Thomas Thabane

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Tom Thabane (2014)

Motsoahae Thomas "Tom" Thabane (born May 28, 1939 in Makhoakhoeng (now part of Maseru ), Basutoland ) is a politician from Lesotho . He held numerous offices; In 1990 Thabane was first appointed minister. On June 8, 2012, he was elected Prime Minister of Lesotho for the All Basotho Convention (ABC) . With the election of Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili on March 17, 2015, he had to give up his office again. In 2017 he won the elections again and was sworn in again as Prime Minister on June 16.

In 2017, Thabane's separated wife was murdered ; Thabane married his girlfriend shortly afterwards. In January 2020, he announced that he would resign after an arrest warrant was issued against his wife on suspicion of murder of Thabane's ex-wife. In February 2020, the police announced that Thabane was being charged with murder himself. He resigned as Prime Minister on May 19, 2020; however, he wants to continue to run the ABC.

Life

Training and first offices

After attending school, Thabane was trained as a primary school teacher at the Morija Teacher Training College in Morija . He then completed a degree in political science and English at Pius XII College in Roma , from which he graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts , which was then awarded by the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Thabane then initially worked from 1966 to 1970 as a senior assistant and deputy to the administrative director (clerk) of the Senate . He was then assistant to the administrative secretaries of the Ministry of Health and Education between 1970 and 1972 and subsequently as Principal Secretary de facto Deputy Minister of Justice from 1972 to 1976. After working as Senior Secretary in the Ministry of Health from 1978 to 1983 and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1983 until 1985 he was from 1985 to 1986 senior secretary in the Ministry of the Interior.

Positions after the 1986 military coup

After the military coup of January 20, 1986 against Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan , he was appointed secretary of the ruling military council and political advisor to the military by the chairman of the military council, General Justin Metsing Lekhanya . He then worked as Government Secretary from 1988 to 1990 and continued to work closely with Lekhanyas. In 1990 he was finally appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs , Information and Broadcasting by Lekhanya . After Lekhanya was overthrown in a military coup by Elias Phisoana Ramaema , Thabane went into exile in South Africa in April 1991 and worked there as a broker.

After the restoration of democracy , he returned to Lesotho in April 1993. In between, from March to June 1994, he worked for the Independent Electoral Commission of the Free State Province in South Africa. From 1995 to 1998 he was Special Political Advisor to Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle .

In the 1998 elections he was elected a member of the National Assembly, where he represented the constituency of Abia as a member of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party . Shortly after the election, Prime Minister Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili appointed him Foreign Minister and Minister for International Relations in June 1998. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he became Minister of the Interior and Minister of Public Security in 2002 and then Minister of Communications, Science and Technology in 2004.

Foundation of the ABC and first election as Prime Minister

In October 2006 he resigned and left the ruling LCD with 17 other MPs. Subsequently he was one of the co-founders of the All Basotho Convention (ABC), of which he became chairman in 2007. In 2007 he was able to defend his mandate in the National Assembly; the ABC received 17 of the 120 seats. In the elections on May 26, 2012 , he was re-elected to head the ABC. The ABC increased to 30 mandates. Thabane formed a coalition with LCD and the Basotho National Party (BNP) and was named Prime Minister on June 8, 2012. From then on he was also Minister of Defense, Police and National Security.

In June 2014, Thabane suspended the National Assembly to forestall a vote of no confidence by his coalition partner LCD under Mothetjoa Metsing . At the end of August he deposed the commander of the Lesotho Defense Force (LDF), Tlali Kamoli ; but this did not leave his office. On August 30, 2014, members of the military occupied the headquarters of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service , a radio station and surrounded several government buildings. Thabane spoke of a coup and apparently fled to neighboring South Africa with the help of South African soldiers . Metsing took over government affairs. On September 3, Thabane returned to Maseru. Following mediation by South African Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa , the election date was brought forward to February 2015.

Voted out in 2015 and re-elected Prime Minister

In the 2015 elections , the ABC under Thabane improved to 46 seats, but the weakened LCD formed a coalition with the Democratic Congress (DC) and several small parties, so that Thabane lost his office and was replaced by his predecessor Mosisili.

After the murder of an ABC financier and the reappointment of Kamoli as commander of the LDF, Thabane fled again to South Africa on May 11, 2015. He applied for political asylum there. Thabane and the vice chairman of the DC Monyane Moleleki announced on November 24, 2016 after negotiations the formation of a “unity government” with Moleleki as prime minister and Thabane as deputy including the three previous opposition parties. On February 12, 2017, Thabane returned from exile along with the two other opposition leaders, but the government remained in office until early elections.

In the 2017 election , Thabane's ABC received 51 out of 120 seats. Thabane formed a coalition with Moleleki's Alliance of Democrats , BNP and Reformed Congress of Lesotho , which elected him Prime Minister on June 16, 2017. In April 2019, he closed parliament as a vote of no confidence from parts of the ABC as well as the DC and the BNP was imminent.

Murder Trial, Announcements, and Resignation

On January 16, 2020, after the arrest warrant against his wife became known (see below), Thabane stated that he wanted to resign, but did not give a date. On February 19, his own party ultimately called on him to resign. While the police said the following day that he and his wife were accused of murder, he said that he would resign by the end of July at the latest. On February 21, he was summoned to prosecute but traveled to South Africa "for medical treatment".

On April 3, 2020, Thabane also took over the office of Minister of Defense. On April 20, a South African delegation headed by ex-minister Jeff Radebe and the Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki signed a letter of intent , according to which Thabane would be able to resign "immediately" and "dignified".

On May 8, 2020, a motion of no confidence against Thabane, which was supported by 33 ABC and 26 DC MPs and thus by 59 of the 120 MPs, failed. On May 11th, the Speaker of the National Assembly decided that Thabane had to resign by May 22nd, since according to official statements by numerous MPs and parties, he had fewer than half of the MPs behind him. Thabane, however, signed the letter from the new coalition and then stated that he himself was its leader - he described the appointment of ABC politician Moeketsi Majoro as the new coalition's top candidate as null and void. The Attorney General , Hae Phoofolo , argued that Thabane could not be forced to resign. On May 18, the Council of State met to discuss how to proceed. Thabane then again announced his resignation; on May 19th he carried it out.

accusations

Possible influence of external forces and corruption

In 2014, Thabane provided two members of the South African Gupta family with diplomatic passports in order to win them over as economic advisers. In December 2017, however, it became known that the two men had exerted influence over the Lesotho government through their mailbox company Tequesta Group in order to acquire possession of a diamond mine . According to several sources that became known in 2017, they co-financed Thabane's election campaign in 2015 and possibly also in 2017. Thabane's son Potlako was offered a job at Tequesta . In February 2018, the Lesotho Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offenses began an investigation into Thabane and his son.

Since 2017 he has been appointed Head of special projects and the Prime Minister's special envoy and trade advisor on the China-Asia trade network due to the appointment of the Chinese entrepreneur Yan Xie (for example: “Chairman for special projects and special envoy of the Prime Minister and trade advisor for the Sino-Asian trade network ”). According to opposition sources, Xie helped fund Thabane's wedding in 2017, shortly after his appointment. 15,000 people were guests at the Setsoto Stadium . According to his own account, Xie donated 20,000 to 30,000 Maloti , according to information from the ABC he paid for almost the entire celebration.

Criticism from your own party

In the spring of the southern hemisphere in 2018, Thabane was criticized within the party for his wife's alleged interference in politics and his age-related diminishing ability to act. After a new election of the party executive in February 2019, which Thabane did not accept, he was suspended by his own party for six years by majority decision in July 2019. Thabane also rejected this decision. Since June 2019 , the wing led by Nqosa Mahao and opposition parties in the National Assembly have submitted a motion for a vote of no confidence in Thabane; however, he has not yet been allowed to vote (as of May 7, 2020). In March 2020 the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment according to which the Prime Minister loses the right to call new elections without a majority after being voted out by a vote of no confidence. On March 20, Thabane again - with reference to the COVID-19 pandemic - had parliament closed for three months. The constitutional court ruled on April 17th that the closure was "irrational" and therefore illegal. On April 28, the Senate approved the constitutional amendment on no-confidence votes; on May 7, 2020 it was published in the Gazette .

Obstructing police work in the Lipolelo Thabane murder

Police chief Holomo Molibeli, who was temporarily suspended in 2019, accused Thabane of being involved in the murder of his ex-wife in 2017 (see below). His wife, Liabiloe Maesaiah Thabane, the first lady , is accused of murder; she was supposed to be questioned, but fled the investigative authorities to South Africa on January 10, 2020. An arrest warrant was then issued. She returned to Lesotho on February 3 and turned herself in to the police. On March 18, 2020, the High Court rejected Molibeli's suspension as illegitimate. On April 18, 2020, Thabane had military drives through the streets of Maserus and reportedly arrested senior police officers, including Molibeli.

family

Thabane's first wife was named 'Matoka Judith Thabane, born as' Mamotapanyane Yayi Fobo. He divorced her. From 1987 to 2017 he was married to Lipolelo Alice Thabane. From 2012 he lived separately from her; In 2015, however, she was confirmed by the court as first lady . Thabane has lived with Liabiloe Maesaiah Thabane since 2012, who was already considered his wife back then and whom he officially married after taking office in 2017. Lipolelo Thabane was shot dead by unknown perpetrators on June 14, 2017, two days before Thabane was sworn in again as Prime Minister. On the day he was sworn in in 2017, 'Matoka Judith Thabane also died.

Thabane has three daughters and two sons, four of whom are children from their first marriage. With Lipolelo Thabane, Thomas Thabane had a daughter, who is married as Nkoya Mmabatsoeneng Hlaele to his inner-party adversary Lebohang Hlaele.

literature

  • Art. Thabane, Motsoahae Thomas . In: Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2004, ISBN 0-8108-4871-6 , pp. 387-389 (new edition of the work of the same name founded by Gordon Haliburton).

Web links

Commons : Tom Thabane  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Motsoahae Thomas Thabane. gov.ls, accessed April 23, 2020
  2. ↑ Reuters : New Lesotho PM sworn in to head coalition government. af.reuters.com of June 8, 2012 (English), accessed on March 18, 2020
  3. ^ Thomas Thabane sworn in as Lesotho's Prime Minister. jacarandafm.com from June 17, 2017 (English), accessed June 17, 2017
  4. ↑ Lesotho: Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has to answer for the murder of his wife. Der Spiegel from February 20, 2020, accessed on February 20, 2020
  5. ^ A b Government of Lesotho: Dr Motsoahae Thomas Thabane. (English), accessed on May 18, 2019
  6. ↑ a b Art. Thabane, Motsoahae Thomas . In: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2004, pp. 387-389, here p. 388.
  7. ↑ Gunfire heard: Lesotho diplomats report apparent coup attempt. uk.news.yahoo.com dated August 30, 2014 (English), accessed August 30, 2014
  8. ^ Army coup in Lesotho against elected government. zeit-online.de on August 30, 2014, accessed on August 30, 2014
  9. ↑ Beset Lesotho leader flees. iol.co.za, May 28, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015
  10. ^ Opposition leaders seek SA asylum. lestimes.com of July 3, 2015 (English), accessed July 3, 2015
  11. ^ Lesotho parties seal deal for government of national unity, want Mosisili out. news24.com from November 25, 2016 (English), accessed November 25, 2016
  12. ↑ Lesotho teeters as former PM returns. timeslive.co.za on February 14, 2017, accessed February 14, 2017
  13. ^ Thomas Thabane sworn in as Lesotho's Prime Minister. jacarandafm.com from June 17, 2017 (English), accessed June 17, 2017
  14. ↑ Parliament suspended as Thabane, Lesotho are mired in instability. africatimes.com of April 11, 2019 (English), accessed April 20, 2019
  15. ↑ Reuters : Lesotho PM Thabane says he intends to resign - SABC. uk.reuters.com of January 16, 2020, accessed on January 16, 2020
  16. ↑ Lesotho ruling party gives PM resignation deadline. theeastafrican.co.ke of February 19, 2020 (English), accessed on February 19, 2020
  17. ↑ Lesotho PM to be charged with murdering ex-wife. africanews.com, February 20, 2020, accessed February 20, 2020
  18. ↑ Lesotho: Prime Minister Thabane leaves the country after murder allegations. deutschlandfunk.de of February 21, 2020, accessed on February 21, 2020
  19. ^ Ministry of Defense and National Security. gov.ls, accessed on April 19, 2020
  20. ↑ Nthakoana Ngatane: Radebe: Lesotho Parly expected to conclude process for Thabane to retire. ewn.co.za of April 20, 2020 (English), accessed April 20, 2020
  21. ↑ Lesotho's Thabane narrowly survives bid to unseat him. ewn.co.za, May 8, 2020, accessed May 9, 2020
  22. ^ Lesotho: Coalition government of PM Thomas Thabane collapses. aljazeera.com of May 11, 2020 (English), accessed on May 11, 2020
  23. ↑ Peter Fabricius: Lesotho's Thabane digs in his heels again. Daily Maverick, May 14, 2020, accessed May 14, 2020
  24. ↑ Lesotho's council of state meets in possibly Thabane's final meeting as PM. ewn.co.za on May 18, 2020, accessed on May 18, 2020
  25. ↑ Thomas Thabane resigns as Lesotho prime minister. bbc.com of May 18, 2020 (English), accessed on May 18, 2020
  26. ↑ Lynsey Chutel, Elian Peitier: Lesotho's leader, long Suspected in wife's murder, resigns. nytimes.com of May 19, 2020, accessed May 19, 2020
  27. ↑ amaBhungane & Scorpio: #Guptaleaks: how family hijacked (and then lost) a lesotho diamond mine. Daily Maverick, December 1, 2017, accessed December 2, 2017
  28. ^ Lesotho election a two horse race. news24.com from June 4, 2017 (English), accessed on August 19, 2017
  29. ↑ Lesotho PM faces probe over Gupta links. amabhungane.co.za, February 23, 2018, accessed March 2, 2018
  30. ↑ Letsekho Ntsukunyane: Chinese business tycoon reveals how he helped fund politicians in Lesotho but denies claims of state capture. Daily Maverick, November 1, 2018, accessed November 2, 2018
  31. ^ Fractures weaken Lesotho's ruling party. Mail & Guardian dated September 5, 2018
  32. ^ The Citizen / AFP : Lesotho prime minister Thabane suspended from own party amid bitter political row. citizen.co.za on July 6, 2019, accessed July 8, 2019
  33. ↑ Ntsebeng Motsoeli: LCD to go it alone at the polls. lestimes.com dated December 18, 2019, accessed January 6, 2020
  34. ↑ Will Thabane be out of office before July? ewn.co.za on March 14, 2020, accessed on March 16, 2020
  35. ^ Prime minister Thabane suspends parliament. maserumetro.com of March 21, 2020 (English), accessed on April 3, 2020
  36. ↑ Kodwa, Radebe and Mashego-Dlamini to visit Lesotho after army deployment. ewn.co.za on April 18, 2020, accessed April 19, 2020
  37. ↑ Lesotho senators limit PM's powers to dissolve parliament. africanews.com, April 29, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020
  38. ↑ Lesotho PM Thabane says he's a step closer to retirement. ewn.co.za on May 7, 2020, accessed on May 7, 2020
  39. ↑ Nthakoana Ngatane: Lesotho: Top cop Molibeli says PM Thabane implicated in his wife's killing. ewn.co.za on January 6, 2020 (English), accessed on January 6, 2020
  40. ^ Lesotho court issues arrest warrant for Thomas Thabane's wife. timeslive.co.za, January 14, 2020, accessed January 14, 2020
  41. ↑ Lesotho's first lady reportedly 'on the run' after being accused of murder. citizen.co.za of January 11, 2020, accessed on January 11, 2020
  42. ^ Warrant of arrest issued for Lesotho's first lady Maesaiah Thabane. iol.co.za on January 13, 2020, accessed on January 13, 2020
  43. ↑ Nthakoana Ngatane: Wanted Lesotho First Lady Maesiah Thabane turns herself over to police. ewn.co.za on February 4, 2020, accessed on February 4, 2020
  44. ^ Lesotho: big blow for Thabane. menafm.com of March 18, 2020 (English), accessed on March 18, 2020
  45. ↑ Lesotho's premier relies on help from the military. dw.com from April 18, 2020
  46. ^ Agence France-Presse : Lesotho PM under police investigation deploys army to restore order. theguardian.com of April 18, 2020, accessed April 18, 2020
  47. ↑ PM's ex-wife lived a long full life. sundayexpress.co.ls of September 5, 2017 (English; archive version from 2020)
  48. ↑ Pumza Fihlani: The characters at the heart of Lesotho's murder drama. bbc.com of February 5, 2020 (English), accessed on March 6, 2020
  49. ^ South Africa mediates crisis in Lesotho as PM quits. africanews.com, January 16, 2020, accessed January 17, 2020
  50. ↑ Wife of new Lesotho PM Tom Thabane is shot dead. dw.com (English), accessed June 17, 2017
  51. ↑ Lesotho PM Thabane 'devastated' by shooting of his wife. News24, June 15, 2017.
  52. ↑ Norma Young: A murder scandal, Lesotho's prime minister, his wife and an African lesson on the rule of law. qz.com from March 5, 2020, accessed on March 6, 2020


personal data
SURNAME Thabane, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thabane, Tom; Thabane, Motsoahae Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lesothic politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Makhoakhoeng , Maseru , Basutoland