PM reaffirms pledge to step down

Prime Minister Thomas Thabane yesterday reiterated his intention to retire by the end of July 'or earlier' despite facing the risk of prosecution for his alleged involvement in the 2017 murder of his estranged wife. Ruling party officials and opposition groups have piled pressure on Thabane to leave office over allegations he had a hand in the murder. A report on the News24 site notes that his ruling All Basotho Convention ABC party last week rejected his demand for immunity from prosecution after he steps down. 'I wish to once again reaffirm my decision to retire as Prime Minister ... if all the necessary conditions for my retirement are put in place,' he said in a televised address to the nation. Thabane and his previous wife Lipolelo were going through a bitter divorce when she was gunned down outside her home in the capital Maseru, just two days before her husband's inauguration. His current wife Maesaiah, whom he married two months after Lipolelo's death, has been charged with the murder.

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