POLICE Commissioner Holomo Molibeli has to cool his heels for the next two weeks before he knows his fate after he deliberately ignored an order by the High Court.

The police chief faces charges of contempt of court after ignoring a direct order from the court to reinstate the police recruits whom he had dismissed before the end of their training programme at the Police Training College (PTC).

Dismissing the recruits, Molibeli had accused them of being members of a notorious criminal gang called ‘Manomoro’.

He further showed that owing to their crime-ridden past, they were not suitable to become members of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS).

After being kicked out of training, the recruits had in May challenged their dismissal, resulting in the current application.

They asked the High Court to direct the police boss to halt his decision until the finalisation of their application.

The recruits had also requested the court to declare Molibeli’s decision as an act of contempt of court. They had further asked that he be kept in jail for 60 days for the contempt.

High Court judge, Justice ’Maliepollo Makhetha, had on May 24, issued an interim order directing Molibeli to allow the applicants to continue with the recruitment training pending finalisation of the case.

She also directed him to hold in abeyance the letters in terms of which the applicants were invited to make the representation for discharge.
Subsequent to that, a second, Justice Tšeliso Mokoko issued another order directing Molibeli to reinstate the applicants without loss of status and benefits.

He further ordered that the recruits be paid all the arrears in their allowances which might not have been paid in their absence.
The court reviewed and set aside as irregular, Molibeli’s decision to dismiss the recruits from training.

He declared the decision as wrongful thus null and void, and of no legal force and effect.