{"id":10209,"date":"2022-02-17T10:02:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T10:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim"},"modified":"2022-02-17T10:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T10:35:52","slug":"top-post-for-maesaiah-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim","title":{"rendered":"Top post for \u2019Maesaiah victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>In a stunning turn of events, Thato Sibolla, the key witness and also victim in the Maesaiah Thabane\u2019s murder trial, has landed a top diplomatic post.<\/p>\n

Sibolla started her new job as consular at the Lesotho High Commission in Pretoria a few weeks ago. Selimo Thabane, former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane\u2019s son, has also been appointed to a mission in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Sibolla has been living in exile in South Africa, under Amnesty International protection, since she fled the country in 2019 when the police started to question \u2019Maesaiah in connection with the murder of Lipolelo Thabane.<\/p>\n

She was with Lipolelo, Thabane\u2019s wife, when they were attacked by gunmen in Ha Masana in June 2017. Lipolelo died from gunshot wounds while Sibolla was injured and spent several weeks in hospital.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Sibolla briefly returned to Lesotho after \u2019Maesaiah was arrested and charged with Lipolelo\u2019s murder and her attempted murder. She however fled again when the former First Lady was controversially granted bail.<\/p>\n

Sibolla told the media then that she didn\u2019t feel safe as long as \u2019Maesaiah was out on bail. Sibolla is regarded as a star witness in \u2018Maesaiah\u2019s trial. She could also be a key witness if Thabane is charged with Lipolelo\u2019s murder as the police have indicated.<\/p>\n

Last night, police sources told thepost that Thabane might join \u2019Maesaiah in the dock in the next few days because the Director of Public Prosecution has approved that he be charged with Lipolelo\u2019s murder and the attempted murder of Sibolla.<\/p>\n

Sibolla, who has a permanent position at the Ministry of Law and Justice, confirmed that she has been deployed in Pretoria but could not reveal her position because she doesn\u2019t have approval from the government.<\/p>\n

Her appointment has caused consternation in some quarters that believe that it could be linked to \u2019Maesaiah\u2019s trial and the impending charges against Thabane. Sibolla however said she doesn\u2019t believe there is a link between the two.<\/p>\n

Teboho Mapetla, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed the appointment of Sibolla and Selimo Thabane but said she could not give specific details. Asked if Sibolla\u2019s appointment would not interfere with the \u2019Maesaiah case, Mapetla said it was not her place to answer such questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot answer the question of whether Ms Thato Sibolla\u2019s appointment will interfere with her testifying as a witness in a court or any reason for her appointment,\u201d Mapetla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not the appointing authority, that is the preserve of the cabinet.<\/p>\n

We as the Foreign Affairs Ministry only get instructions from the office of the Government Secretary about who is appointed and where they are assigned to.<\/p>\n

\u201d The motive for Sibolla\u2019s appointment remains unclear. As a civil servant, she can be deployed to a foreign mission. But given her centrality in the upcoming murder case against \u2019Maesaiah and Thabane, Sibolla\u2019s appointment is curious by its timing.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic positions, by their nature and tradition, are political appointments driven by the ruling political parties. Several sources told thepost that as early as December last year the All Basotho Convention (ABC)\u2019s deployment committee had prepared a shortlist of candidates for the diplomatic missions.<\/p>\n

That list, the sources said, was approved by the party\u2019s working committee before it was submitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The sources however said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister\u2019s office rejected that list and came up with their own.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. In a stunning turn of events, Thato Sibolla, the key witness and also victim in the Maesaiah Thabane\u2019s murder trial, has landed a top diplomatic post. Sibolla started her new job as consular at the Lesotho High Commission in Pretoria a few weeks ago. Selimo Thabane, former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane\u2019s son, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,245,503],"class_list":["post-10209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-political"],"yoast_head":"\nTop post for \u2019Maesaiah victim - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a stunning turn of events, Thato Sibolla, the key witness and also victim in the Maesaiah Thabane\u2019s murder trial, has ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top post for \u2019Maesaiah victim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a stunning turn of events, Thato Sibolla, the key witness and also victim in the Maesaiah Thabane\u2019s murder trial, has ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-17T10:02:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-17T10:35:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/02\/img-620e24ea56253.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Top post for \u2019Maesaiah victim\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-17T10:02:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-17T10:35:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/02\/img-620e24ea56253.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"political\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/top-post-for-maesaiah-victim\",\"name\":\"Top post for \u2019Maesaiah victim - 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