Maseru, Mar.12 — In efforts to ensuring that the government and statutory organisations are refraining from practices such as violations of human rights, maladministration, injustice, corruption and environmental degradation, the office of the Ombudsman has issued a preliminary report on an investigation into concerns about the conduct of military operations in various communities in Lesotho.
While tabling this report, the Ombudsman Advocate Tlotliso Polaki said that this report is an investigation report of the Ombudsman issued in terms of section 135 of the
Constitution of Lesotho 1993 (‘the Constitution’) and published in terms of section 7(3) and
section 7(4) of the Ombudsman Act No 9 of 1996 (‘the Act’) and it communicates the
findings and appropriate remedial action that the Ombudsman is recommending in terms of
section 135 of the Constitution and section 7(5) and 7(6) of the Ombudsman Act after the
investigation team visited the various villages on different dates over a number of months and it covered a review of reports received from various sources and the information was analysed to inform the findings of the investigation.
Adv. Polaki stated that the report is based on information and evidence of violations gathered from numerous interviews with victims and witnesses who experienced ill treatment at the hands of the military officers and police officers while in custody and the evidence gathered was subjected to verification and corroboration to ensure its veracity. The investigation team carried out a myriad of independent interviews with various members of communities, victims of the alleged experiences, chiefs, counsellors and the senior officers and management of both the LDF and the LMPS. . .
NT/ml
