By Poloko Mokhele
Members of the Senate – the upper house of parliament – this week took turns to condemn acts of criminality meted out by the youth, and called for swift government action to root them out.
Addressing the official opening of the 13th sitting of the Senate after the festive season this week, the President of the Senate ‘Mamonaheng Mokitimi said members have noted with “great concern the issue of young boys who are acting as powerful men in different villages because of gangs that they have joined, with an aim to venture into different criminal activities which include theft and rampant killing.”
She said the senators were disappointed when they recently received a report about a 16 year-old boy from Metolong who shot and killed a police officer on January 15 this year, when the officer had ordered him to stop insulting people. The boy is currently in custody awaiting trial.
Mokitimi called on parents to “watch their children and bring them to order in order to bring an end to youth gangs.”
She urged: “We call on all parents to be eyeful on children and educate them against joining gangs as this will just disrupt their future. They should also not hide those that are implicated in these acts but report them to the police.”
She further thanked the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) for its intervention in 2021, when it took in some of the gangsters for counseling and educated them on being self-empowered while offering them some vocational skills.
In April 2021, many youth gangsters, that included several girls, were rounded up by military personnel in the areas of Koalabata, Naledi and Qoaling.
The groupings were allegedly involved in an assortment of criminal acts that included attacking and robbing unsuspecting citizens of their belongings such as cellphones, bags and money. The LDF command then issued a stern appeal for victims who fell prey in the hands of the gangsters to report to the military police offices.
Senator Mphonyane Lebesa said that “the gangsters need to know that there is rule of law in the country, and members of both houses of parliament need to work together with government, police, army, schools and chiefs in different villages to bring to an end these acts.”
He advised: “We need to work together as members of parliament, the police, army, schools and chiefs to find ways on how we can bring a total end to these criminal activities because they need to know that there is rule of law in Lesotho and they cannot do as they please.” .
Leribe Prinicipal Chief Joel Motŝoene told the House that senators should ensure that whenever they enact the law, they must come up with Bills that will benefit Lesotho and Basotho not just us as leaders, warning that it was possible that crime rate can be reduced.
It emrged during the past session that the Senate passed the National Identity Cards (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Drugs of Abuse (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
It was at the opening session after festive season that Mokitimi also passed some condolences to the family of former Mokhotlong principal chief, Mathealira Seeiso who passed on in late December 2021. He was late to rest in January this year at Thabang in Mokhotlong while the Senate was still in recess.
