Dominic Motikoe was a

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

politician who led the

National Independent Party The National Independent Party is a political party in Lesotho. The NIP was founded by Anthony Manyeli as a split from the Basotho National Party.National Assembly of Lesotho The National Assembly () is the lower chamber of Lesotho's bicameral Parliament. Composition The current National Assembly has a total of 120 members. 80 members are elected in single member constituencies using the simple majority (or First-p ...

until his death in 2009.

Life and career

Motikoe was elected to the National Assembly through

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in the 2002 parliamentary election as the second candidate on the NIP's candidate list, after Anthony Manyeli. He was the party's deputy leader under Manyeli. After Manyeli rejected an offer of alliance from the governing

Lesotho Congress for Democracy The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) is a political party in Lesotho. In 1997, Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle left the Basutoland Congress Party to form with his faction the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy. The new party won the 1998 ele ...

(LCD) in November 2006, the LCD instead formed an alliance with Motikoe. Objecting to this, Manyeli took the matter to the High Court of Lesotho; although it ruled in his favor, the Court of Appeal subsequently reversed the High Court's decision. It was Motikoe, not Manyeli, who selected the NIP's candidates for the February 2007 parliamentary election, meaning that the 21 NIP candidates who won seats were all supportive of Motikoe's alliance with the LCD. The dispute over control of the NIP contributed to an extended dispute regarding the outcome of the 2007 election and the LCD's subsequent control of the National Assembly, which was crucially bolstered by the presence of Motikoe's 21 MPs. Opposition parties wanted those MPs to be replaced by new MPs selected by Manyeli, which would have reduced the LCD's majority to only one seat. Despite Motikoe's support for the government, he was officially designated as the Leader of the Opposition;

Tom Thabane Thomas Motsoahae Thabane (born 28 May 1939) is a Mosotho politician who was the fifth prime minister of Lesotho from 2012 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2020. He founded the All Basotho Convention (ABC) in 2006 and led the party until 2022. Thabane s ...

of the opposition

All Basotho Convention The All Basotho Convention (ABC; ) is a political party in Lesotho. The party was formed in October 2006 and founded by Tom Thabane, a former minister in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) led by the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha ...

(ABC) was thus denied that title, despite the opposition's objections. Motikoe was shot to death in Maputsoe on 26 April 2009. According to police, he had "dropped off his female colleague at her home" when her husband, suspecting that Motikoe had been sleeping with his wife, emerged from the home and opened fire, killing Motikoe."Lesotho politician shot dead"
Sapa (''IOL''), 28 April 2009.

References

Year of birth missing 2009 deaths Members of the National Assembly (Lesotho) National Independent Party politicians Lesotho murder victims Deaths by firearm in Lesotho People murdered in Lesotho {{lesotho-politician-stub