Africa-Press – Lesotho. DEMOCRATIC Congress (DC) MP Mokherane Tsatsanyane has pleaded with parliament to intervene in his legal battles after the Maseru Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant of arrest against him.
The magistrate issued the warrant after Tsatsanyane failed to attend a remand last Wednesday. He says he was unaware that he was wanted in court to face a 2001 assault charge for allegedly beating his driver.
Tsatsanyane said he beat his driver for assaulting an 82-year-old man in a road rage. The driver later reported to the police. He told the House that the only two cases that he knew of were those that he attended, one at the Magistrate’s Court and another at the High Court, on the same day.
The case at the Magistrate’s Court was the one in which he was charged with illegal possession of a firearm. The police found the gun in Dr Mahali Phamotse’s car.
Phamotse and Tsatsanyane were Alliance of Democrats (AD) members at that time. He told the House that earlier last week they were told to report at the Magistrate’s Court over the gun case.
He said he had the gun because he wanted to protect Phamoste after she was threatened by some MPs. “I decided to protect her at all costs, no one could touch her,” he told parliament.
He said one day Dr Phamotse’s car had problems while on the way to the parliament and “I had to jump mine, drove her car and I left my licensed gun in her car when I entered parliament”.
Dr Phamotse was later arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm at the parliament premises. “We were dragged to courts and we have been attending several remands,” he said.
He said last Wednesday he went to the Magistrate’s Court for a remand but both the magistrate and the prosecutor were not available. The court officials, he said, told him that he would have to appear before the magistrate on November 27.
After that, he said, his lawyer told him that there was another case in the High Court he had to attend immediately. This is the case involving the late estate of his father, Chaltin Tsatsanyane, which is a subject of dispute between him and his brother Moorosi Tsatsanyane and several others.
When he was at the High Court he received a call saying a warrant of arrest had been issued against him. He said it was only then that he discovered that it was for a 2001 assault case.
“I was surprised by that,” he said, adding that he was unaware that he had to appear in court. He said he only knew of the one where he was charged with Dr Phamotse and the one he had attended at the High Court.
Tsatsanyane said he believes the government is bringing the case as part of a witch-hunt to frustrate the opposition’s no-confidence motion. He said he had information that the government was out to look for court cases against the opposition MPs.
“We heard rumours that they are running up and down in court looking for anything to arrest us,” Tsatsanyane said.
He said he was in parliament to run away from the police who were looking for him. He said he took the information “for granted” but now realises that “we need to be protected against everything”.
Deputy Speaker Tšepang Tšita-Mosena said the point raised by Tsatsanyane was important. “We need an answer from the executive on what exactly happened with that warrant,” Tšita-Mosena said.
Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara told the House that the issue Tsatsanyane raised was valid. Majara said she did not have enough time to find out more about the warrant of arrest but promised to give a full report to parliament early next week.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
