By Maleshoane Ratsebe
A Facebook post allegedly by Lesotho Prime Minister Sam Matekane addressing alleged political targets on members of parliament, Education Minister and United Africans Transformation (UAT) leader Mahali Phamotse, Basotho Covenant Movement (BCM) leader Ts’epo Lipholo and Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Machesetsa Mofomobe is fake.
The September 10th post, shared by a page with the name “Tonakholo Ntsokoane Sam Matekane” garnered 99 reactions, 53 shares and 313 comments.
The post further alleges that what is taking place is the law in effect and includes images of the mentioned leaders.
The three MP’s have been at the center of public discussions for different controversies: Lipholo for his arrest, Machesetsa for whistleblowing and Phamotse for allegedly sending students to Russia under the guise of still being a Minister of Education.
However, Checkdesk established that the post did not originate from the prime minister.
First, the Prime Minister’s Office, through its Press Attaché, Thapelo Mabote Maphats’oe debunked the claim as Fake through a Facebook story on his page.
CheckDesk also contacted Maphats’oe who, through a phone interview, confirmed that the statement did not originate from the prime minister.
“That is not the Prime Minister’s Facebook account, and no statement of that sort was made by our office,” Stated Mabote
A further review of the page to determine its authenticity revealed that the page was created in 2024(1.2k followers) under the same name and has since been reposting some of the statements from the Prime Minister’s official page (64k followers) that has been operating from as early as 2020.
The Prime Minister’s (64k followers) account has a recognisable pattern and connection with a verified X account, with both bearing the same cover photo and updates of all his diplomatic missions and reports .The verified X account has posts that are consistent with the page that has more followers
This post for example, was shared at 11:21 PM and a similar post on FB at 11:19
In addition to this, the imposter page has also been making damning commentaries about political figures such as alleging that the MP Machesetsa Mofomobe should be arrested for slandering the government, a personal opinion that has not had weight to the media as opposed to when made by the Prime minister. It only raised questions about the page’s authenticity to some followers.
The true account of the Minister has shared posts and tags with reputable organisations such as the UNDP.
The Prime Minister’s facebook account is not verified which has misled a portion of the online community into thinking they are interacting with the real Prime Minister’s facebook account. The post also implicates political instability in Lesotho which can create unrest within the country and taint international relations.
This fact-check was produced by Maleshoane Ratsebe, CheckDesk, MISA Lesotho, as part of the African Fact-Checking Alliance’s (AFCA) incubation programme. It was produced with peer-mentorship from Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, PesaCheck, with financial support from Norway. AFCA mentorship respects the journalistic independence of the researchers, offering access to advanced techniques and tools. Editorial decision-making remains with MISA Lesotho. Want to learn more? Visit: https://factcheck.africa/
