About Article

This article investigates the military intervention impacting political stabilisation, peace as well as security. The nature of this intervention is unmasked by tracing the ill-discipline within the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) and its past of politicisation. The LDF not only interfered in governance matters but also tasted power and that created unfriendly civil–military relation (CMR) for a long time in the country. Consequently, this situation escalated in the killings of commanders of the LDF, Lieutenant-General (Lt. Gen.) Maaparankoe Mahao and Lt. Gen. Khoantle Motsomotso in 2015 and 2017, respectively, by own members within the rank who were supposed to salute them. This demonstrates how the unjustified military immersion in Lesotho’s politics continues to contribute to the country’s instability. Highlighted are additional contributing triggers to the country’s instability. Thus, the article’s enquiry is not solely about the nature of LDF interventions in governance but how various initiatives, such as instilling military discipline, had little impact on the discipline within the LDF. The article, therefore, argues that the intervention of LDF in governance has contributed to instability in the country as shown in the subsequent pages.