By ‘Majirata Latela
The Public Complaints Authority (PCA) has clearly admitted it lacks authority to fulfil its mandate to investigate cases and make recommendations about the findings it has conducted on public complaints against the police.
The PCA was established by the Police Service Act of 1998 which was operationalised in 2003. It is mandated to investigate complaints against members of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). It does so after a referral by the commissioner of police and the ministry of police.
The chairperson of the PCA Dr Mahlape Morai told the publication this week that indeed the 2021 Lesotho Human Rights report by the United States of America is revealing the truth when it showed that PCA lacks the authority to fulfil its mandate. She said PCA only does investigations and recommendations to the minister of police who will direct the commissioner of police to implement them.
“After recommending there is nowhere the law allows us to make a follow up on our recommendations to ensure compliance. The only thing that helps us to know whether the recommendations were implemented or not is when the complainant comes back to us showing that he has not been assisted. That is when we will then get back to the minister to show that we did investigate and made recommendations that sought his intervention.
“In that way I must say that yes PCA does lack authority. We only wish as the PCA that we can be able to do follow ups or even be aware when our recommendations are instituted,” Morai said.
She added that when PCA has the authority to fulfil its mandate Basotho will be ensured of relief facilitated by the authority while its members will be grateful of their work.
She further indicated that there have been unfruitful strides to make ensure that the authority fulfils its responsibilities. She said they are currently only optimistic and trusted that the National Reforms Authority (NRA) would facilitate turning the PCA into an independent body.
Former police and public safety minister, ‘Mampho Mokhele was quoted in one of the local media saying PCA should be disbanded and its budget redirected to further capacitate the LMPS.
Mokhele was quoted to have suggested that although the PCA had not been disbanded, it was high time this was done because the government was not getting value for money by investing in a toothless body.
“It is the only board of PCA that has been disbanded but I must tell this honourable house that the PCA is one of the departments in the police ministry which is consuming a lot of money yet the government is not getting value for money.
“The government is investing a lot of money in the PCA. A lot of the money budgeted for the ministry goes to the PCA yet they are unable to perform because of the laws establishing it (which state that it can only investigate cases referred to it by the minister of police and the commissioner of police). Unlike in other countries where PCAs investigate and prosecute cases involving the police, in Lesotho the police have to prosecute cases (involving police) investigated by the PCA.
“We are losing a lot of money by keeping the PCA operational and I am going to disband it soon enough. It will only be resuscitated after the entire process (of enacting laws to enable it to initiate investigations and prosecutions without waiting for referrals) has been completed. We need a PCA that will produce results, not the current one whose end products are dependent on the referrals by the minister and police commissioner,” Mokhele said.
The stingy admissions follow a 2021 damning report on human rights violations in Lesotho, recently released by United States department of state bureau of democracy and human rights,
Major human rights issues contained include credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings, torture and cases of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest or detention, serious government corruption, lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence.
The report also portrays revelations regarding domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child, early and forced marriage, and other harmful practices; trafficking in persons; and the existence of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although not enforced.
It pointed out clearly that while impunity remains a problem, the government had mechanisms in place to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses and corruption.
On the issues of arbitrary deprivation of life and other unlawful or politically motivated killings the report shows that there were several reports fingering members of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) committing arbitrary or unlawful killings.
“The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) investigates allegations of police misconduct and abuse. The PCA, however, was ineffective because it lacked authority to fulfil its mandate: It could only investigate cases referred to it by the police commissioner or minister for police and could act on public complaints only with their approval,” it says.
The report continued to show that PCA also lacked authority to refer cases directly to the Prosecutor’s Office. While it observes that the PCA did not publish its findings or recommendations, cases of reported cases of deaths in police custody declined during the year.
“There were several reported abuses similar to the following example, however. On September 2, Thetsane Police Station officers in Maseru arrested Tšeliso Sekonyela on suspicion of liquor theft. On September 3, Sekonyela’s mother was allowed to meet with her son. She stated that he alleged police had beaten him and that, in her presence, a police officer had threatened to break her son’s ribs. On September 4, police delivered Sekonyela’s body to a morgue without explanation for the cause of death.
“The autopsy report revealed that Sekonyela’s ribs and a leg were broken, his neck had strangulation marks, and he had suffered severe internal bleeding. Minister of Police Sekola categorized the killing as suspected murder and Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu announced that an investigation was being conducted.
“At year’s end three police officers were on suspension pending completion of investigation of Sekonyela’s death. In July 2020 three police officers of the Flight One Station in Maseru allegedly beat Thabiso Molise to death. On April 19, police officers Moejane, Ngatane, Pompo, and Posholi appeared before the Maseru Magistrate Court on charges of murdering Molise,” it said.
It further said that the court released them on bail; no trial date had been set by the end of 2019.
