LESOTHO’S former prime minister Thomas Thabane was charged on Tuesday with the brutal murder of his estranged wife Lipolelo.
Thabane, 82, is accused of hiring hitmen to kill Lipolelo in June 2017, two days before the prime minister’s inauguration.
He appeared in the High Court boardroom in Maseru on Tuesday – not in the courtroom as normal practice would dictate.
Reading out the charges, High Court clerk Tebello Mokhoema said Thabane “did unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Lipolelo Thabane” on 14 June 2017.
Five co-defendants in the trial include Thabane’s young wife Maesaiah, who was controversially granted bail in June.
The other four are suspected hitmen allegedly hired by Thabane and Maesaiah to kill Lipolelo Thabane, 58.
Lipolelo and Thomas Thabane had been embroiled in bitter divorce proceedings.
The murder sparked a political crisis in the mountain kingdom landlocked within South Africa.
Police have accused Thabane of paying
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