{"id":43906,"date":"2026-08-27T12:47:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43906"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:47:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:47:56","slug":"lesotho-pm-rejects-security-deal-claims","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/lesotho-pm-rejects-security-deal-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesotho PM rejects security deal claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lesotho Prime Minister (PM) Sam Matekane has brushed off claims connecting him to alleged South African (SA) underworld figure Vusumuzi &#8220;Cat&#8221; Matlala, following testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Matlala told the inquiry, which is probing corruption and political meddling within SA&#8217;s police and justice system, that he had struck a deal with Matekane to set up a private VIP security outfit for the PM.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Matekane&#8217;s Spokesperson, Thapelo Mabote, rejected the claim, saying the administration relies solely on official state agencies to protect the leader and keep the peace.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The PM&#8217;s focus is on building stability through proper state security channels, as set out in our national reform plans,&#8221; Mabote said. &#8220;We have no intention of hiring private security firms for that job. Stability has to come from legally recognised, state-owned institutions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mabote added that executive protection remains firmly in the hands of official state security forces as part of ongoing national security reforms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43907,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-43906","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Lesotho government refutes testimony linking Prime Minister to private security contractor","published_date":"2026-08-27 12:43:42","news_description":"Lesotho government refutes testimony linking Prime Minister to private security contractor","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43908,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43906\/revisions\/43908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}