Tom Thabane, Lesotho’s embattled Prime Minister, announced his resignation yesterday.
In a televised address to the country Thabane said: ‘The time to retire from the great theatre of action, take leave from public life and office, has finally arrived.’
Thabane has been under pressure to resign for some time after being implicated in the murder of a former wife, Lipolelo. She was gunned down in 2017. His position became untenable when he lost the support of his own party, the All Basotho Convention (ABC). Thabane had governed as the head of a four-party coalition, formed after elections in 2017.
Minister of finance Moeketsi Majoro is expected to be sworn in as the new Prime Minister today with support from the two biggest parties in the Basotho Parliament, the ABC and the Democratic Congress. Together, the two parties hold 78 of the 120 seats in the country’s National Assembly.
His resignation ends Thabane’s second stint as the head of government of the land-locked kingdom, having previously served from 2012 to 2015.