Wife to newly appointed Lesotho’s Prime Minister shot dead

The estranged wife of Lesotho’s incoming Prime Minister Tom Thabane has been shot dead – ahead of his inauguration on Friday following his party’s victory in parliamentary elections.

Lipolelo Thabane, 58, was killed by an unknown gunman while travelling home in the town of Masana, just outside the capital, Maseru, police spokeman Clifford Molefe said, Reuters news agency reports.

A woman who was with her was wounded in the attack, and taken to a nearby hospital, he added.

Mr Molefe said the motive of the shooting was still unclear and investigations were ongoing.

Mr Thabane and his wife had been living separately since 2012, Reuters reports.

The incoming prime minister had filed for divorce, but it had not yet been granted by the courts, it added.

Mr Thabane’s All Basotho Convention won 48 parliamentary seats, compared with the 30 of outgoing Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s Democratic Congress in las week’s election.

South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to attend his inauguration after mediating an end to the political crisis which erupted after an attempted coup in 2014,