By Neo Kolane
Prime minister Sam Matekane on Wednesday this week handed over a fleet of 51 vehicles to the Lesotho Mounted Police Services (LMPS) in Maseru.
In addition to the 51 vehicles that were handed over at Police Training College, an additional 24 are on their way thereby bringing the total to 75.
The vehicles comprise four-wheel drives and automatics.
In his remarks, Matekane said the handover was long overdue as it answers to the public’s complaints that police do not respond to crime reports in time due to lack of vehicles.
“This is also a fulfillment to Lesotho’s commitment to buy equipment so that police are able to fight crime.
“The government is also working on assisting the police to have means to fix their cars when they encounter mechanical problems, which will help the government to cut costs of fixing broken a number of cars,” he noted.
Speaking at the same occasion, the commissioner of police, Holomo Molibeli, said he was celebrating six years in office and had never seen such a ‘miracle’.
It was only in 2018 when the LMPS was bought 10 cars, he noted.
Molibeli said he was touched by the excitement he saw on Basotho’s faces as the vehicles moved through Maseru’s central business district.
He also promised Matekane and the public that those vehicles would be protected as a large number of police officers have been trained to drive with caution and safety.
The cars are branded and that was very important because anyone who seeks help from the police can see them coming from afar.
“Secondly, anyone who wants to commit crime will see police coming, and this deters them. We have been pleading that our cars should not be plain because they need to be recognisable, that is called visible policing.
“I want the cars to be used for assigned duties; they should be protected because Basotho are concerned about the crimes committed in this country.
“These cars will help us go deep in the rural areas to fight crime, and to places where crime has been committed so that we can investigate and put the perpetrators before the courts,” Molibeli indicated.
He noted that no police officer should be seen driving drunk, warning the vehicles would have bold large numbers emblazoned on them, making it easy to identify the driver.
Meanwhile, the minister of local government, chieftainship, home affairs and police, Lebona Lephema, said his vision is to refurbish the appearance of the police.
Lephema explained that when a police officer is dressed well he oozes confidence and the public in turn has confidence in his service.
Last year, this publication learnt that Leribe district had only two LMPS vehicles, hence rampant stock theft rampant in the district.
Stock theft in Leribe had spiralled out of control, putting the livelihoods of rural communities in jeopardy.
In another development, opposition member of parliament Maschesetsa Mofomobe on Wednesday this week handed in a notice to ask Lephema to furnish parliament with information on the procurement of the vehicles.
Mofomobe wants to know if there was a tender advertised for the purchasing of the Mahindra vans and Honda Fit vehicles; which company won the tender and how much each vehicle cost. He also wants to know if the Honda Fits are new or second hand.
