Prime Minister of Lesotho, Thomas Thabane on Tuesday resigned from office after months-long crisis that engulfed the kingdom following accusations that he has questions to answer on the death of is ex-wife, Lipolelo Thabane, 58.
“I appear before you to announce that the work that you had assigned me may not be over but the time to retire from the great theatre of action, take leave from public life and office has finally arrived,” he said in a national television address.
The June 2017 killing of his ex-wife sent shockwaves through the tiny landlocked southern African nation, plunging the country into political turmoil and prompting calls for the 80-year-old leader to step down.
Thabane was in the midst of a bitter divorce with his estranged wife when she was shot dead outside her home two days before her husband’s inauguration as Prime minister.
Police said they found Thabane’s mobile number in communications records from the crime scene.
The alleged evidence prompted rivals within and outside Thabane’s party All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, to demand his immediate resignation.
– ‘Entrenching divisions’ –
Thabane, whose elected term was due to end in 2022, earlier this year said he would leave office by July 31 due to his advanced age.
“When I made a voluntary announcement in January this year to retire from office, on or before the 31st of July 2020, I did so with all sincerity because of my full conviction and belief that to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under the heaven — a time to be born and time to die,” Thabane said Tuesday.
“But because of the deeply entrenched political polarisation in our society, some decided to use my announcement for political gain while others resigned themselves into further entrenching divisions among Basotho.”
His All Basotho Convention (ABC) party and the opposition nominated Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro to be his successor after Thabane’s coalition government was disbanded last week.
The country’s supreme ruler King Letsie III, has also been advised to appoint Majoro at premier and he is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.
Thabane has vehemently denied any involvement in the murder of his ex-wife. He says he is not a killer.
“I don’t kill people and I wouldn’t kill my wife. No, no!” he said.
His current wife Maesaiah Thabane, 43, whom he married two months after Lipolelo’s death, is considered a co-conspirator in the murder case.
She has been charged with murder and is currently out on bail.
While no premier has served out a full five-year term in Lesotho over the past decade, Thabane boasted in an interview that he has set an example to fellow African leaders who have a propensity to cling to power.
“I’m trying to set a precedent that leaders in Africa must volunteer to leave when they think it’s time to leave or at the very worst they must leave when their term ends.”
Thabane will remain leader of the ruling ABC for the time being.