FILE PHOTO: Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters at State House in Maseru, Lesotho, February 27, 2015. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo
The French News Agency, Agence France Presse, says Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will turn in his resignation on Wednesday.
AFP says the 80-year-old Thabane revealed in a telephone interview that he was stepping down due to his age. He said he will inform King Letsie III, the supreme traditional leader of the small southern African country, of his intention to resign.
Thabane has been mired in a political and legal crisis stemming from the murder of his estranged wife, Lipolelo Thabane, in 2017. The couple were going through a bitter divorce when she was shot dead in front of her house in the capital Maseru.
Thabane's current wife, Maesaiah, whom he married a few months after Lipolelo’s death, is charged with her murder. The prime minister has been named as a suspect, but has not been formally charged.
After ignoring repeated calls for him to resign, Thabane’s coalition government collapsed Monday, with parliament due to meet next week to name a new prime minister. Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro has been nominated by the ruling All Basotho Convention to succeed Thanbane.
Thabane's request for immunity from prosecution after leaving office was rejected last week by the governing party.
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