Lesotho’s former finance minister Moeketsi Majoro was sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday following Thomas Thabane ‘s resignation on charges of involvement in his wife’s murder.
Majoro, 58, took office at a ceremony in King Letsie III’s royal palace in the tiny southern African kingdom, pledging “I will be a true and faithful prime minister, so help me God,”
Veteran politician Thomas Thabane, 80, bowed to demands for resignation on Tuesday three months after police identified him and his current wife Maesaiah as suspects in his former wife Lipolelo ‘s murder in a case that plunged the mountain kingdom into a political turmoil.
Two days before the inauguration of their husband, Lipolelo Thabane was shot dead in her car in June 2017. She has officially refused a divorce to him. Two months later , He married Maesaiah.
Maesaiah, who is 43 years old, has been charged with murder, while Thomas Thabane claimed in court in February that his office has immunity. Both are denying any wrongdoing.
Thabane’s own All Basotho Convention (ABC) faction, opposition leaders and South African mediators had leaned on him to resign, but he had refused, supported by a loyalist inner circle.
The new prime minister vowed, in comments after the swearing-in, to make tackling COVID-19, poverty and unemployment his top priorities. Lesotho has so far reported one case of COVID-19.
