CIV/APN/154/80
IN THE HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO
In the Application of :
LIMO MOTHIBI     Applicant
v.
MAJARA MOSHOESHOE        1st Respondent
MINISTER OF INTERIOR     2nd Respondent
SOLICITOR GENERAL        3rd Respondent
PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF MATSIENG      4th Respondent
JUDGMENT
Delivered by the Hon. Mr. Justice M.P. Mofokeng
on the 30th day of March. 1981.
This is an application, on notice of motion, in which the
applicant prays for an order

Authorising the Second Respondent to publish
Applicant's name as Headman of Korokoro Ha Mothibe
in the Government gazette for general information
without the need for a recommendation from First
Respondent;
(c)     Directing First Respondent to pay the costs of this
application,
(d)     Directing the Second, Third and Fourth Respondent
to pay the costs of this Application only in the
event of their opposing it."
The First and Second Respondents have filed opposing affidavits
and the rest of the respondents will abide the decision of the
Court.
/2.

-2-
In his founding affidavit applicant states that he is the
"acting sub-chief or headman of He Mothibi" (My underlining).
This is not correct because legally speaking he has not been
gazetted as such. If this were so I do not think that there
would be this application before Court. Legally, there is no
such area at Korokoro referred to as Ha Mothibe. It was
abolished together with its headmanship in 1950. More about
this later. He says that his father Mothibe Limo was by Notice
Mo. 171 of 1939 gazetted as headman of Korokoro Ha Mothibe.
His father had therefore been made a lawful headman in terms
of the then existing law. The High Commissioner had the power
to "make or unmake" a chief or a headman. In 1951 the
applicant's father died and as he puts it "all the time he
exercised his powers as headman in terms of the law". He says
he himself, has been on acting headman of Korokoro Ha Mothibe
since 1951. However, on the 13th day of March 1945 "Majara
Taka Moshoeshoe was brought as sub-chief over my late father
Mothibe Lelimo, Mokuoane Loche, Seturumane Maqhobela, John
Lesoli and Isaac Mothibe all of whom were gazetted headmen.
There is no dispute about this. But what happened in 1950?
In that year, the High Commissioner who had' the power to
"make or unmake" chiefs and headmen decided, in his wisdom,
to cancel the previous list of the names of the Principal
Chiefs, Ward Chiefs, Chiefs and Headmen. By Notice No. 167 of
1950 they all ceased to be what he had, prior to that date of
publication of the said notice, appointed then to their
respective offices. One such person who ceased to be a headman
was the father of the applicant. He remained in that position
until his death in 1951. Ho did not die in office. When he
so died he was no longer a headman.
/3.

-3-
If the father of the applicant, in the eyes of the law,
was not a headman it becomes even more difficult to
appreciate how the applicant now can come to Court and seriously ask it
to compel respondents to grant him rights which, in law, he
does not possess. In 1950 the Administration appointed two
headmen in the area of Korokoro, viz. Nkoebe Khoeli at Ha
Khoeli end Montsonyane Ha Motau and Hertig Mepeshoane at Ha
Mahlelebe. In 1964 the position remained the same. Incidentally
headmen Isaac Mothibe, Mokuoene Leche, John Lesoli end
Seturumane Meqhobela were all left out, together with their
areas of jurisdiction, in 1950. When there was the 'omission'
of the applicant father's name from the list of headmen in 1950,
the applicant does not tell this Court what his father did
about the situation. The truth of the matter is that there
was very little he could do about it.
I have arrived at the conclusion that the application
ought to be refused with costs for the simple reason that
the applicant has no legal rights to assert his father
having been lawfully removed from the office of headman,
and never reinstated, by the responsible officer who had the
power so to do.
The order is that the application is dismissed with
costs.
JUDGE.
30th day of March, 1981.
For Applicant : Mr. C. Maqutu
For Respondents : Mr. S. Mafisa