MASERU - The retired former Chief Justice Michael Mathealira Ramobibedi, has died at the age of 74 after succumbing to an undisclosed illness on Wednesday morning (August 14) while being admitted to a hospital in the Republic of South Africa. According to information from his wife Mrs. Janet Ramodibedi, he died on Wednesday morning though she could not divulge the cause of his death saying it was too early for that.

Justice Ramodibedi a Lesotho national who obtained his LLB degree in 1974 at Edinburgh University and practised Law for ten years and admitted in 1984 as an Attorney for 12 years, was a jurist from Lesotho who had served in the courts of several Commonwealth countries in Africa and he was a graduate of the University of Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini as well.

He began his Law career in Lesotho, and in 1996 he was appointed Judge of the High Court and appointed a permanent Judge of Appeal in the Appeal court of Lesotho in 2002, while in 2004 he was appointed President of the court of appeal in Seychelles. He also served as the Justice of Appeal in Botswana and Swaziland in 2006. He had also served in numerous National Commissions as the Chairman and as a member of institutions such as the Council of State and member of Court-Martial Appeal court.

Justice Ramodibedi was appointed acting Judge of the Appeal Court (now Supreme Court) of the Kingdom of Eswatini in 2006, and assumed the position of acting Chief Justice in 2010. He was confirmed to the position in 2011 and re-appointed indefinitely in 2012.

At the same time, Justice Ramodibedi was Lesotho’s Court of Appeal President, a position he assumed in 2008 and relinquished in April 2014 after losing a court case against his impeachment for possible abuse of office by the Prime Minister Dr. Motsoahae Thabane.