By Lesedi Mokhachane | Defence & Governance Analyst
Lesotho is at an inflection point. With the anticipated departure of Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela, conversations within defense and government circles have turned to the issue of succession and as expected, the rhetoric of “continuity” has re-emerged. Continuity, we are told, is a virtue. That there is stability in preserving the current line of command. That change, however well-meaning, risks disrupting the chain. But history, both ours and that of many post-conflict democracies, tells a different story. The real danger is not changing. It is stagnation disguised as stability.
The Problem With ‘Loyal Successors’
There are whispers, not without substance, that the current outgoing commander has informally indicated preference toward specific officers individuals who, while professionally trained, have risen within a narrow orbit of internal loyalty. That should concern us. A military cannot modernize when appointments are framed around internal favor rather than strategic merit. Worse, such arrangements perpetuate the perception and sometimes the reality that military leadership is not about professional service, but about political allegiance or factional reward. If “continuity” means entrenching a closed culture within the Lesotho Defense Force, then we must reject it in full.
Stability Requires Distance
The next commander of the LDF must not be someone simply handpicked from the inner circle of the outgoing leadership. Lesotho has learned painfully that unchecked power and internal military patronage can unravel the very institutions meant to protect the state.
What the moment requires is distance. A candidate with institutional knowledge, yes but also with the credibility of independence.
That person exists.
He is not campaigning. He is not part of the succession theatre. But he is known. Respected. And, perhaps most importantly, he carries a public reputation for having refused to be part of the system when the system went off course.
His name, for now, need not lead this column.
What matters is that the Prime Minister and those advise him to resist the temptation to confuse internal alignment with national readiness.
Civil-Military Balance Must Be Reasserted Lesotho’s 2022 elections delivered a message that echoed far beyond the ballot box: citizens want reform. Transparency. And competence in the places that have long operated in opacity.
The Defense Force is no exception.
The new commander must not be a continuation of the past, nor a placeholder for the ambitions of others. The new commander must restore the functional distance between the military and politics, and he must be able to command not just loyalty within the ranks but trust outside of them. The time for symbolic appointments is over.
The LDF is not a family. It is a state institution. And the stakes of choosing poorly are too high to be ignored.
The next chapter of Lesotho’s civil-military relationship will be shaped in the coming months. We can opt for cosmetic change and reshuffling familiar names. Or we can choose a path that signals a genuine shift: in mindset, in merit, and in message.
If the wrong lesson is learned that quiet loyalty is more valuable than proven leadership then whatever “continuity” we achieve may come at the cost of long-term stability.
Sometimes, true stability begins by breaking the pattern.
