Lesotho former first lady's bail hearing tainted

Lesotho’s former first lady, third wife of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, has been charged with murdering the PM’s second wife. Though Maesaiah Thabane was granted bail by the country’s Acting Chief Justice, an Appeal Court – consisting of three ‘outside’ judges – has now found the bail decision tainted by ‘gross irregularities’. After a virtual hearing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the three judges declared the bail decision invalid and ordered that a further bail hearing be urgently convened to resolve the issue. In its decision the court stressed the importance of the dispute over the validity of the grant of bail to Lesotho as a ‘constitutional democracy under the rule of law’, writes Carmel Rickard in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site. The judges took note of the ‘high status’ and political power wielded by Maesaiah, urged that matters such as this should take place in open court rather than in judicial chambers as has become the norm in Lesotho, and that transparency should characterise such hearings in the interests of the people of the country and the rule of law. In particular, the judges expressed concern that well-established key issues for consideration in bail matters such as the likelihood of interference with witnesses and the prospects of convictions were not taken into account before bail was granted. Nor were any reasons provided by the Acting CJ for her decision to grant bail.

Lesotho judgment

A Matter of Justice