Maseru – The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) stormed the offices of the Lesotho Times on Friday night and arrested the newspaper’s editor, Mohalenyane Phakela, over a story exposing alleged corruption involving Lesotho Correctional Service Commissioner Mating Nkakala.
The DCEO seized Phakela’s phones without a search warrant, in direct violation of a standing Constitutional Court order that explicitly bars law enforcement agencies from confiscating journalists’ equipment.
Phakela spent the night in jail, and his lawyer, Advocate Christopher Lephuting, says the DCEO is refusing to release him despite being fully aware their actions are unlawful.
“Instead of discharging their mandate to arrest and charge corrupt people, they are arresting journalists exposing corruption. It’s tragic,” Lephuting said .
He said the DCEO officers ignored his attempts to explain that their actions were unconstitutional. “From the conversations last night, it was clear they had always intended to target and break down Phakela to stop him from doing his work of exposing corruption,” he added.
According to Lephuting, the officers accused Phakela of impersonating a DCEO official to obtain information from Toyota. He dismissed the claim as false. “Phakela never impersonated anyone,” he said.
The DCEO has also privately complained that their investigation documents are frequently leaked to the editor.
