MATATIELE - The command of the Lesotho Defense Force (LDF) could have been economical with the truth regarding two junior soldiers who were arrested in Matatiele, Kwazulu-Natal province and charged for stock theft, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, illegal immigration and contravention of South African Covid-19 regulations (disaster management act that restricted movement into South Africa) and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
news
Oct. 4, 2020
STAFF REPORTER
7 min read
Army fibbed government on Matatiele soldiers
A joint operation of SANDF and SAPS rounding up stock thieves
Two Lesotho soldiers of lower rank Rorisang Moepi, 22, and Dumile Tsoeunyane, 26, are reported by the LDF to have been on patrol along the border of Lesotho and Eastern Cape when residents approached them to report livestock that had just been stolen. In pursuing the alleged thieves, the soldiers came face to face with SADF patrollers who acted in defense of the alleged thieves, overpowered them in exchange of fire and handed them over to the SAPS to effect arrest. They were arrested on July 19.
Army sources within the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in Matatiele told Metro it was not unusual for either Lesotho or South African security officers to find themselves on the other side of the border unannounced and they were never arrested as long as they identified themselves.
This statement corroborated what the LDF spokesperson Captain Kelebone Mothibi had said earlier when he expressed shock that the SANDF failed to assist them “because this was not the first time that soldiers from either side found themselves beyond the borders of their territory.”
The EWN had quoted Captain Mothibi as having said that “many a times SANDF soldiers cross the border into Lesotho and we don’t arrest them. Last month (referring to July) they crossed the border into Mokhotlong in pursuit of stolen livestock and we helped them to find the livestock that was taken from South Africa and they returned with it. We cooperate everyday so I don’t understand why our soldiers are not released.”
The soldiers were remanded in custody and appeared more than once in the Maluti district court in Matatiele where their bail applications were being argued.
Captain Mothibi said the soldiers were captured while on patrol trailing stolen livestock from Lesotho into the Matatiele. Their other team members managed to evade arrest, went back to the army barracks to report.
However, highly placed Metro sources within the SANDF and South African Police Service (SAPS) in Matatiele said they got it on good authority from their counterparts in Qacha’s Nek LDF barracks that the two soldiers, while on guard along the border areas, did not report their intended further mission to their immediate commanders at the barracks hence they were found in SA land badly dressed, without official army cards and no back up or references as to who should be contacted in case they come across any problem.
“Our soldiers cannot capture army officers from Lesotho who are on duty. Our relationship in this stock theft prone border areas of Lesotho and South Africa are very cordial. We sometimes hold joint drives to show of our presence or in pursued of stolen livestock.
“The patrol, if it was, was unlike any we have ever had, be it joint patrols or the ones we mount on our own from either side. Like neighbouring countries that work within the same areas, whenever Lesotho or South African soldiers or police cross the boundaries into another country, they would fully identify themselves and state their missions and we always get support from our colleagues on the other side of the boundary.
Lesotho junior soldiers facing charges of stock theft in Matatiele
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LDF Commander Lt General Mojalefa Letsoela
“The captured soldiers could not even tell who was in charge of the patrol and which leads they were following. The genuine Lesotho or SA security officers would never run away or start shooting when they come across their counterparts but would explain themselves and ask for support,” the source explained.
The source said indeed they were asked for help by the LDF command, but the Lesotho command failed to clarify so many unanswered pertinent questions. “We could not therefore convince the SAPS about who those people were and why they were in South Africa unannounced. The police therefore told us that they had enough evidence based on their further investigations that those soldiers, if they are, were on the mission to steal livestock and they were in the company of notorious stock thieves from Lesotho who have a network with stock thieves in Matatile.”
Trying to convince this newspaper why the LDF command failed to persuade their counterparts in the SANDF to intervene on their behalf, the army source explained how a formal operation would have been handled.
“The soldiers had no one who was in charge of the patrol or operation. They were not properly dressed and not fully armed for such a job; not even a radio. They did not have proper identifications which means they anticipated anything could happen and in case it happens, they should not be properly identified. They were not on supplementary position (part or extension of a bigger patrol) where they were found and there was no back up whatsoever. How could an army patrol be such a jumble?”
A police officer stationed in Matatiele, who was part of the arrest said they were informed by one of the senior officers of LDF that they needed those soldiers to come back so that they could be disciplined as per the army protocols because they exceeded their assignment by crossing the border, especially in the company of suspected stock thieves.
Said the police officer: “The Lesotho army could not convince their counterparts because they were shocked when they heard that some guys who claim to be the Lesotho soldiers have been arrested. I suspect they did not and would not have known their whereabouts had we not found and arrested them in the act. It tells you one thing – they were on a private mission to help criminals steal livestock using army weapons.”
Captain Mothibi said the LDF delegation dispatched to SANDF with the message that the arrest was a mere misunderstanding initially obtained a promise that the soldiers would be released and the SANDF promised to transport them to the Qacha’s Nek border to hand them over to the LDF. However, it did not happen.
Despite a promise to release the soldiers by August 7 with LDF sending an aircraft to pick them up, they were not released and the SANDF according to SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini no longer had the power since the police and the courts had taken over. The LDF, which could then not send legal representatives to SA due to conditions of Covid-19 sought assistance from the government of Lesotho.
While in the midst of pursuing the matter, Lesotho officials arrested four SA border officials in a move that was construed as retaliation by Lesotho and nearly tainted diplomatic relations between the two countries. The two SANDF soldiers and two immigration officers based at the Maseru Border bridge were arrested for crossing the border to fill up petrol at the filling station about 500 meters distance along the border – a usual practice by border officials from both sides who cross to either side even for buying breakfast or airtime without stamping passports.
The officials were charged with breaching public health (Covid-19) regulations 2020 in that they travelled into Lesotho without proper documentations, according to the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) spokesperson, Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli. He said the officials had committed a crime and if found guilty would be liable to fine not exceeding R5,000.
However, the SA officers were hurriedly released on bail within 4 days upon South African government’s demand for explanation and immediate unconditional release.
Until October 4, the two Lesotho soldiers were still incarcerated in South Africa with the prosecutor arguing that they should be denied bail on grounds that they were a flight risk and there was no assurance that they would return for hearing since they would be without the jurisdiction of SA judiciary and were not in possession of clear identification documents. The matter was set for another hearing on October 28.
This is despite Lesotho’s high-powered delegation led by deputy prime minister Mathibeli Mokhothu to South Africa early in August to appeal for diplomatic intervention, who came back with a promise that the SA authorities had promised to intervene and release the officers within a week.
An intended state reception for their arrival in the country attended by prime minister Moeketsi Majoro, cabinet ministers and top LDF command at Majametalana Army Airstrip turned out to be a mockery after they waited for hours without the arrival of the soldiers.
A visibly disappointed Dr Majoro could only express his disillusionment after waiting for hours without either arrival of the soldiers or a word from SA officials and said while he still had a hope, but he was pained by the continued detention and no word from SA government. He promised the nation that his government would continue to pursue the matter through diplomatic channels.
Until Metro went to the press, our request for further explanation from the LDF on the basis of surplus information from Matatiele about categorization of the operation as unauthorized, was not responded to. Neither had we any information that there was any senior officer held accountable at the Qacha’s Snek barracks over the soldiers’ arrest in a foreign land.
Our inside army sources in Matatiele expressed amazement at the fact that the patrol commander of the Qacha’s Nek barracks had not been asked how he managed to send most junior soldiers on official patrol without being fully armed and without any form of back up.
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