Prosecutor abandons Lisebo Tang’s murder case

‘MATHATO SEBOKA

MASERU – Crown counsel, Advocate Motene Rafoneke, has withdrawn from the Lisebo Tang murder case that resumed on Wednesday morning. Soldiers guarding former army commander Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli’s Ha Leqele residence killed the 20-year-old Tang, in a hail of bullets on May 10, 2014.

Kamoli remains incarcerated after he was arrested over several charges of murders committed by the army during his four-years stint as chief of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), he is particularly expected to answer questions relating to the bombing of former police commissioner Khothatso Tšooana’s home, the alleged 2014 coup attempt and the killing of police Sub-Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko as well as the killing of former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao.

When she was killed, Tang was in the company of one Tšepo Jane who had parked his vehicle next to Kamoli’s residence when the soldiers shot at them, killing Tang and injuring him.

Evidence tabled in court has revealed that the vehicle was shot 123 times.

Criminal proceedings against Corporal Tjekane Sebolai and Private Selone Ratšiu, who allegedly shot and killed the Tang, remain pending and the outcome is awaited; one of the accused, Private Kopano Matsoso, was discharged after the Crown failed to link him to the crime.  

The soldiers also face the attempted murder of Tang’s companion, Jane, who suffered gunshot injuries during that attack, all three were at the time part of soldiers who were assigned to guard Kamoli’s residence.

They were further charged with malicious damage to property for allegedly riddling Jane’s vehicle, a Toyota Hilux 4×4 van, with bullets during the same incident.

Following investigations into Tang’s unlawful killing and subsequent refusal by the army to compensate her family, the Ombudsman, Advocate Tlotliso Polaki, interrogated the matter and filed a report seeking parliament’s endorsement of her findings and recommendation to compel the army to pay up.

The Ombudsman’s report to the National Assembly was submitted due to non-compliance by the LDF with the Ombudsman’s remedial action issued on January 10, 2023, which directed that the army to compensate the complainant and Lisebo’s mother, ‘Makhola Tang, for the negligent death of her daughter in the amount of M300 000 as a reasonable and justifiable redress for loss of support – the army refused to pay the compensation.

The Ombudsman noted that the LDF had a meeting with the Tang family following the death of their daughter to have an arrangement regarding funeral expenses and other related costs, included also were grocery provisions for the family and school fees for the deceased’s daughter, though for an undisclosed period of time.

“Based on the fact that the LDF made undertakings to the complainant to bury the deceased and to pay for groceries and school needs of her daughter, the LDF created a legitimate but unreasonable expectation and commitments between themselves and the complainant which had no duration attached thereto and which showed a willingness to cooperate and work harmoniously together,” Advocate Polaki observed in her report.

“Although the complainant placed reliance on a legitimate expectation based on the LDF’s undertaking following the demise of her daughter, it fell short of a critical element of duration and reasonability.”

The groceries and school fees payments were made for four years after Lisebo’s death, and then the LDF ceased to provide the groceries and school fees in or around 2018.

The LDF refused to entertain the complainant’s plea for compensation citing a criminal case pending in court, which Advocate Polaki points out the army felt will be an admission of guilt on their part if they compensate the complainant.

Advocate Polaki indicated to Public Eye following submission of her report to the National Assembly that she did not know when the army would comply with remedial action issued, and pointed out that the LDF should know better that in the event that they are aggrieved by Ombudsman’s recommendations, they should, within reasonable timelines, apply to court for judicial review.