Staff Reporter
After being sworn in this Wednesday as Lesotho’s third prime minister in five years, former finance minister Moeketsi Majoro has vowed to hit the ground running to tackle hunger and poverty in the volatile kingdom.
The 58-year-old economist has taken over the reins from Tom Thabane who was pressured to step down on Tuesday, months after police named him and his current wife as suspects in the murder of his estranged wife in a case that has gripped the country of 2.2 million people completely surrounded by South Africa.
Majoro, who previously worked as an executive director at one of the International Monetary Fund’s offices in Africa, has promised to usher in “a new version” of leadership and “bring back their (people’s) trust to the government”.
Apart from tackling COVID-19 – Lesotho has recorded one case so far – he also vowed to make poverty, hunger and unemployment his main priorities.
“We don’t have much time on our side. We only have two years left before the elections yet there is a lot of work ahead of us,” the new prime minister said after being sworn in by King Letsie III at the royal palace in Maseru.
“Fifty-four years after independence, the scourge of hunger and poverty is a serious issue in this country and we need to deal with this issue decisively,” he said.
Majoro, who was first appointed into cabinet by Thabane in 2013, will serve out his predecessor’s remaining term before the next round of elections scheduled for 2022.
Thabane attended the swearing-in ceremony where he handed Majoro a copy of the kingdom’s constitution to formally signal the transfer of power.
The two men tapped elbows instead of shaking hands as a precaution against the coronavirus.
Thabane’s current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, did not attend the event.
His estranged wife, Lipolelo Thabane, was shot and killed while driving home on June 14 2017, two days before Thabane was to be inaugurated as prime minister.
At the time, the two were going through a bitter divorce and had been living apart since 2012.
Maesaiah, with whom Thabane was living at the time of the murder, was charged in connection with the killing in February.
Although he has been accused of conspiring in the murder, Thabane has not been formally charged yet, with his lawyer previously arguing that his position as prime minister granted him immunity from prosecution.
The couple has denied any involvement.
But in what seemed like a moment of reckoning, Thabane apologised for his blemishes during his second stint as prime minister which lasted just under three years.
“In as much as I tried my level best to serve His Majesty and Basotho (people) with dedication and loyalty . . . I may have inadvertently erred in several ways during my tenure . . . Consequently, I sincerely wish to ask you to forgive me for my mistakes,” he said.