Lesotho Prime Minister's wife shot dead two days to his inauguration

The people of Lesotho are mourning the tragic loss of their first lady, Lipolelo Thabane.

The estranged wife of incoming Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane was shot dead this morning, just two days before his inauguration. The 58-year-old was traveling home with a friend when both women were shot by an unknown assailant, the police say. 

The police add that details surrounding the killing are still sketchy but an investigation is already on to arrest those who have a hand in it.

The incoming prime minister and his late wife had been living separately since 2012 after they filed for divorce which hasn’t been granted yet. But she won a high court battle against her husband to secure the privileges of a First Lady, instead of Mr. Thabane’s youngest wife, Liabiloe, reports the AFP news agency.

Samonyane Ntsekele, the secretary-general of Mr. Thabane’s All Basotho Convention party, told AFP that the prime minister was devastated by the shooting.

“Everyone is traumatised by these developments,” he said.

Thomas Thabane was last week Friday elected Prime Minister of Lesotho after he emerged as the winner of 48 parliamentary but short of the 61 needed to form a government.