There was fierce debate in parliament yesterday over the government’s plans to declare a state of emergency. The motion to declare a state of emergency was tabled by Thabo Maretlane, the ruling Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party MP for Thaba-Phatšoa constituency.
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Maretlane asked parliament to urge Prime Minister Sam Matekane to declare the state of emergency in response to the rampant murders in Lesotho.
He said 622 people were murdered countrywide in the last six months.
He said the motion was meant “to rescue Basotho from criminals who are hurting them”.
“Basotho will not die while we are here as MPs. We must do something about it,” he said.
He said once a state of emergency is declared, the government will not tolerate the assault of innocent citizens by security agencies.
“The government has to establish committees to ensure that the current situation is brought under control,” he said.
Napo Moshoeshoe, an MP from the Movement for Economic Change (MEC), which is part of the ruling coalition government, seconded the motion.
He said the state of emergency will allow the security agencies to operate outside the parameters of the law.
“The state of emergency will help the government to operate above the structures of law and use the laws that are designed for specific purposes like now,” Moshoeshoe said.
Moshoeshoe argued that a state of emergency should not be opposed just because of the stigma against the army.
“The state of emergency is the only climate that can allow (difficult) issues to be solved quickly,” he said.
Moshoeshoe said “the law infrastructure” is now flooded by criminals who have found loopholes to evade justice, adding that some criminals are granted bail after a few days.
The motion was met with a vicious response from opposition MPs with Dr Mahali Phamotse, who is the MP for Matlakeng saying “it is not true that a state of emergency allows the government to operate beyond the confines of the law”.
“That is not true, nothing has to be done outside of the perimeters of the law,” she said.
The Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe, said even before a state of emergency was declared, the army was already beating up people mercilessly.
“People were beaten in Khanyane this past week,” he said.
Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) leader, Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, said instead of introducing a state of emergency in Lesotho such an emergency “should be declared in South Africa because the perpetrators do not live in Lesotho”.
“How will it help us? You know that the people who commit the killings only come here to kill and go back to South Africa,” Rakuoane said.
Speaker Tlohang Sekhamane postponed the debate after the opposition insisted that Police Minister Lebona Lephema should come to parliament to explain the gazette banning famo organisations.
“We do not know what to tell the people in constituencies,” Tšitso Cheba, who is the Democratic Congress (DC) secretary general, said.
Staff Reporter
