(MENAFN- The Post) Dozens of villagers in Ha-Rammeleke in Khubelu, Mokhotlong, were on Monday night rounded up and beaten with sticks and whips by the police during an operation to seize illegal guns.
The villagers told thepost that they heard one man crying out for help saying his wife was sick. And when they rushed to his house, they found the police waiting for them.
The police had stormed the man's house and ordered him to“cry for help” to lure men from the village.
The men and women were then frog-marched outside the village where the police assaulted the men with sticks, whips, and kicked them.
One man said when he arrived at the house, he found other villagers who were now surrounded by armed police.
“At first I thought they were soldiers but later picked up that they were SOU (Special Operations Unit) members,” he said.
He said they were subjected to severe torture.
“They beat us with sticks at the same time demanding guns from us,” he said.
The police and soldiers also raided other nearby villages in Khubelu area but in Ha-Rammeleke villagers say they identified only police from the Special Operations Unit (SOU).
Several villagers who spoke to thepost asked for anonymity for fear of retribution.
This was the second time within a month that the security forces have raided the villages in search of illegal guns after a spate of gory murders in the areas.
The murders are perpetrated by famo music gangs who are fighting over illegal gold mining in South Africa.
The first raid was on Wednesday preceding Good Friday.
Villagers say a group of armed soldiers stormed the place in the wee hours collecting almost every one to the chief's place.
“We were woken-up by young soldiers who drove us to the chief's place,” one resident of Ha-Rammeleke said.
When they arrived at the chief's home all hell broke loose.
A woman told thepost that they were split into two groups of women and men.
Later, women were further split into two groups of the elderly and younger ones.
She said the security officers assaulted the men while ordering the elderly women to ululate.
Young women were ordered to run around the place like they were exercising.
She said the men were pushed into a small hut where they were subjected to further torture.
A man who was among the victims said the army said they should produce the guns and help them identify the illegal miners.
He said this happened after one man in their village was fatally shot by five unknown men in broad daylight.
He said the men who killed the fellow villager had their faces covered with balaclavas and they could not see who they were.
The villagers chased them but they could not get close to them because they were armed with guns.
“We were armed with stones while those men were armed with guns,” he said.
“They fired a volley of bullets at us and we retreated,” he said.
The murdered man was later collected by the police.
The army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sakeng Lekola, confirmed that soldiers stormed Khubelu area in response to the rampant lawlessness of unlicensed guns.
Lt Col Lekola said their presence in the area followed two incidents of shootings where one man was fatally shot and a child sustained serious gunshot wounds.
“There were reports everywhere, even on the radios, that things were out of hand in Khubelu,” he said.
He said in just a day they managed to collect six guns that were in wrong hands together with more than 100 rounds (bullets) in an operation dubbed Deuteronomy 17.
These bullets included 23 rounds of Galil rifle.
Lt Col Lekola maintained that their operation was successful because they managed to collect guns from wrong hands.
He said they are doing this in line with the African Union principle of 'silencing the guns'.
He said it is an undeniable fact that statistics of people killed with guns is disturbing.
“We appeal to these people to produce these unlicensed guns,” Lt Col Lekola said.
Lt Col Lekola said they could not just watch Basotho helplessly as they suffered.
He said some people are seen just flaunting their guns.
“They fear no one,” he said.
Police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, said he was aware of the operation in Mokhotlong but did not have further details.
Majara Molupe
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