Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitator, will on Friday attend the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Tom Thabane in Lesotho, the presidency said in a statement on Thursday.

The inauguration followed the recent general elections in which Thabane won 48 out of 120 parliamentary seats.

Thabane was due to replace Pakalitha Mosisili, prime minister since 2015, after forming a coalition with three other parties.

He will be sworn in as the mountain kingdom's prime minister for the second time in 28 months.

Ramaphosa "extended his profound congratulations" to the people of Lesotho and commended them for conducting peaceful elections while urging all stakeholders to accept the outcome of the elections", the statement said.

Ramaphosa reiterated his view that the holding of democratic elections in the mountain kingdom underlined the "determination of the people of the region and the continent to ensure good political and economic governance as part of the building blocs towards the renewal of the continent and the achievement of Agenda 2063".

This came as reports on Thursday indicated that Thabane’s wife Lipolelo, 58, was gunned down in the Ha Masana village, 35 km south of the capital Maseru where she lived, as she was driving with a friend on Wednesday.

The development created confusion ahead of the handover of power.

Samonyane Ntsekele, the secretary general of Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, said the prime minister-elect was devastated by the shooting.

The motive behind Lipolelo's shooting remained unknown.