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DAM-L Old article on Lesotho massacre cover up/LS (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from Lori Pottinger -----
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 11:19:16 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Old article on Lesotho massacre cover up/LS
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SA's Lesotho massacre 'cover-up'
-- The Mail & Guardian, March 20 2000.
Silence surrounds a massacre in Lesotho by South African paratroopers,
straining relations between the two countries.
By STEFAANS BR_MMER and INIGO GILMORE SOUTH AFRICA'S failure to come
clean on a massacre pulled off by its paratroopers 18 months ago in
Lesotho is bedevilling relations between Pretoria and the mountain
kingdom's popular royal family.
Little is known about the skirmish at Katse Dam where 17 Lesotho and two
South African soldiers died. Paratroopers in helicopter gunships targeted
the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Katse barracks as the South African
National Defence Force (SANDF) swept into Lesotho to counter a military
rebellion triggered by vote-rigging allegations.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of photographs, said to be taken by a
humanitarian worker visiting Katse soon after, which show the partly
clothed corpses of LDF troops slain in their beds. Several are mutilated
or badly burnt.
Some Basotho are crying "cover-up" after Lesotho authorities -- who invited
the SANDF in the first place -- moved to keep the matter out of the
courts. And a senior Lesotho royal charges that the South African
government and Nelson Mandela, president at the time, have ignored repeated
requests for an explanation. Ill feelings about the alleged atrocity
spilled into the public arena last month when President Thabo Mbeki
failed to attend King Letsie III's wedding.
It appears the SANDF targeted Katse for its strategic value to South
Africa: Katse Dam is part of the multibillion-rand Highlands Water
Project. A platoon from Bloemfontein-based 44 Parachute Brigade went for
the Katse barracks, small and remote, immediately as the rest of the
intervention force headed into the capital, Maseru, on September 22 1998.
Other outlying barracks were left alone.
Among the mutilated bodies at Katse was that of Sergeant Makhooane Chaka.
Last July his widow, Matokelo Chaka, filed a R750 000 wrongful-death suit
against Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and LDF commander
Lieutenant General Makhula Mosakeng. She holds them legally responsible,
as Mosisili invited the intervention by the SANDF and the Botswana Defence
Force, both whom acted under the banner of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC).
Edward Phoofolo, a Maseru human rights lawyer representing Chaka, this week
confirmed the lawsuit was likely to be settled out of court after the
Lesotho government agreed in November that an actuary determine the
amount of compensation to be paid to Chaka. Cape Town actuaries Human &
Morris confirmed they were approached for the task last month.
Phoofolo argued the Lesotho authorities' readiness to settle indicated "an
admission of guilt", but said he regretted the lost opportunity to prove
the case in the Lesotho High Court. He denied the LDF soldiers at Katse
were rebels and claimed they returned fire only after the South Africans
attacked.
Said Phoofolo: "We were intending to make it highly public ... I'm told
[the South Africans] arrived in these helicopters. Some of the [LDF]
soldiers were on sentry, others were out jogging and were mown down in
the field, and others were in the barracks. You've seen the pictures."
Phoofolo said Chaka and relatives of others killed at Katse were approached
as early as November 1998 by Mosakeng, the LDF commander, with offers of
R20 000 compensation each. "Either the Lesotho government or the Lesotho
government in collaboration with the South African government are bent on
covering this up," he charged.
Another Maseru lawyer, Kananelo Mosito, this week also alleged attempts by
the Lesotho authorities to keep the matter from reaching court. He said
he was asked last year by the families of 10 of the Katse dead to sue for
compensation, but that four withdrew after accepting money from the Lesotho
military. "When people are hungry, they'll go for anything."
Mosito said he instituted action on behalf of the remaining six families
to claim compensation, but that no return affidavits had yet been filed
by Lesotho authorities. He predicted a "spectacular" case if it ever
reached court. "People were massacred. People are saying: 'What's this?
These were people who were sleeping.'"
Meanwhile Prince Seeiso, brother of King Letsie III, this week said
relations with South Africa remained strained by the Katse incident. The
Lesotho royal family is known to have opposed the SADC intervention and
is seen as loosely allied to the democratic opposition.
Seeiso, emphasising he spoke not on behalf of Letsie but as an individual
and a principal chief, said he has been asking South African ministers to
explain the Katse killings, but without success. His understanding was
that LDF soldiers did not provoke the attack. "The helicopters came and
circled the area. As soon as people came out to see what was happening,
they were done for."
Seeiso said it seemed the SANDF overreacted because of South Africa's
strategic interest in the water project. "If Katse had to be attacked in
that manner, why weren't all the other outposts attacked?"
He confirmed earlier having asked Mandela, then still president, for
answers at a meeting attended by Queen Mother Mamohato. At a second
meeting with Mandela during the second half of last year there were still
no answers. "The irony is, we look at Madiba as a father figure. We have a
very strong bond with him. It sometimes makes it very difficult to talk
to him directly."
Seeiso said Mandela was loudly cheered when he arrived for Letsie's wedding
last month. "The Lesotho people are a very forgiving people ... but it is
not fair to take us for granted, to expect us to accept the big stick
always."
Seeiso confirmed he was contacted before the wedding by Mandela, who was
"concerned" that a South African delegation might not be well received.
"There was talk of that nature. There were suspicions that people would
not be happy, that opposition parties might stage demonstrations."
South Africa was represented at the wedding by Mandela, Minister of Home
Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi and two provincial premiers. Mbeki, who
chaired a hastily-convened African National Congress national executive
committee meeting that weekend, was to have been represented by his wife,
Zanele Mbeki, who also failed to turn up.
Letsie, apparently piqued, said during a state banquet he would "fine" the
South African president one head of cattle. Presidential representative
Parks Mankahlana this week said Mbeki would oblige. "The president
respects custom and tradition ... How you do it is a matter of detail, but
it has to be done."
Mankahlana argued the cattle penalty should be seen as "more than just a
fine"; it contained an element celebrating "cordial relations".
Mankahlana said the presidency could not respond to the Katse killings:
"Whether we should be answering questions now about that operation that
we did at the request of Lesotho, I'm not certain. You should speak to
the Lesotho government."
SANDF representatives also avoided explaining, saying variously that
questions should be addressed to the SADC or that answers could not be
given while the dispute remained subject to Lesotho courts.
They also referred to a written SANDF presentation to the parliamentary
committees on defence and foreign affairs in November 1998. The
presentation confirmed Katse was a primary target and said the SANDF
encountered "fierce resistance". Other than that, it gave no explanation
why 17 LDF soldiers -- about half the total recorded LDF casualties --
were killed at the small barracks.
Two South African troops, a doctor and a medic deployed in support of the
paratroopers, also died at Katse.
A representative for Mandela referred earlier media queries to the South
African government.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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