CIV/APN/154/80IN THE HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO In the Application of :LIMO MOTHIBI Applicantv.MAJARA MOSHOESHOE 1st RespondentMINISTER OF INTERIOR 2nd RespondentSOLICITOR GENERAL 3rd RespondentPRINCIPAL CHIEF OF MATSIENG 4th RespondentJUDGMENTDelivered by the Hon. Mr. Justice M.P. Mofokengon 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 theCourt./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