Politics · Lesotho
A constitutional advocacy group has issued a sweeping indictment of institutional failure across Lesotho’s anti-corruption, correctional, and security services, warning that the country is moving towards a system in which power is exercised without restraint or accountability.
By Seipati Matobo · Maseru
A constitutional advocacy group, Section 2, has issued a stark and wide-ranging statement warning that Lesotho is experiencing a dangerous erosion of the rule of law, driven by what it describes as interconnected institutional failures across key state bodies.
In a statement titled “On the Collapse of the Rule of Law and the Rise of Unaccountable State Power in Lesotho,” the group argues that recent developments involving the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO), the Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS), and the National Security Service (NSS) are not isolated incidents but part of a growing and systemic breakdown.
Section 2 says the pattern is no longer dismissible. It is escalating. And it is dangerous.
At the centre of the group’s concerns are allegations reported by The Post newspaper, in which the DCEO is said to have subjected Advocate Veronica Matlatsi to improper interrogation methods. According to the report, she was questioned in her nightwear and under duress, outside the presence of a Commissioner of Oaths.
Section 2 is careful to note that these remain allegations. But it argues that if true, the conduct would not merely be irregular. It would be fundamentally incompatible with the rule of law and the administration of justice in Lesotho.
More troubling, the group says, is the silence that followed. More than ten days after the publication of the allegations, there has been no public clarification, denial, or reassurance from the DCEO or any relevant authority. Section 2 argues that this silence undermines institutional legitimacy and fuels public speculation at a time when trust in state institutions is already fragile.
The statement goes further, warning that institutions tasked with fighting corruption must themselves remain beyond reproach, both in fact and in perception. Any compromise risks weakening the very foundation of accountability they are meant to uphold.
The concerns extend beyond the DCEO. Section 2 highlights findings from a report released by Advocate Tlotliso Polaki on 14 April 2026, which paints what it calls a “staggering reality” within the Lesotho Correctional Service.
The report reveals that three years after recommendations were made in 2023, not a single one has been fully implemented. Only 12 percent of those recommendations have seen partial progress. An overwhelming 88 percent remain entirely unimplemented.
The conditions described are severe: overcrowding, inadequate resources, poor inmate welfare, and the demoralisation of staff are all cited as persistent failures. Section 2 warns that these conditions raise serious concerns about Lesotho’s compliance with international human rights standards, and that continued neglect within the correctional system does not only harm inmates. It undermines the integrity of the justice system as a whole.
Parallel to these developments is what Section 2 describes as a constitutional confrontation involving the National Security Service. The Director General of the NSS, Lieutenant General Tumeleng Letsepe, is said to have failed to comply with a binding judgment of the Court of Appeal.
According to the statement, this failure, combined with prolonged silence, amounts to an open challenge to the authority of both the judiciary and the Constitution itself. Section 2 notes that it issued a public statement on 11 March 2026 condemning this conduct. More than a month later, there has been no clarification, no retraction, and no compliance.
This is how democracies begin to unravel. Not through dramatic rupture, but through quiet, sustained patterns of impunity.
Taken together, Section 2 argues, these cases reveal a deeply unsettling reality. Institutions entrusted with upholding the law are increasingly operating outside it. The group points to three core failures: the DCEO is alleged to have manipulated evidence to sustain prosecutions; the LCS continues to function under conditions of systemic neglect; and the NSS has demonstrated open contempt for court orders without consequence.
This, the group warns, signals the emergence of a culture in which law enforcement agencies become a law unto themselves.
What appears most alarming, according to Section 2, is not only the conduct itself but the absence of accountability that follows. There has been no public explanation from the DCEO, no decisive action on the failures identified in the Ombudsman’s report, and no enforcement of the Court of Appeal judgment against the NSS.
This pattern of inaction, Section 2 argues, sends a dangerous signal. It suggests that there are no consequences for overreach, defiance, or abuse. It implies that constitutional obligations are optional. And it reinforces the perception that institutions meant to check power are either unwilling or unable to act.
Section 2 frames the current moment not as the end of a crisis, but as the beginning of a deeper one. It outlines a trajectory in which court orders are ignored, oversight bodies are disregarded, prosecutions are allegedly manipulated, and the Executive remains silent. The result, it says, is a steady descent into a system where power is exercised without restraint and without accountability.
In such a system, rights may continue to exist on paper. But institutions no longer serve the law. They serve power.
Despite the severity of its warnings, Section 2 also sets out a clear constitutional position. It affirms that the Constitution remains supreme and binding on all persons and authorities; that the authority of the courts must be respected and enforced; that law enforcement agencies must themselves be subject to the law; and that accountability is foundational to democracy, not optional.
The group calls for immediate and concrete action across five fronts: an independent and transparent investigation into the conduct of the DCEO; a time-bound and publicly disclosed plan to implement the Ombudsman’s findings on the LCS; immediate enforcement of the Court of Appeal judgment against the NSS Director General, including his removal from office for continued defiance; full and public accountability from the Executive on all three issues; and the strengthening of oversight and accountability mechanisms to ensure no institution operates above the law.
Section 2 concludes with a warning that Lesotho stands at a critical juncture. The question, it says, is no longer whether institutions are failing. That is now evident. The real question is whether there remains the political will to correct course.
If the current trajectory continues, the group cautions, the rule of law will not simply erode. It will give way entirely. And Section 2 makes one final point clear: it will not be a spectator to that outcome.
