African Head Of State Charged With Murdering His Wife After She Refused To Sign Divorce Papers

Asante Times News Desk 

 

Thomas Thabane, the former Prime Minister of Lesotho, was charged with murder following the assassination of his wife, Lipolelo Thabane. He became the first sitting leader on the African continent to face murder charges.

 

Thomas Thabane and Lipolelo Thabane got married in 1987, but by the mid-2010s, the couple had bitterly separated, though they were not officially divorced. At that time, Thomas Thabane was the official Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Lesotho. By 2012, Thomas Thabane had completely moved out of the marital home and entered a relationship with Maesaiah Ramoholi.

 

Things escalated when Thomas Thabane became the country\'s Prime Minister on 8 June 2012. The tension was over who would become the official First Lady of Lesotho, as Thomas Thabane hadn\'t officially divorced Lipolelo Thabane and had married his new wife, Maesaiah Ramoholi, in a customary marriage.

 

Lipolelo Thabane refused to quietly step aside or grant him a quick civil divorce, and in response, Thomas Thabane attempted to strip Lipolelo of her state privileges and grant them to Maesaiah. This forced Lipolelo Thabane to take the matter to the High Court of Lesotho, which ruled in her favour, decreeing that she remained the legitimate, legal First Lady of Lesotho until any formal divorce was finalised.

 

On 14 June 2017, just two days before Thomas Thabane was set to be sworn in for his second term as Prime Minister, his estranged wife, Lipolelo Thabane, was assassinated while driving home in Ha Masana, outside the capital, Maseru. She was in the car with a friend when armed men opened fire, killing her instantly while her friend survived.

 

Thomas Thabane was officially sworn in, and two months later, he legally married Maesaiah Ramoholi.

 

For three years, the case remained silent, but in 2020, police officers revealed records that directly linked a phone call made from the crime scene at the time of the murder to Thomas Thabane\'s personal mobile number.

 

Investigations further revealed that Thomas Thabane and his new wife, Maesaiah, had jointly paid Famo gang hitmen a down payment to assassinate Lipolelo because she refused to agree to a divorce. The two were arrested and charged with the murder (Messiah Ramoholi, the main suspect) of Lipolelo Thabane.

 

There was countrywide outrage following the charges against him, as he faced impeachment and immense diplomatic pressure, forcing Thomas Thabane to resign in May 2020.

 

Despite strong evidence against the two, the Director of Public Prosecutions officially withdrew all murder charges in July 2022. The prosecution stated that it was forced to drop the case because it could no longer locate its key witness.