Why the Lesotho specter haunts DIS leadership transition

Sunday Standard Why the Lesotho specter haunts DIS leadership transition Outgoing DIS Director General, Brigadier Peter Magosi’s name has a way of surfacing whenever switched on Batswana revisit one of the most shocking military blood baths in recent African history – the assassination of Lesotho’s army commander that ended with three senior military figures dead. On September 5, 2017, the inner sanctum of Lesotho’s military headquarters […] The post Why the Lesotho specter haunts DIS leadership transition first appeared on Sunday Standard and is written by Sunday Standard Reporter

Oct 19, 2026 - 07:50

Sunday Standard

Why the Lesotho specter haunts DIS leadership transition

Outgoing DIS Director General, Brigadier Peter Magosi’s name has a way of surfacing whenever switched on Batswana revisit one of the most shocking military blood baths in recent African history – the assassination of Lesotho’s army commander that ended with three senior military figures dead.

On September 5, 2017, the inner sanctum of Lesotho’s military headquarters became a killing ground. Two rogue officers, Lieutenant Colonel Bulane Sechele and Lieutenant Colonel Tefo Hashatsi, confronted their commander, Lieutenant General Khoantle Motsomotso. Gunfire ripped through the office at point-blank range, killing the army chief. In the seconds that followed, his loyal bodyguards struck back, leaving all three men dead in a scene of extraordinary violence.

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