MUCKRAKER met retired Commissioner Holomo Molibeli only once when he was police boss. He was at a government event, wearing all those rank things on his shoulders and chest. Typical of his kind, the man was trying to look important. You know the kind that desperately wants to matter and carry themselves like they matter.
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You could see this was a man who had proudly resisted the temptation to be ashamed of the notorious reality that he was the boss of a hopelessly inept police force.
A police not only passionately failing to combat crime but also overflowing with criminals. Muckraker was unfazed by that opulent display of arrogance in the face of irrefutable evidence of self-confirmed incompetence. He was neither the first nor the last commissioner to proudly march on in mediocrity, head held high, while hoping to be still worthy of some respect.
Yet even as his stature has spectacularly crumbled before Basotho’s eyes, Muckraker hoped there was some lowest of the very low point at which Molibeli would stamp his foot and say: ”No! This is the lowest I go.” He would then have to bite, scratch and scream to avoid further descent.
You can therefore imagine Muckraker’s horror at discovering that Molibeli had allowed himself to be used as a police dog by Thabiso Moroahae, the embattled owner of the allegedly thieving scheme called Tholo Energy.
Not the sophisticated K-9 that detects drugs and other contraband. No! That one used to catch fleeing suspects and bite people at demonstrations.
Read the affidavit by Tumisang Thahanyane, Thabiso’s former partner in hanky-panky and thievery, to know that Muckraker is neither lying nor insulting.
Thahanyane says when they started fighting, Thabiso unleashed Molibeli to bite him in his small behind. He says the charges of stealing M40 million were cooked by Thabiso who then instigated Molibeli to do the biting by opening the fraud charges.
We are told that Thabiso would use Molibeli to bite business rivals.
Sometimes, according to Thahanyane, Thabiso would borrow Molibeli’s sharp teeth to bite those who irritated or challenged him. All this confirms that Molibeli was Thabiso’s police dog for hire. Call him Bob, Brown, Smart or any other name you fancy, the fact remains he was in Thabiso’s kennel.
Muckraker had always wondered why Molibeli always looked tired.
Why he looked so overworked when it seemed he wasn’t doing much work? How he could not lead his officers in the fight against rampant crime?
As if he knew he wasn’t good at the job but hoped his shortcomings would remain undiscovered.
The answer, according to Thahanyane, is that Molibeli was busy moonlighting as Thabiso’s police dog. He was serving two masters: the government and Thabiso.
Of course, the government could pay him as much as Thabiso did.
Remember we are told that Thabiso was using stolen money to handsomely reward Molibeli for being his police dog.
Thahanyane claims to know this because he is the one used to deliver the Dogmor to Molibeli. And that is what made the relationship between Thabiso, the master, and Molibeli, the k-9, sweet.
Thabiso was paying Molibeli well. Molibeli was biting well for Thabiso.
So well that he is alleged to have got himself a car after getting M300 000 from the master.
At some point, Molibeli decided it was more profitable to be Thabiso’s police dog than being our police commissioner. Phew!
And let’s not pretend that Molibeli was Thabiso’s only police dog. There were others not as well rewarded as Molibeli but they were still his dogs anyway.
It’s about levels. Some ate Dogmor while others got leftover pap.
You are one of those slow ones if you take ‘police dog’ literally. It’s never too late for some night schooling.
