Africa-Press – Lesotho. PRIME Minister Sam Matekane says security agencies must fight “fire with fire” to contain the deadly wave of violence gripping the country. Speaking at a 22nd NGO Week Celebration on Monday, Matekane said “a gun can be stopped by another gun”.
He was responding to the recent killings that have happened in Lesotho in recent months. Matekane said “if you find one holding a gun you should have a gun to take it from him”.
“You know these people and you don’t know who will be killed tomorrow if you do not report them,” Matekane said.
“We do not need to live in fear,” he said. He added that Basotho should work hand-in-hand to weed out serial killers in their midst.
“Continue being the mouth and ears of the public,” he told the NGOs at the ’Manthabiseng Convention Centre.
“We have heard so many recommendations and we acknowledge them.
Matekane said this in the wake of the police’s Special Operations Unit (SOU)’s raid of a haven of gangsters in Leribe where two wanted suspected murderers were nabbed.
The two men are linked to murders of a man in Morija and another in Roma. One of the suspects is alleged to have tried to rape a woman. A 9mm pistol allegedly used to murder two Naledi Funeral Planners officials, Ikhetheleng Matabane and ’Maserema ’Makong, was also retrieved during the operation.
Speaking at the event, the Lesotho Council of NGOs president, Thusoana Ntlama, said “Lesotho appears to be third in SADC dangerous countries (and sixth) in the world”.
“The anger amongst Basotho is a threat to intended peace and reconciliation as contemplated in the reforms agenda,” Ntlama said.
Ntlama said the killings happening in the country are worrying, adding that Basotho had voted for Matekane to bring change. “The curfew will not stop the killings,” Ntlama said.
“As the NGOs we expect to see a clear strategy on stopping this,” she said.
The Institute of Security Studies (ISS) last week reported that “the rising crime rate is being taken as a sign that new Prime Minister Sam Matekane is failing to fulfil his mandate”.
Last year, Afrobarometer, a research group, found that the “share of citizens who say they don’t trust the police “at all” has climbed by 20 percentage points since 2017”.
The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.
The Afrobarometer found that Basotho are also concerned about the country’s homicide rate, which at 44 per 100 000 population is the sixth-highest in the world and highest in Africa. The global homicide rate is six homicides per 100 000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019 and the World Population Review, 2022).
“It seems that there is no improvement on this issue, as the police recently reported that there were 144 murders during the two-month period of May-June 2022, which would average to a homicide rate of 43 per 100 000,” it said, quoting a local weekly.
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