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-rejects accusations that he misled gvt in DPP’s impeachment bid
Bongiwe Zihlangu/Mohloai Mpesi
ATTORNEY GENERAL Rapelang Motsieloa has rejected suggestions that he should not have allowed Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara to confess in an affidavit that she had indeed asked Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Hlalefang Motinyane, to drop treason charges against two prominent politicians.
According to Adv Motsieloa, there was nothing unethical about Ms Majara discussing the possibility of dropping treason charges against Movement for Economic Change (MEC) leader Selibe Mochoboroane and Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) leader Mothetjoa Metsing. As such, Ms Majara had been right to tell the truth in her affidavit.
The two politicians are currently in court over the August 30, 2014, failed coup against former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s government.
Mr Metsing was Mr Thabane’s deputy prime minister at the time, while Mr Mochoboroane was the Communications, Science and Technology minister and LCD secretary general. The two are accused by the DPP of having masterminded the coup attempt.
As part of Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s coalition government, Mr Mochoboroane has been serving as the Minister of Health since October 2022. Similarly, under the same coalition agreement, Mr Metsing’s LCD party, which holds three legislative seats, has one of its senior members, Ts’eliso Mokhosi, serving as Minister of Labour and Employment.
Adv Motsieloa spoke in response to last week’s breaking story in the Lesotho Times quoting audio recordings of a conversation between Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) Director-General, Knorx Molelle, and Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe. In the recordings, they suggested that Adv Motsieloa should be fired for “wrongly advising” DPM Majara.
Adv Motsieloa clarified to this publication this week that Adv Molelle and Mr Mofomobe were mistaken in thinking he deserved termination for the advice given to the DPM, as he was not involved in the counsel provided to Ms Majara.
In fact, Adv Motsieloa clarified that it was the DPM herself who insisted that the details of her conversation with Adv Motinyane be included in her responding affidavit.
Adv Motsieloa said Ms Majara wanted the truth told and that was the right thing to do. As an officer of court, there was no way he could advise anyone to lie before court.
In their conversation, Messrs Molelle and Mofomobe – are heard berating Prime Minister Sam Matekane, Deputy Prime Minister Majara, and Mr Motsieloa himself as “idiots.”
This after the admission in Ms Majara’s affidavit that she had indeed asked DPP Motinyane to drop charges against the two political leaders. Ms Majara had however also emphasised in her affidavit that her exhortations to the DPP to drop the charges were just a “request” and not an “instruction”. She understood that the DPP had the right to consider or reject the request and she would have had no qualms with her decision.
The DPP had contended in her own papers that her refusal to drop the charges against the two was the real reason she was being targeted for impeachment.
But in the audio clips, Mr Molelle was adamant that Adv Motsieloa, was wrong to have “allowed” Ms Majara to make such a confession in her affidavit. Mr Molelle was of the view that the confession was “idiotic” and had damaged the government’s case against the DPP.
Messrs Molelle and Mofomobe were also adamant that Mr Motsieloa should have been fired for that “misstep”. If they had been in a position to make such a decision, they would have dismissed the Attorney General long ago, they said.
But according to Adv Motsieloa, it was crucial that Ms Majara truthfully state the facts in her affidavit, rather than lie under oath, as Messrs Mofomobe and Molelle had expected her to do.
“You have asked for my comment on what is said about me in a recording by Messrs Mofomobe and Molelle. You would like me to comment on two issues raised by the two gentlemen namely, that I have ‘killed’ the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister by advising her to admit under oath that she talked to the Director of Public Prosecutions about the possibility of dropping charges against certain two members of parliament,” Adv Motsieloa said.
“This is how I respond. My response assumes, that the recordings are real and that it is the two above named gentlemen who are heard on those recordings. First of all, an affidavit is a statement made under oath where a deponent swears to tell the truth on the facts that he or she knows.
“To suggest that I advised the DPM to say what she said in her affidavit is fallacious and shows absolute lack of appreciation and absolute contempt for the facts. I didn’t have to advise the Hon DPM, and I did not. But assuming without admitting that I advised the Hon DPM, would these two gentlemen rather I should have advised the Hon DPM to lie under oath in order not to ‘kill’ her, as they say?”
Adv Motsieloa added: “I would never advise anyone to lie under oath. It’s even worse if it’s someone in the position of a Deputy Prime Minister.”
On their suggestion that he should be fired for “misleading” the Deputy Prime Minister, Adv Motsieloa sarcastically remarked that he was glad neither Mr Mofomobe nor Adv Molelle were Prime Minister Matekane, who had the authority to terminate his employment.
“On the utterances that I should have been sacked following my alleged advice, I am glad none of the two gentlemen is the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I have nothing else to say on this one,” he said.
The Lesotho Times attempted to obtain comment from Adv Molelle but his mobile phone repeatedly went unanswered.
In legal terms, Attorney General Motsieloa is correct that he cannot advise anyone to tell a lie in a court affidavit as that could amount to perjury.
The fact that Adv Molelle thinks it’s right for Ms Majara to have lied in an affidavit to push the agenda of impeaching the DPP can be correctly viewed as confirming that the DCEO boss himself pays lip service to the tenets of his profession. That could partly explain the controversies that led to his termination from his high flying job at the NPA in South Africa for alleged dishonesty. (see lead story)
Even if Ms Majara’s confession ends up strengthening the DPP’s case in the end, it vindicates her and the Attorney General as truth tellers and people of integrity as expected of their positions.
