{"id":26769,"date":"2023-03-25T11:33:57","date_gmt":"2023-03-25T11:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims"},"modified":"2023-03-25T11:52:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-25T11:52:25","slug":"lephema-spooks-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims","title":{"rendered":"Lephema spooks Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>A Mafeteng-based Imam says Home Affairs Minister Lebona Lephema\u2019s remarks about a mosque in Maseru West have shaken the Muslim community. Lephema said the mosque in Maseru West was a national security risk because one can see the State House from its roof.<\/p>\n

The minister appeared to question how the mosque was approved at such a height in the vicinity of the State House which is a security zone. Jafar Pule, an Imam, told thepost that the Muslim community in Lesotho was so shocked at Lephema\u2019s comments that they needed divine guidance to remain calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not even eat,\u201d the imam said, adding: \u201cWe were all shaken from our different areas.<\/p>\n

\u201d He said although the Muslim community is yet to issue a statement to respond to the minister, Muslims across the country are fasting about it.<\/p>\n

Fasting is said to be a unique moral and spiritual characteristic of Islam during which worshippers abstain completely from food, drink, sex and smoking from the break of dawn till sunset.<\/p>\n

Muslims fast to practise self-restraint, piety, and generosity. Lephema made the remarks about the security threats posed by the mosque in Maseru West last week during a meeting with principal chiefs.<\/p>\n

He criticised the past governments for issuing the mosque\u2019s building permit. \u201cI am currently fighting a man who I don\u2019t even know where he comes from, he is building a tall building next to the State House,\u201d Lephema said, referring to the mosque.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose people work towards making their children Muslim slaves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said the Muslim community must be stopped from loitering everywhere as Lesotho is a Christian country. \u201cWe are not denying them the right to worship.<\/p>\n

He talked about the rife human trafficking in Lesotho due to the high unemployment rate, saying that the Muslim religion often takes the youth to fight in their hostile countries as terrorists.<\/p>\n

Lephema\u2019s remarks have attracted condemnation from the opposition. The Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe, condemned Lephema for saying Muslims must be stopped since Lesotho is a Christian country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wrong that a minister can talk like that about other religions,\u201d Mofomobe said. He said Lesotho has religious freedom stipulated in the constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo law says Christians will get rights more than Muslims, we are all equal on matters of religion,\u201d he said. Mofomobe said the minister must apologise to the Muslims because what he said is dangerous.<\/p>\n

He said Lephema should remember that Metolong Dam was built with funds from the Arabs, whose religion is primarily Islam. He also reminded Lephema that Turkey, a Muslim country, has expressed a desire to open its embassy in Lesotho, unlike other countries whose embassies are based in Pretoria.<\/p>\n

He said Lephema is inviting unwanted trouble to Lesotho as it happened in Kenya where Al Shabaab Islamists are wreaking havoc after the government started attacking them at a time \u201cwhen Al Shabab had nothing to do with them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terrorists then turned on Kenya and wreaked havoc, they killed many people in Kenya,\u201d Mofomobe said.<\/p>\n

He also reminded Lephema that his own Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) has Muslims in it, some of whom are MPs. The NSS boss, Pheello Ralenkoane, promised to talk to thepost today.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. A Mafeteng-based Imam says Home Affairs Minister Lebona Lephema\u2019s remarks about a mosque in Maseru West have shaken the Muslim community. Lephema said the mosque in Maseru West was a national security risk because one can see the State House from its roof. The minister appeared to question how the mosque was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,245,584],"class_list":["post-26769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-maseru"],"yoast_head":"\nLephema spooks Muslims - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Mafeteng-based Imam says Home Affairs Minister Lebona Lephema\u2019s remarks about a mosque in Maseru West have shaken the ...\" \/>\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\/lephema-spooks-muslims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lephema spooks Muslims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Mafeteng-based Imam says Home Affairs Minister Lebona Lephema\u2019s remarks about a mosque in Maseru West have shaken the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims\" \/>\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=\"2023-03-25T11:33:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-25T11:52:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679728015.98.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"312\" \/>\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\/lephema-spooks-muslims#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lephema spooks Muslims\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-25T11:33:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-25T11:52:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims\"},\"wordCount\":557,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679728015.98.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Maseru\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lephema-spooks-muslims\",\"name\":\"Lephema spooks Muslims - 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