding the allocation of Proportional Representation 
(PR) seats, the hiatus in the talks could end immediately.  All 
leaders expressed enthusiasm for the quick arrival of experts on 
the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) model, which was agreed in 
 
MASERU 00000439  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
principal by all stakeholders during the last round of 
SADC-mediated talks. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) Thabane stressed that the opposition did not dispute the 
February 17 election results or plan to topple the government, 
but merely wanted outside experts to evaluate the distribution 
of PR seats.  The ABC leader raised the recent spate of 
extra-judicial arrests and alleged torture of individuals 
associated with his party, stating that they continued despite 
recent court rulings.  Thabane disapprovingly noted the 
increased prominence of Lesotho's military, which he stated 
acted with impunity. 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) Opposition leaders spoke disparagingly about the timing 
of the signing of the $362.5 million compact with the Millennium 
Challenge Corporation, and noted that a letter to the U.S. 
Embassy urging a delay in compact signing had gone unanswered. 
ACP Leader Dr. Ralitapole stated that it was "unfortunate that 
the signing of a multi-million dollar compact with GOL will 
boost a repressive government which has no respect for human 
rights or the rule of law."  BNP Leader General Lekhanya stated 
that the opposition did not oppose the work of the MCC, which 
they believed would benefit the nation, but emphasized that the 
funds should come to Lesotho under the "right conditions," not 
in the current climate of "human rights abuses." 
 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
Lesotho Civil Society Delegation 
 
Takes Complaints to Botswana 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) From July 18-21, a seven-person civil society delegation 
from Lesotho visited Botswana to ask regional organizations to 
help draw attention to reported human rights violations in the 
Mountain Kingdom.  The delegation included the President of the 
Law Society of Lesotho (equivalent of the American Bar 
Association) Zwelakhe Mda; Deputy President of the Law Society 
of Lesotho Sekake Malebanye; Deputy Chairperson of the Lesotho 
Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa Thabo 
Motlamelle; Secretary General of the Lesotho Trade Unions 
Congress Moletsane Jonathan; Treasurer of the Lesotho Law 
Society 'Mabolae Mohasi; Executive Director of the Lesotho 
Council of NGOs (LCN) Seabata Motsamai; and Director of the 
Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) Mateliso Ntsoelikane.  The 
delegation met with SADC officials and civil society figures, 
including Deputy Executive Secretary Joco Caholo; former 
Botswana President (and Lesotho negotiation leader) Ketumile 
Masire; SADC Lawyers Association's Program Director Elijah 
Munyuki; and Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organizations' 
(BOCONGO) Programs Manager Barulaganye Mogotsi. 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) At the SADC meetings, the Lesotho delegation asked that 
their concerns be relayed to the leadership of SADC through its 
Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security under Tanzanian 
President Jakaya Kikwete.  At a later meeting with BOCONGO 
Program Manager Mogotsi, he promised to inform other 
stakeholders, including the SADC Council of NGOs, about the 
situation in Lesotho and urge them to: 1) raise the matter up at 
the SADC Summit in Zambia next month; and 2) to send a fact 
finding mission to Lesotho.  Of note, the SADC Lawyers 
Association indicated at a later meeting that they would soon 
send a fact finding mission to Lesotho. Program Director Munyuki 
said that the group "had people waiting in the wings" to respond 
to such events. 
 
 
 
-------------------- 
 
More Troubling Signs 
 
-------------------- 
 
 
 
 
MASERU 00000439  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT:  As noted in previous reports (refs), the 
judicial independence displayed by Lesotho's High Court has been 
a bright sign for Lesotho's democratization.  While it is too 
early to rush to judgment regarding the authority's motivations 
for searching Justice Makara's home, her status as a prime 
judicial skeptic of the GOL's methods in recent months raising 
troubling questions.  These questions are likely to be raised 
increasingly loudly by both Lesotho's political opposition and 
civil society.  Lesotho's civil society delegation's visit to 
Amnesty International in Pretoria during their return from 
Botswana further illustrates their desire to pull the 
international community into Lesotho's political impasse.  And 
unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering, 
opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge 
Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the 
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government.  We will 
continue to work against this counterproductive perception.  END 
COMMENT. 
ANDERSON