MASERU (Reuters) – Hours before she was shot dead on the outskirts of the capital, Lesotho’s former first lady, Lipolelo Thabane, made a surprising decision.
According to both a close friend and a well-connected businessman, she agreed to divorce her husband, Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, after years of refusing to make way for her rival.
With the blessing of that rival – Thabane’s current wife and first lady – the entrepreneur, Teboho Mojapela, met with Lipolelo on the day of her death to mediate.
“She said: ‘…I am ready to free him’,” Mojapela told Reuters. “‘I just want to be looked after.’”
The exchange was confirmed by her friend and confidante Thato Sibolla, who was present at the meeting.
Lipolelo’s change of heart, which has not previously been reported, adds a new twist to a scandal that has attracted rare international attention to Lesotho, the tiny kingdom of 2 million people tucked inside South Africa.
Gunmen ambushed Lipolelo, 58, in her car as she made her way home on the outskirts of the capital Maseru on June 14, 2017. Sibolla was with her in the vehicle.
Two days after the killing, Thabane, now 80, was sworn in for a second term. Two months later he married Lipolelo’s successor and one-time rival Maesaiah Liabiloe Ramoholi, now Maesaiah Thabane.
Police charged Maesaiah with Lipolelo’s murder in February and named Thabane as a suspect, although he has yet to be formally charged in court. They both deny any involvement.
In Thabane’s case, the high court must first decide whether he can be prosecuted while in office. The case has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although Lesotho remains one of a small number of nations yet to register a case.
Thabane’s own government is trying to force him from office before the end of July, when he said he was willing to st