{"id":30899,"date":"2023-07-02T11:19:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T11:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone"},"modified":"2023-07-02T11:34:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T11:34:06","slug":"why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone","title":{"rendered":"Why NSS wants Machesetsa\u2019s phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THE National Security Service (NSS) says it wants to confiscate Machesetsa Mofomobe\u2019s phones because they contain information about his involvement in the murder of journalist Ralikonelo Joki.<\/p>\n

The NSS also claims Mofomobe\u2019s phones could reveal how he compromised national security by receiving highly classified information from a junior NSS intelligence officer suspected to be his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

These details are part of an explosive affidavit filed by the NSS Director General, Pheello Ralenkoane, in response to Mofomobe\u2019s urgent lawsuit to stop the NSS from seizing his phones.<\/p>\n

The NSS tried to confiscate Mofomobe\u2019s phones two weeks ago but he refused to hand them over.<\/p>\n

They were armed with a warrant signed by the Minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, Limpho Tau, on behalf of Prime Minister Sam Matekane who is also the defence and state security minister.<\/p>\n

The warrant was issued two days after Joki was shot dead by unknown gunmen as he left his night programme at Tsenolo FM.<\/p>\n

Mofomobe immediately filed an urgent application for a High Court order to block the seizure of his phones.<\/p>\n

He claimed the warrant was not only unconstitutional but also personal and politically motivated because of his persistent criticism of Matekane\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

The warrant, Mofomobe argued, was a malicious attempt to intimidate him for exposing corruption, looting and abuse of power in the government.<\/p>\n

He also alleged that the warrant could also be the government\u2019s way of getting back to him for fighting against its decision to fast-track the law that limits floor-crossing in parliament.<\/p>\n

The High Court granted him a temporary order interdicting the NSS from taking his phones until the case is finalised.<\/p>\n

But Ralenkoane, in his answering affidavit, vehemently disputes Mofomobe\u2019s allegations, insisting that the NSS wants the phones to retrieve information about Mofomobe\u2019s involvement in Joki\u2019s murder and find out the nature of the classified information he received from the intelligence officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy and large, 1st applicant (Mofomobe) is suspected reasonably so to be involved in the death of one media icon, Ralikonelo Joki,\u201d Ralenkoane says.<\/p>\n

The intelligence officer alleged to have passed classified information to Mofomobe is Ithabeleng Pitso.<\/p>\n

The NSS boss alleges that the Basotho National Party (BNP) leader persuaded Pitso to neglect her duties or \u201cto divulge critical and classified information to him.<\/p>\n

Ralenkoane\u2019s affidavit also reveals that Pitso is facing disciplinary charges as she is regarded as a \u201csecurity risk and continues to divulge classified information using her cellphone or WhatsApp\u201d to Mofomobe.<\/p>\n

He says the NSS suspects that apart from Pitso, other intelligence officers could have been giving Mofomobe classified information and endangering national state security.<\/p>\n

He also alleges that Mofomobe, Pitso and other intelligence officers were involved in money laundering by running an unregistered money lending operation.<\/p>\n

Mofomobe has filed a replying affidavit denying these allegations and making counter-allegations against Ralenkoane (See stories on pages 10 & 11 for Mofomobe\u2019s response).<\/p>\n

He however told thepost that Ralenkoane is making scurrilous allegations to avoid dealing with \u201chis illegal action of impounding my phones\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was going to deal with substantial issues of the law but he is obviously resorting to personal attacks and false allegations,\u201d Mofomobe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn his (Ralenkoane) unfounded allegations about the murder (of Joki), I don\u2019t have to remind him that the NSS has no legal authority to investigate crime.<\/p>\n

That is the responsibility of the police.<\/p>\n

\u201d He said he has since written to Commissioner of Police Holomo Molibeli asking him to confirm if he is a suspect in Joki\u2019s murder as the NSS alleged.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I am under investigation I want to know when I will be charged because this allegation from the NSS is a fabrication meant to divert attention from the real issues I have raised in my application,\u201d Mofomobe said in the interview with thepost.<\/p>\n

Ralenkoane\u2019s court papers include pictures and transcriptions of the WhatsApp messages between Mofomobe and Pitso.<\/p>\n

A good number of the messages don\u2019t seem to have revealed information that could qualify as classified.<\/p>\n

Many are about information and events already in the public domain.<\/p>\n

In one message Pitso is telling Mofomobe about the Senate\u2019s debate about the reforms\u2019 Omnibus Bill.<\/p>\n

In another, she talks about the squabbles in the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party.<\/p>\n

She also talks about a scheduled meeting with an unnamed Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) official.<\/p>\n

In another message, Pitso is asking Mofomobe about fights in the BNP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have heard allegations that you are being insulted in the BNP groups and it is alleged that you are also insulting them back and further that you are now friends with Mokhuthu so BNP members want you to step down.<\/p>\n

What is going on? We have been given that as brief at NSS to find out what is happening.<\/p>\n

\u201d She also asks Mofomobe to intervene so that she is not transferred from Maseru.<\/p>\n

Mofomobe\u2019s answers are generally brief: \u2018Sharp\u2019, \u2018Okay\u2019, \u2018Sure\u2019, \u2018Not yet\u2019 and \u2018Fair enough\u2019.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE National Security Service (NSS) says it wants to confiscate Machesetsa Mofomobe\u2019s phones because they contain information about his involvement in the murder of journalist Ralikonelo Joki. The NSS also claims Mofomobe\u2019s phones could reveal how he compromised national security by receiving highly classified information from a junior NSS intelligence officer suspected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,245,507],"class_list":["post-30899","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-national"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy NSS wants Machesetsa\u2019s phone - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE National Security Service (NSS) says it wants to confiscate Machesetsa Mofomobe\u2019s phones because they contain inform ...\" \/>\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\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why NSS wants Machesetsa\u2019s phone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE National Security Service (NSS) says it wants to confiscate Machesetsa Mofomobe\u2019s phones because they contain inform ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\" \/>\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=\"2023-07-02T11:19:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-02T11:34:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1688281338.498265.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Why NSS wants Machesetsa\u2019s phone\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-02T11:19:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-02T11:34:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\"},\"wordCount\":851,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1688281338.498265.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"national\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/why-nss-wants-machesetsas-phone\",\"name\":\"Why NSS wants Machesetsa\u2019s phone - 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