The wife of Lesotho’s Prime Minister, who is charged with murdering her predecessor, will stand trial on 17 March, a magistrate ruled on Tuesday when she appeared in court. Maesaiah Thabane was detained this month, accused of ordering the killing of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s estranged wife Lipolelo.
Lipolelo Thabane was shot dead in June 2017 near her home in Maseru, the capital of the tiny independent kingdom, which lies in the middle of a South African mountain range. Police allege Maesaiah Thabane hired eight assassins to kill her, but was not present at the shooting.
Maesaiah Thabane, who has denied any involvement in the killing but cannot enter a plea until her trial starts, appeared briefly in court before being driven to Lesotho’s plush state house, where a few dozen supporters wearing the red, yellow and green of her husband’s ABC party greeted her.
Lipolelo, then 58, and Thomas Thabane, now 80, had been going through an acrimonious divorce when she was killed, two days before her husband’s inauguration as prime minister. Thabane and Maesaiah Thabane, now 42, married two months later.
In other news – Bonnie Mbuli scores role in international drama series Noughts and Crosses
Actress Bonnie Mbuli is making big waves overseas, scoring a role in the highly anticipated UK drama series Noughts and Crosses. The series is a TV adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s series of novels of the same name.
It takes place in an alternate history, where black “Cross” people rule over white “Noughts”. The first episode will air on BBC One on March 5. The cast was revealed this week, with Bonnie among the main characters. Read more
Source: eNCA
