Africa-Press – Lesotho. The current Commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Lieutenant General (Lt. Gen.) Mojalefa Letsoela has on Thursday told the High Court that an operation order issued in 2015 for the arrest of mutiny suspects is invalid.
In his evidence as one of the state witnesses in a case in which nine members of the army are charged with the murder of Maaparankoe Mahao, he stated that the document dated May 13 2015 has some shortfalls.
Lt. Gen Letsoela emphasised that it does not comply with the LDF Military Service Writing Conventions.
He stated that phraseology and terminology used make it impossible for him to know who is the author of the document. He added that there seems to be a duplication of level of authority.
The witness indicated that his observation as per the operation order, is that the operators were given limits to use minimum forces whenever necessary. He added that use of firearms was only restricted as a last resort. He further added that there were measures of safety for all operators for their own safety and minimisation of risk.He also indicated that there were cautions of life casualties with the ultimate aim to arrest.
He however told the court that he fails to understand what happened at the scene. He said he does not understand who called for firing of three shorts under the conditions of a controlled operation.
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