Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, 80, appeared in court in Maseru in a pre-trial hearing on Monday alongside his present wife Maesaih Thabane. He is suspected of involvement in the murder of his then-wife Lipolelo Thabane, who was shot dead in June 2017 two days before he took office for a second-team as premier and two months before he married Maesaiah Thabane.
Maesaiah Thabane, 42, has been charged with the murder, and police suspect her of ordering assassins to do the job. No charges were read out and his lawyer argued the case should be referred to the high court to answer a question of possible immunity, which magistrate Phethise Motanyane granted. Thabane has said he will resign at the end of July, while several members of his own All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have been pressuring him to go sooner to avert political chaos.
