Nthatuoa Koeshe  

PUBLIC relations specialist and brand innovator Libe Mohale and media law specialist, Tholoana Rose Ncheke, have partnered to help upcoming Basotho artistes scrutinise their contracts with record labels before appending their signatures.

Mohale’s portfolio includes campaign management and media management. He manages actors like Rami Chuene, Zenande Mfenyana, Vuyo Ngcukana and also has close working relations with Moshe Ndiki, Claire Mawisa and Dineo Moeketsi among many others.

He said most artistes struggle to get out of contracts whenever relations turned sour hence it was crucial to scrutinise the contracts before signing.

“It’s harder or impossible to get one out of a contract when things turn sour,” Mohale said.

He said many artistes rush into contracts because of desperation but that would now be a thing of the past since they can now consult with the specialists to read and advise before they sign.

Mohale said most artistes do not read their contracts hence they are gullible.

“Our talented artistes are swallowed and thrown out all over the world just because they do not read contracts. We have encountered several people who turn around and say they didn’t read the contract because they trusted the potential manager or producer. This is scary and insane but also understandable.

“We are tired of the cycle of artistes coming to big cities and being exploited but being unable to sue to producers and record labels for what is rightfully theirs.”

Mohale said the solution was to read contracts before signing.

“We have, Tholoana a qualified media law specialist and has worked with institutions such as the Film and Production Board of South Africa actively and is available to help local artistes.

“This is a pro bono service that we will provide in our personal capacities just to help and advise them before they commit to things they don’t know,” Mohale said.

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Pascalinah Kabi

POLICE and Public Safety minister Lehlohonolo Moramotse has promoted Senior Superintendent Moqhibi Likhama and Senior Inspector Sera Makharilele to posts of Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) effective of 8 November 2019.

Until the promotion, DCP Likhama was the Mafeteng District Police Commander while DCP Makharilele commanded the Commercial Crimes Unit.

The two appointments were communicated in an internal memo signed by Superintendent LJ Shale, who works at the Commissioner of Police’s office.

The memo, titled Appointments to New Ranks, appointed DCP Likhama to be responsible for operations while DCP Makharilele was tasked with leading the strategic management section in the police.

“Announcement is herewith made to all LMPS (Lesotho Mounted Police Service) personnel for the appointment of the following senior police officers to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police: their appointment is effective from Friday 8 November 2019,” Superintendent Shale’s memo reads.

“Please note that they are put in order of seniority (sic). 1. SSP Likhama – DCP Operations (and) 2. S/Insp. Makharilele – DCP SMSS. Let us all congratulate them and wish them well in their responsibilities in the LMPS,” Sup Shale added.

The new appointees will now fill positions that were left vacant by retired Deputy Commissioners Keketso Monaheng and Masupha Masupha. The duo retired on 30 September 2019.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli confirmed the authenticity of the memo and that the both DCP Likhama and Makharilele effectively took up new ranks on 8 November.

“Just like the position of the Commissioner of Police, these two positions are filled by appointment of the police authority and the minister would be best suited to tell you what qualities each one of them possess which attracted the appointments,” Sup Mopeli said.

Efforts to get a comment from Mr Moramotse were unsuccessful as his mobile phone failed to get through. He also did not respond to messages sent to him.

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Bataung Moeketsi

LETŠENG Diamond Mine recently handed over four classrooms and a three-roomed staffroom to Tšepong Primary School in Mofoloaneng, Mokhotlong.

The construction of the classrooms and staffroom was financed by the mining giant as part of its widely acclaimed corporate social responsibility programme.

The school was founded over a hundred years ago in 1918 by the Mohon Evangelical Church of Southern Africa and it has been dilapidated state for a long time. It has an enrolment of 240 learners with a staff complement of six teachers.

‘Mataelo Ramoloko, a member of the school’s board, said prior to Letšeng’s gesture, some local women had built a mud house to “shield learners from the harsh weather”.

However, Letšeng’s timely intervention will go a long way in making learning a much more comfortable experience for the pupils.

The mining giant put together a M1, 2 million budget for the 18 month long construction project for the infrastructure and additional learning equipment for the school.

Letšeng’s Chief Executive Officer, Kelebone Leisanyane, said they “made this donation after appeals on behalf of the children of the community who were being taught in dilapidated classrooms”.

Mr Leisanyane commended the Ministry of Education and Training for providing the designs for the new structures.

He said now that their mining lease had been renewed for a further 10 years with effect from October 2019, they would increase their support for community initiatives.

Mohon’s representative, Thapelo Ntambo, thanked Letšeng on behalf of the staff and learners.

“We are thankful for this beautiful school, but it also needs another teacher,” Mr Ntambo said.

The Minister of Mining, Temeki Tšolo, advised Ms Seriti Dotoro, the Ministry of Education’s Regional Inspector, to officially inform the government of the “dire need for a new teacher at Tšepong Primary School”.

Mr Tšolo said the refurbishment of the school was in line with the government’s objectives to improve the quality of education for learners.

On his part, Deputy Minister of Education, Kotiti Liholo, expressed gratitude to Letšeng for the donation, saying while so many schools needed assistance, government could not do it by itself as it did not have enough money.

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Nthatuoa Koeshe  

THE Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives and Marketing and the World Bank recently handed over information and communication technology (ICT) equipment to the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs.

The project was facilitated through the Private Sector Competitiveness and Economic Diversification Project.

The equipment included 150 computers, 42 printers, three heavy duty printers, 31 laptops, 17 projectors, 14 surge protectors, one scanner and 10 uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs) among others.

Addressing guests at the handover, World Bank country representative Janet Entwistle, said she was pleased that through the Private Sector Competitiveness and Economic Diversification Project, her institution could support different ministries and organisations.

She said the equipment would be used to develop sound legal frameworks to underpin rapid transformation through solid mechanism to support the legislative process.

“Supporting the government to develop sound legal frameworks underpinning rapid transformation of the country and solid mechanisms to support the legislative process, are key priorities in our engagement in Lesotho,” Ms Entwistle said.

“This equipment will facilitate electronic copies of legal documents to be shared, without being driven across town, at each stage of the approval process.

“I urge the Cabinet and concerned ministries and agencies therefore to make good use of this line of World Bank support. I also urge all to be vigilant in accessing best practice legislative processes and document management systems, including those online.”

She said the key mandate of the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs was to promote the rule of law and to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

“However, we must all acknowledge that this is a shared responsibility.

“While the World Bank commits to providing support to better legislative process, I call on you to also actively participate and guide these legislative processes at all levels and support the ministry in achieving greater results.”

For his part, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Halebonoe Setšabi, said it was essential for the Ministry of Law to be well-equipped to efficiently drive the legislative drafting processes of the ongoing national reforms process as the national consultations were almost complete.

“Good ICT systems will help the government to deliver on critical laws in a timely manner and thereby build the nation’s confidence in the overall reforms process,” Mr Setšabi said

He said the equipment along with previous donations, the ongoing technical assistance in the form of capacity building in the office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the technical support to Law Reform Commission were valued at M12, 3 million.

For his part, Law minister Habofanoe Lehana said the equipment would help his ministry reach new heights in digitalisation that had seemed impossible due to lack of finances.

He said the gesture would create an environment suitable for investment and economic transformation by ensuring that all the departments worked together towards the attainment of all the goals that the project was set up to achieve.

“This support will strengthen the provision of our legal services throughout Lesotho and our relationships with our stakeholders not only in the economic reforms, but also in the digitalisation of the ministry and information sharing with other institutions and jurisdictions.”

He said the handover came at an opportune time when the ministry was currently working towards the implementation of the Integrated Case Management System Project (ICMSP) which is meant to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts by using advanced technologies.

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Pascalinah Kabi

THE opposition Mpulule Political Summit has lambasted the warring All Basotho Convention (ABC) factions for endangering the country’s stability and economic prospects through their failure to resolve their leadership problems.

The ABC has been riven by serious infighting ever since party leader and Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and some senior party officials rejected Professor Nqosa Mahao’s February 2019 election as deputy leader, accusing the latter of being a relative newcomer who should not have landed the second most powerful party post ahead of more seasoned stalwarts.

The impasse over Prof Mahao’s election led to the 17 June 2019 “expulsions” of Prof Mahao and his allies by Dr Thabane and also sparked a lot of litigation between the factions.

The Mahao faction responded by suspending Dr Thabane and deputy secretary general, Nkaku Kabi, for six years. So vicious is the ABC power struggle that the Mahao faction has since tabled a no confidence motion against Dr Thabane in parliament. This could lead to the collapse of the governing coalition.

The Mahao faction is on record saying it approached the ABC’s coalition partners and the churches to mediate in its dispute with Dr Thabane and his acolytes.

However, talks between the two factions have failed to yield positive results as the factions remain far apart and continue trashing each other in the courts.

And in a recent open letter to the nation, Mpulule leader, Pastor Remaketse Sehlabaka, said over the past months the ABC has shown itself incapable of resolving its power struggle through peaceful dialogue and the two factions had resorted to attacking each other at their separate rallies.

“The ABC leadership believes in individualism and allows personal feelings to control them and cloud their judgment thereby failing to do what is expected of them as leaders,” Pastor Sehlabaka said.

He said the infighting had far-reaching consequences including incubating a dangerous culture of hatred that could result in political killings which could go beyond the ABC and affect future generations.

“The strategy that the new ABC NEC is using to fight for power is distasteful and far worse than anything we have seen in the world. It indicates that a dark cloud is hovering over Lesotho in terms of a leadership that is far lacking. It has lost direction and is unable to handle national issues in a dignified manner.

“Nowhere in the world have we seen a leadership so power hungry that it is ready to oust its own government. By doing so they are plotting the demise of their own political party while at the same time chasing away the electorate notwithstanding the deeply rooted hatred and killings the infighting will attract,” Pastor Sehlabaka said.

He reserved his venom for Prof Mahao who he accused of undermining Dr Thabane’s leadership by holding parallel countrywide rallies.

“Where in the world have we seen a deputy leader forcefully entering the office and holding rallies parallel to that of the party leader when they are supposed to be working together? He (Prof Mahao) is fuelling a national crisis.”

He said it was also scary that there were people who were supporting Prof Mahao’s bid to wrest control of the party.

He said there were ways of building support without diving the party or collapsing the government.

“He (Prof Mahao) can successfully win people’s hearts and build a strong support base, be seen as a respectful leader who has other tactics of taking control of the party without resorting to the divide and rule strategy. This country is in grave danger because of a leadership that is inhumane, unpatriotic and do not fear the Lord.

“One cannot help but wonder who is financially supporting the new ABC’s NEC to continuously hold weekly rallies which are furthering divisions within the party and the government. One also wonders why ABC partners in the coalition government are so silent on this matter yet a government that they are leading is collapsing.”

Contacted for comment, ABC spokesperson Montoeli Masoetsa warned Pastor Sehlabaka to stop meddling in ABC issues and concentrate on the growth of his own party.

“It is clear that he is pro-Malumara (State House faction) and whatever he is saying is not something that we can lose sleep over. He (Sehlabaka) cannot tell us that the deputy leader is holding rallies when he is part of the new NEC that is being invited to constituency rallies to introduce ourselves as per the ABC constitution,” Mr Masoetsa said.

He said the new NEC would not listen to Dr Thabane as long as he disregarded the decisions of the party’s February 2019 elective conference which elected Prof Mahao and the rest of the NEC.

“Sehlabaka is complaining about funds to hold rallies and what he does not realise is that the ABC supporters are funding themselves to attend those rallies. Unlike the Malumara faction which hires buses to ferry people to their rallies, our supporters pay their way to constituency rallies.

“We have won court cases but the other side, which Sehlabaka is clearly supporting, is refusing to let us take control of the party. What more does he want? Mahao did not forcefully take control of the office, we won a court case and went there to execute the order,” he said.

The post Minor opposition party attacks ABC appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Pascalinah Kabi

THE no confidence motion which was filed against Prime Minister Thomas Thabane by All Basotho Convention (ABC)’s Koro-Koro legislator, Motebang Koma, allegedly vanished without trace from the office of the National Assembly Speaker, Sephiri Motanyane.

This according to Democratic Congress (DC) deputy leader, Motlalentoa Letsosa, who says they were forced to resubmit a new motion on Thursday. Mr Letsosa made the revelations in parliament on Friday.

The motion was first submitted in June 2019 by Mr Koma, a member of the ABC faction backing estranged ABC deputy leader in his quest to wrest control of the party from party leader and premier, Dr Thabane. Mr Koma’s motion was supported by Mr Letsosa but the motion is yet to be tabled and voted. Parliament was indefinitely closed without explanation in June and only re-opened in October amid widespread speculation that it was closed to give Dr Thabane time to deal with the infighting in the ABC.

Speaking on the disappearance of the motion in parliament, Mr Letsosa, said, “Honourable speaker, I wanted to stand on a point of order because yesterday (Thursday) we were forced to resubmit our motion which disappeared in your office”.

“We were surprised that a motion can just disappear from your office Honourable Speaker. But we have resubmitted our motion and we request that you deal with it diligently,” Mr Letsosa said.

In a subsequent interview with this publication, Mr Letsosa said he intentionally brought up the issue to alert the public of the disappearance of the motion.

“We resubmitted the motion yesterday but I wanted him (Mr Motanyane) to be exposed so that the motion doesn’t disappear again,” he said.

On his part, Mr Motanyane said they would call a search party to look for the motion. He said they would even approach the police and the media for assistance.

“We will call a search party for the motion…We will even go to the police and make announcements on radios for them to assist us in this search,” Mr Motanyane said.

The DC’s legislator for Malingoaneng, Serialong Qoo, said it was disturbing that the motion disappeared immediately after Attorney General Haae Phoofolo issued a legal opinion saying the motion was legally sound and could be tabled before parliament and voted upon.

“When motion was filed with your office, you (Mr Motanyane) told this house that you were going to ask for a legal opinion from the Attorney General. Now that it (legal opinion) has been issued, the motion disappears and you are now going to look for it at the police. What do we need to do,” asked Mr Qoo.

Mr Motanyane ignored Mr Qoo and asked the Minister of Water, Samonyane Ntsekele, to respond to an urgent question from Maletsunyane Member of Parliament Khutliso Mokhethi.

Mr Mokhethi had asked if the minister was aware that the town of Semonkong has been without water for the past three months and that this situation placed the lives of people in the area at risk. He wanted to know how soon the issue would be addressed but the question could not be answered as Mr Ntsekele was absent on the day.

Minister of Mining, Temeki Tšolo, then stood up and asked that the question be deferred, much to the annoyance of the opposition which said that it was unheard of for parliament to defer an urgent question.

Despite the opposition protests, Mr Motanyane announced that the question had been deferred. He also adjourned parliament until Monday afternoon.

Earlier on, Mr Motanyane had asked the Leader of the House and Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki why the government side was empty, much to the delight of the opposition who chorused that there was no government.

“Honourable Leader of the House, what is happening on this (government) side of the house? Where is the chief whip? Why didn’t you chase after him? Honourable leader of the house, are you able to respond to my question in the absence of the chief whip,” asked Mr Motanyane.

Mr Moleleki replied by saying, “Honourable Speaker, today is the normal sitting of the house and those who were unable to come didn’t boycott this sitting but have chosen to confuse themselves. This is still a sitting of the house”.

The post No confidence motion ‘mysteriously vanishes’ from speaker’s office appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Bataung Moeketsi

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the government against unbridled spending on large scale projects such as the proposed M2, 4 billion construction of new sports facilities including a stadium for the Africa Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games to be hosted by Lesotho next year.

The warning comes against the background of recent revelations by the Deputy Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance, Hlompho Matsoso, that the Thomas Thabane administration was deep in debt and owes service providers a whooping M1 billion.

Ms Matsoso’s disclosure was made to parliament at a time when the government is failing to timeously pay service providers. The state has also pleaded poverty when confronted by restive civil servants, particularly teachers and magistrates demanding salary increments.

The government’s debt crisis is borne out of the failure to raise enough money due to declining South African Customs Unit (SACU) revenues. Even though the Lesotho revenue Authority (LRA) met its collection targets for the first time in two years, this was not enough to cover the deficit caused by the declining SACU revenues. Consequently government has been struggling to pay various services providers who-according to Ms Matsoso- are owed a massive M1 billion.

The parlous situation has not been helped by the government’s failure to convince international development partners to lend financial assistance to help balance the national budget. Despite Finance Minister, Moeketsi Majoro’s spirited attempts, the IMF has so far refused to provide a financial rescue package which will help to reduce the budget deficit.

Among other things, the IMF wants the government to reduce the high public wage bill, undertake public financial management reform as well as implement the multi-sector reforms that were recommended by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Several meetings have been held between the government and IMF officials over the last two years but the parties are nowhere near reaching a deal as the IMF is still unhappy with what is considers to be unbridled government spending which can only worsen the debt crisis.

And these concerns have been repeated by an IMF team led by Joseph Thornton, which was in the country from 6 to 13 November 2019 “to discuss recent developments and the economic outlook in the context of its regular surveillance activities”.

In addition to the already existing concerns about government profligacy, the IMF raised the red flag over the government’s plans to construct the new M2, 4 billion sports facilities.

“While the authorities’ efforts to maintain economic stability have ensured that international reserves remain at adequate levels, Lesotho continues to face challenges in adjusting to a context of lower SACU revenues,” Mr Thornton said in a statement after his visit.

“With sluggish growth limiting the potential for domestic tax receipts, an improved outlook for government finances will require strong policy actions on spending.

“In this context, effective expenditure controls, including careful vetting of new projects and their financing, will be more important than ever. This particularly applies to large projects, such as the proposed new sports facilities, which have major implications for the country’s debt burden and fiscal sustainability. Investment should support the achievement of key development objectives, including growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.”

So broke is the government that it has been forced to turn to a South African company, Property 2000, for a M2, 4 billion loan to finance the construction of sports facilities for the Africa Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games to be hosted by Lesotho next year.

Besides the IMF, the government’s move has been criticised by Ms Matsoso and other senior finance and sports ministry officials.

“We cannot afford that (M2, 4 billion) loan,” Ms Matsoso said in response to PAC chairperson, Selibe Mochoboroane, who had asked her whether government could afford the M2, 4 billion required for the construction of facilities for the AUSC youth games.

“We cannot afford that loan. Government gets most of its cash from the South African Customs Unit (SACU) revenues and that is only M6 billion. All of that money goes to salaries and it is only enough to last for a quarter of the financial year. Thereafter, tax and non-tax collections, which are not sustainable, are used to pay salaries to cover for the remaining three quarters of the financial year.

“Couple that with the M1 billion that government still owes to the service providers and so that means we cannot afford to pay the loan (M2, 4 billion),” Ms Matsoso said.

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Pascalinah Kabi

AN Alliance of Democrats (AD) activist, Seeiso Letsie, has accused senior AD official and Home Affairs Minister, Mokhele Moletsane, of using soldiers to fight his opponents within the ruling party.

This after a recent incident where Mr Moletsane’s bodyguards allegedly assaulted Mr Letsie’s sister in a scuffle that ensued after a dispute between the latter and the bodyguards over parking space in Maseru’s industrial area.

Mr Letsie said the attack was probably due to the bad blood between him and Mr Moletsane after the former campaigned to ensure that Mr Moletsane did not win the secretary general’s post which was eventually won by his rival, Gender Minister, Mahali Phamotse, in the contest for the post of AD secretary general.

Mr Moletsane who had served in that post in an interim capacity, was beaten by Dr Phamotse at the AD’s 2018 elective conference. In the aftermath of the AD elections- according to Mr Letsie- he and Mr Moletsane met at a football match where the minister made it clear that he did not like him at all.

And Mr Letsie believes that Mr Moletsane’s soldier bodyguards took advantage of the recent misunderstanding between them over parking space in Maseru to assault his sister.

Mr Letsie said the bodyguards also threatened to shoot his brother.

The AD activist conceded that he was at fault for parking his vehicle in front of Mr Moletsane’s car at a local restaurant in Maseru. He said he however, explained to the minister’s bodyguards that he had done so as there was no parking space and he would quickly drive away after his passengers had used the ablution facilities at the restaurant.

“I parked my car in front of a government vehicle and at the time I didn’t even know that it belonged to Moletsane.

“But I greeted the driver and a bodyguard and explained to them that I would not say long as I had people who just wanted to use a restroom,” Mr Letsie said.

He said it only dawned on him that the government vehicle belonged to Mr Moletsane after he saw him sitting in the restaurant with another man.

He said Mr Moletsane left the restaurant shortly afterwards and he followed so that he would remove his car which was blocking the minister’s path.

He said he had problems starting his car and it was then that one of Mr Moletsane’s bodyguards approached him and accused him of blocking the minister’s path because he was fighting Mr Moletsane in the AD.

“I was travelling with my sister, wife and siblings. Moletsane’s bodyguard said to me, ‘you have blocked the way because you are fighting Moletsane’. I asked him where that was coming from. All the while Moletsane was sitting inside his vehicle.

“My sister came over to close my door which had been open and it was then that the soldier slapped her. This angered me and my brother who then approached the soldier to defend my sister. But the soldier threatened to shoot him.”

Mr Letsie said he was later advised by fellow AD members to engage the minister to amicably resolve their differences. He said his efforts were rebuffed by Mr Moletsane who rudely told him that he should not involve in issues involving soldiers as he did not work at Makoanyane barracks.

“He (Mr Moletsane) said a lot of crap before he cut the phone. I have nothing against Moletsane but it is just that I worked very hard to ensure that he didn’t win the NEC elections. But after the elections, I thought we had buried the hatchet until one day at a football match where he made it clear that he did not like me at all. But I have no problem with that as long as he doesn’t use soldiers to fight his political battles.

“He will not always be a minister and one day we will both be ordinary civilians. I can let this pass for now and then retaliate when he is no longer a minister,” Mr Letsie said.

However, Mr Moletsane denied any wrongdoing and instead praised his bodyguards for exercising restraint in the face of provocation by a “drunk Letsie”.

“I really have no interest in this issue because my bodyguards exercised a lot of restraint in a situation where Letsie and the ladies that he was with were so drunk and unruly. I am not fighting my political battles using soldiers. This is not the first time Letsie has behaved in this manner. He does this when he is drunk,” Mr Moletsane said.

The post Moletsane in altercation with party member appeared first on Lesotho Times.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

A MOSOTHO man has claimed that he is the owner of the Toyota Cressida which the late former South African President, Nelson Mandela, and his then wife Winnie were driven in shortly after Mr Mandela’s release from prison in 1990.

Mr Mandela who spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of treason against the then apartheid regime, was driven in Toyota Cressida shortly after his release from Victor Verster Prison on 11 February 1990.

The vehicle which was sourced from the Protea Toyota dealership in Bellville, Cape Town, was later returned to the same dealership and according to https://www.wheels24.co.za/ it was sold “without its momentous role in history being documented”.

“The bizarre consequence of all this is that the most famous Cressida in history has effectively disappeared whereas it should have been stored for future display purposes,” the car magazine states in its online article titled “What happened to the Toyota Cressida Madiba was driving in when he was released from prison?”

But the mystery of the disappearance of the Toyota Cressida has probably been solved after a Mosotho man, Selibe Sello*, approached this publication and claimed he is in possession of the iconic vehicle.

Mr Sello said the grey automatic Cressida “is the best sedan ever and it has never given me any mechanical problems”.

Narrating how he got to own the car, Mr Sello said, “I was in Durban on some business in 2009 when I spotted this car at some drive-in where cars are sold on Sundays and right next to it was a big signboard written ‘Mandela’s Cressida”.

“I immediately fell in love with that car but I never bought the story that it belonged to Mandela. To me the Mandela connection was not significant but I liked the fact that the car was in good condition and as one who loved Cressidas I approached the car dealer, one Mr Krishnapersadh, who was selling the car for R50 000.

“I didn’t have that kind of money on that day and I pleaded with him to keep the car for me until I came back at the end of the month in January 2009. I eventually negotiated to pay R48 000 so that I would use the change to buy fuel. A few months later, the same car dealer called me with an offer to buy back the car for R500 000 because it had some historic significance. But I turned him down because I had fallen in love with the car.”

He said Mr Krishnapersadh narrated to him how he ended up with car in his dealership.

Mr Krishnapersadh is said to have told Mr Sello that he (Mr Krishnapersadh) and his friend, Major John William Harding (who had been in charge of Robben Island when Mr Mandela was imprisoned at the facility), took care of Mr Mandela’s needs and in their work they used the Cressida vehicle which had been donated by a Cape Town car dealer.

He said after the vehicle had ferried Mr Mandela upon his release from prison, they kept the vehicle because the authorities never demanded it back.

Major Harding is said to have been the first to use the car after relocating to Centurion, Johannesburg in 1992.  He later handed it over to Mr Krishnapersadh who had moved to Durban and when the latter registered it, it had the registration number ND 232255. The duo later agreed to sell the car and share the proceeds.

Since learning about the Mandela connection, Mr Sello said he had called the South African authorities including the ruling African National Congress Secretary General, Ace Magashule, to inform him that he is in possession of the iconic vehicle.

“I tried all I could to notify the South African authorities as I had learnt that they were searching for the car after it had been sold like any ordinary car. I even called Ace Magashule who told me that he was going for Robert Mugabe’s funeral in Zimbabwe (in September 2019) and he would revert to me as soon as he got back which he has not done up to now.

“I also called the then Western Cape provincial transport minister, Sanele Nyoka, upon learning that he had tasked some investigators to look for the vehicle.”

Mr Sello says due to the “negative reaction” he has so far received from the South African authorities he would be willing to sell the ‘iconic car’ to the highest bidder.

Various South African reports show that the bonnet suffered some dents caused by the massive crowds that greeted Mr Mandela upon his release.

This publication saw Mr Sello’s car which appears to have a few dents on the bonnet even after maintenance and repainting.

“The car is still as good as new and has never been involved in an accident. It is kept in a safe place and is rarely used. Nothing has been changed except the steering cover,” Mr Sello said.

This publication recently spoke to Mr Krishnapersadh’s son, Sanjay Krishnapersadh, who said his father had since passed on.  Sanjay said he could not vouch for the claims that the car had indeed been used by Mr Mandela. He also said he was no longer in contact with Major Harding who had changed his address.

“My father long passed on. I know about that car but I don’t have any way of proving that it was used by Mandela and I don’t even have Mr Harding’s contacts.”

South African High Commissioner in Lesotho, Sello Moloto, said he had not heard of Mr Sello’s claims that he owned the Mandela vehicle. Mr Moloto however, said he would “really be happy to host him and hear his side of the story while we also think of other means to get verifications of his from historians”.

*Selibe Sello is not the alleged Mandela vehicle owner’s real name. His real name has been withheld because he fears the likely international spotlight which would come with being publicly known as the owner of the sought-after car.

The post Mandela’s Cressida resurfaces in Lesotho? appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Bereng Mpaki

AUDITOR General (AG) Lucy Liphafa has bemoaned the poor state of the government’s financial statements due to, among others, officials’ non-compliance with the country’s financial laws.

Ms Liphafa expressed her unfavourable opinion in the audit report of the government’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2018.

The report was recently tabled in parliament by Trade and Industry Minister Halebonoe Setšabi.

Ms Liphafa’s basis for the adverse opinion includes among others non-compliance with the finance laws of the country; unmatching figures between the consolidated financial statements and the supporting records; and inadequate information technology (IT) controls in the Integrated Financial Information Management System (IFMIS).

“In my opinion, …the accompanying consolidated financial statements do not present fairly the financial position of the government as at 31 March 2018, its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS),” Ms Liphafa said in the report.

On the non-compliance of the books with the country’s financial laws, Ms Liphafa said: “Transfers of M22, 322 million from Trust Monies Account to the NMDS bank account exceeded M9, 115 million NMDS funds received during the year by M13, 207 million.

“The transfers from this account contravened the requirements of the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act 2011, as there was no evidence that monies remained unclaimed for a period of five years to be transferred to consolidated Fund or evidence availed substantiating NMDS ownership.

“Advance warrants from the contingencies fund totalling M95, 3 million were directly allocated to some voted heads of expenditure. That contravened the constitution, which requires allocations to heads of expenditure to be made only on the basis of the Appropriation Act.

“This issue recurred on annual basis since 2009/10 and a total amount of M1, 144 billion… Statutory expenditure in the amount of M2, 806 billion was excluded from the Appropriation Act although the amount was included in the budget speech. This contravenes the constitution that requires expenditures to be allocated on the basis of the Appropriation Act.”

On the government’s cash position, Ms Liphafa said there was no certainty in the government’s actual number of bank accounts and the funds in the bank accounts.

“…The financial statements show that there were 367 accounts held at different banks with a total balance of M4, 339 billion as at 31 March 2018. However, bank confirmation statements revealed 411 bank accounts totalling M4, 441 billion as of that date resulting in a difference of M101 million.”

Ms Liphafa noted that there was a discrepancy of M498 million between the bank balance of M4, 339 billion and government’s cash book balance due to lack of bank reconciliations.

The report also shows that underlying records for grants, foreign loans, domestic loans, recurrent expenditure — voted heads, and development expenditure differed with those from the financial statement.

“Figures in the consolidated financial statements were misstated as they differ from figures in the underlying records… Underlying records consist of ministries financial statements and debt records in the case of loans.”

The AG also expressed concern over the inefficiency of the IFMIS.

“The quality, validity, accuracy and completeness of information produced by IFMIS remains doubtful as there was no cut-off date for postings for the 2017/18 financial year. The system allowed spending units to continue making postings after the consolidated financial statements had been submitted for audit hence verification of balances became impossible.

For his part, Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro said the IMFIS would be upgraded to newer versions this year.

“I am committed to improving the quality of the financial statements to an ultimate point of depicting the true financial position of the government of Lesotho. The IFMSIS is being upgraded to a later version in the 2019/2020 financial year.

“Efforts are being made by the Accountant General to clean data in the IFMIS for accurate balances and reconcile books of accounts on time. Budget execution reports will also be published regularly in order to portray the high level of transparency desired by all stakeholders.

“I would like to extend my gratitude to the International Monetary Funds (IMF), European Union (EU), the World Bank and the African Development Bank for their unwavering support to the Public Financial Management Reform and Action Plan (PFMRAP). This initiative is mainly focused on improving the quality of financial reporting,” Dr Majoro said.

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Bereng Mpaki

OPPOSITION legislators have refused to adopt a parliamentary report recommending salary increments for members of parliament and officials in charge of the parastatals.

The proposals for the salary increments are contained in the Members of Parliament Salaries (Amendment Schedule) Regulations of 2019 and the Statutory Salaries (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations of 2019 published in a government gazette of October 2019.

The two pieces of legislation are meant “to review the salaries of the members of parliament and officials in statutory positions according to different categories and ranks, and repeal and replace the previous regulations on salaries of members of parliament and statutory positions”.

If approved by parliament, the MPs’ annual salaries would be increased from M413 668 to M430 236.

The salary increments were supposed to be have implemented in the 2018/19 financial year but on Monday the deliberations on the increments had to be deferred to a yet to be announced date after opposition legislators argued that there should be not be any increments because treasury could not afford the increments.

The MPs voiced their views on the salary increments when the report on the proposed increments was tabled by the Portfolio Committee on the Prime Minister’s Ministries, Departments, Governance, Foreign Relations and Information in parliament this week.

The opposition legislators accused the government of seeking to increase salaries against the advice of Finance Minister, Moeketsi Majoro.

In his 2019/20 budget speech, Dr Majoro proposed that there should not be any salary increments for civil servants. He even proposed a five percent salary cut for ministers.

The Acting Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on the Prime Minister’s Ministries, Departments, Governance, Foreign Relations and Information Cluster, Lekhetho Mosito had recommended the adoption of the two pieces of legislation, saying they merely regularised salary increments that had been legislated for the 2018/19 financial year.

“The contents of these regulations are just a confirmation of the salary increments for MPs and holders of statutory positions for the 2018/19 financial year.

“The portfolio committee has considered the regulations and has advised itself to approve the report and I therefore propose for the House to approve the report,” Mr Mosito said.

But legislator Kimetso Mathaba, who is also the leader of the National Independent Party (NIP), said increasing the salaries at this juncture now would only further deplete the fiscus.

“This report should not be approved by the house. Given that the increments are with effected from 1 April 2018, this means there would be arrears which will have to be paid from that date onwards. I therefore recommend that the House should not accept these regulations,” Mr Mathaba said.

Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) leader and Mahobong legislator, Mothetjoa Metsing, concurred saying the regulations needed to be further discussed before being adopted.

Democratic Congress legislator, Serialong Qoo said, “We have no interest in this thing whatsoever”.

National Assembly Speaker, Sephiri Motanyane, then put the issue to vote and the majority voted to defer the deliberations on the salary increments to a date that will be announced in due course.

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Ntsebeng Motsoeli

DEMOCRATIC Congress (DC) leader, Mathibeli Mokhothu, says the Thomas Thabane regime only has itself to blame for the wool and mohair debacle which saw thousands of angry farmers take to the streets of Maseru in June 2019 to protest the delays in paying them for their produce.

Mr Mokhothu also said the wool and mohair saga should serve as a lesson to the farmers and other Basotho that the governing coalition did not have their interests at heart and therefore they should overwhelmingly vote in a DC government in the next elections. The opposition leader said all this while addressing hundreds of DC supporters at a weekend rally in the Bobete constituency.

Last week, Mr Mokhothu joined other opposition and government legislators in endorsing the report of the Kimetso Mathaba-led parliamentary ad hoc committee which recommended, among other things, the amendment of the controversial 2018 wool and mohair regulations to allow farmers to sell their produce from anywhere in the world and through brokers of their choice.

The ad hoc committee, comprising of 17 legislators drawn from the governing parties and the opposition, said that the wool and mohair regulations should be amended because they had impoverished thousands of Basotho and it also called on the government to ensure that all farmers are paid their dues for the produce they delivered to the Lesotho Wool Centre (LWC).

From May 2018 when the regulations were gazetted until August 2019, farmers could only sell their produce through the LWC in Thaba Bosiu which enjoyed a monopoly in the wool and mohair industry. The LWC’s monopoly was eventually struck down in the aftermath of massive street protests by the farmers in Maseru in June 2019. The farmers staged the “mother of all demonstrations” to force the government to repeal the regulations and allow them to sell their produce via South African brokers, BKB, as they had done for 44 years until last year when the new laws were passed.

The farmers argued that they were assured of quick and higher payments by BKB than those offered by the LWC. The LWC is co-owned by the Lesotho National Wool and Mohair Growers Association (LWMGA) and controversial Chinese businessman, Stone Shi. Mr Shi is said to enjoy close ties with several cabinet ministers and the 2018 regulations were widely seen as an attempt to give him a monopoly in the wool and mohair sector.

And on Sunday, Mr Mokhothu said the government had itself to blame for the regulations which had made it unpopular with the farmers. He alleged that some cabinet ministers were on Mr Shi’s payroll and they even moved around the country’s shedding posts to ensure that all the wool and mohair was delivered to the LWC to enhance Mr Shi’s unfettered dominance in the sector.

“If it were not for the governing coalition of the AD (Alliance of Democrats), ABC (All Basotho Convention), RCL (Reformed Congress of Lesotho) and the BNP (Basotho National Party), farmers would not have been defrauded of their wool and mohair,” Mr Mokhothu told the cheering DC supporters on Sunday.

“They (government) stole your only means of income and gave it to their Chinese friend. He (Mr Shi) hired cabinet ministers who moved around the shedding posts to force farmers to sell their produce to him and he has disappeared with the money.

“He has to pay the farmers. But if doesn’t pay then the government should pay. They are better off paying Basotho than spending money on expensive international trips.”

He said while the wool and mohair debacle was “very unfortunate”, it should however, serve as a lesson to the electorate “to never again vote for the wrong people”.

“Go and tell your fellow villagers, especially wool and mohair farmers to never elect the current coalition parties again. Be wise because elections are a matter of life and death.”

Mr Mokhothu’s DC has thrown its weight behind ongoing moves by the Professor Nqosa Mahao-led ABC faction to topple Dr Thabane in a no confidence vote in parliament.

Although the DC supports the Mahao faction’s nominee, Samuel Rapapa, to replace Dr Thabane as caretaker prime minister, the opposition party believes that Dr Thabane will not hand over power in the event of a successful no confidence vote. It believes that Dr Thabane would rather advise King Letsie III to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections, hence its ongoing countrywide rallies to drum support ahead of the possible polls.

At the weekend rally, Mr Mokhothu promised that a DC government would assist wool and mohair farmers by subsidising the purchase of rams and ewes.

“We will also establish a water fund to promote irrigation so that farming and food production can continue even during the drought. We should be able to produce our own food and stop importing from South Africa. That way we will create employment for our youth and end their plight as domestic workers in South Africa.

“These are some of the policies that the DC will implement when we get into power. Some say that I want the elections because I am eager to become the prime minister. The truth is that I am sick of the dire poverty and misery that this government has brought upon the people. All they have mastered is to fly in and out of the country and they have not done anything to bring any investment into the country,” Mr Mokhothu said.

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Pascalinah Kabi/Nat Molomo

TWO local businessmen, Teboho Tlokotsi and Tumo Ramonaheng, have filed a Constitutional Court application to stop their trial for corruption in connection with the government vehicle fleet tender. The Constitutional Court is expected to hear the duo’s application today.

Messrs Tlokotsi and Ramonaheng filed an urgent application for an order to stop Maseru Magistrate, Senekale Qobolo, from trying them. The duo want the trial stopped on the grounds that they were prejudiced by a pre-trial conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO).

The two businessman, who were formally charged with corruption in the procurement of the government vehicle fleet last week, also want the Constitutional Court to issue an interim order excusing them from attending remands until the finalisation of their application.

According to the charge sheet, the two are charged with contravening the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act after allegedly “accepting or attempting to accept” bribes totalling M234 000 from Democratic Congress legislator, Likeleli Tampane, and several others to facilitate the hiring of their vehicles  for the government fleet.

The tender process for the procurement of the government fleet, which was held in September 2018, failed to yield the required 341 vehicles after hundreds of applications were disqualified for failing to meet the requirements.

Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro first announced in March 2018 that cabinet had resolved to lease 1400 vehicles from Basotho who include taxi operators, disabled groups, youth, women’s groups and legislators who were not cabinet ministers.

Others who were excluded from tendering were senior government officials such as directors in ministries, principal secretaries and deputy ministers.

The finance ministry however, received information that some of these officials could have either sneaked in their bids or used ordinary Basotho as “fronts” when the tender bids were submitted last September.

The DCEO was then roped in to investigate these allegations and according to sources, it discovered that some desperate vehicle owners were made to pay as much as M40 000 to have their vehicles leased to government.

The DCEO subsequently came under fire a fortnight ago from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Hlalefang Motinyane, who told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that she was surprised that the anti-corruption body had not prosecuted high profile suspects for corruption in the fleet tender almost four months after she had directed it to prosecute.

In terms of the DCEO Act, the anti-corruption body only prosecutes cases after getting then consent to do so from the DPP.

Adv Motinyane made the remarks a week after the DCEO’s suspended Chief Investigations Officer, Thabiso Thibeli, told PAC that the DCEO’s investigations pointed to the Finance ministry’s principal secretary Motena Tšolo, Senqu legislator Likeleli Tampane, Messrs Tlokotsi and Ramonaheng and one ‘Mafusi as the suspects in the alleged fleet tender corruption.

Mr Thibeli accused DCEO Director General, Mahlomola Manyokole, of ordering his suspension to punish him for investigating some individuals who could be his (Adv Manyokole) friends for corruption in the procurement of the government fleet. Mr Tlokotsi had been particularly cited as an ally of Mr Manyokole.

However, Adv Manyokole vehemently denied allegations that he sought to block any high profile cases from being prosecuted. He told PAC that he had forwarded all the case files to the office of the DPP for prosecution and recommended that all suspects be prosecuted except for PS Tšolo because there was no substantial evidence against her.

Messrs Tlokotsi and Ramonaheng were subsequently charged with corruption last week and they are now fighting to have criminal charges permanently dropped from the roll.

The DPP, the DCEO, the Director General of the DCEO, Maseru Magistrate Senekale Qobolo, the Maseru Magistrate Court Clerk, the Attorney General, the PAC, PAC Chairperson Selibe Mochoboroane, National Assembly Clerk and suspended DCEO chief investigation officer Thabiso Thibeli are cited as 1^st to 10^th respondents respectively in the case.

In their Constitutional Court papers, Messrs Tlokotsi and Ramonaheng ask the court to order “that a criminal trial scheduled for hearing on the 20^th and 21^st January 2020 in the Maseru Magistrate Court before the 4^th respondent (Magistrate Qobolo) be permanently stayed on account of the pre-trial prejudice occasioned by the illegal and or unconstitutional overtures of the PAC, the DPP and the DCEO”.

“The decision to prosecute the applicants by 1^st respondent (DPP) be reviewed, corrected and or set aside on grounds of being irrational and or unlawful.

“That it be declared that the conduct of the 7^th (the PAC) and or 8^th respondent (PAC Chairperson) of probing issues that have to do with criminal investigation involving applicants was both illegal and or unlawful,” the duo state in their court papers.

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Staff Reporter

THE Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) is investigating former Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB) Chief Executive Officer, Mpho Vumbukani, for allegedly breaching the bank’s procurement policies in connection with his purchase of a house from the bank.

Mr Vumbukani is also being investigated by the anti-corruption body for corruption after he allegedly “frustrated” payments by the SLB to wool and mohair farmers for their produce.

Mr Vumbukani, who made history by becoming the first Mosotho to head the SLB, resigned on 30 September 2019 after eight years in charge. A statement issued by the bank’s board of directors did not give any reasons for Mr Vumbukani’s resignation.

When contacted for comment this week, the DCEO Spokesperson, ’Matlhokomelo Senoko, said they were investigating Mr Vumbukani over his purchase of a house from the bank and for frustrating the processes of paying the wool and mohair farmers. Ms Senoko however, refused to give details for fear of prejudicing the investigations.

“All I can confirm to you is that Mr Vumbukani is being investigated on the issue of the house he is said to have purchased from the bank as well as the wool and mohair payment saga. That’s as much as I am able to tell for now,” said Mrs Senoko.

However, sources close to the investigations this week told the Lesotho Times that Mr Vumbukani is being investigated for alleged corruption after he bought the house from the bank and later rented it to the bank during his time in charge of the bank. He is said to have rented the house from 2012 to 2019.

According to the sources, the investigation stems from a 20 September 2012 decision by the bank’s board of directors to sell the bank’s house  in Maseru West to Mr Vumbukani for M3 320 000.

According to the deed of sale between SLB, represented by Mr Mopeli Mokhachane (now working in South Africa) and Mr Vumbukani, the property was sold to the latter for M3 320 000 “payable upon simultaneous registration of the mortgage bond in the name of Standard Lesotho Bank Limited”.

This allegedly in breach of the bank’s Fixed Asset Policy which states that the bank’s assets are disposed of only when they are damaged, no longer in use or have become obsolete and beyond repair or reuse.

The bank policy states that assets are disposed of when they can no longer be used for the original intended purpose. In the event of disposal of the bank’s assets, first preference is given to bank staff and thereafter all remaining items are either auctioned off to the public or donated to charities.

However, these policy guidelines were allegedly disregarded when the bank board authorised the sale of plot number 1228-495, House Number 1 in Tonakholo Road, Maseru West to Mr Vumbukani.  The same house was subsequently rented out to the bank from 2012 to 2019. The rent agreement lapsed on 31 January 2019.

The initial rent was M35 000 per month and it was later reviewed to M37 000 per month from 2016 onwards.

The transaction is said to be in contravention of Section 7 of Lesotho Procurement Policy of February 2018 which stipulates that employees, regardless of whether or not they have been hired on a permanent, fixed-term contract or consultancy basis, are not eligible to directly engage in business with the bank, either as vendors, subcontractors, sole proprietors or independent contractors during their appointment and for a cooling period of a year from the termination of their employment.

The sale of the property was subsequently investigated by a team of investigators from the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL). As part of their investigations, the CBL team demanded copies of the SLB’s procurement policy documents but the SLB’s Compliance Department allegedly failed to produce the required documents to prove that the sale was above board.

Mr Vumbukani was not reachable on his mobile phone for comment.  The SLB’s spokesperson, Manyathela Kheleli, said they were “not aware that there are such investigations”.

The DCEO is also investigating Mr Vumbukani for allegedly receiving bribes from an unnamed foreign broker to frustrate payments to wool and mohair farmers.

The restive farmers staged protests against the government in the aftermath of the promulgation of the controversial 2018 wool and mohair regulations which bar them from selling their produce from outside Lesotho and through the brokers of their choice as they had done for 44 years until the promulgation of the regulations.

The new regulations directed that they sell their produce in Lesotho through the Lesotho Wool Centre (LWC) in Thaba-Bosiu which is partly owned by controversial Chinese businessman, Stone Shi.

The farmers have however, accused the government of conspiring with Mr Shi to impoverish them through delayed payments which are said to be far less than what they received when their produce was sold from South Africa, largely through that country’s brokers, BKB.

However, the government and in particular ministers, Chalane Phori (Small Business Development, Cooperatives and Marketing) and Tefo Mapesela have accused the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA), CBL and the SLB of sabotaging the payments to wool and mohair farmers for the sale of their produce “to make the government look bad in the eyes of the farmers and the general population”.

Messrs Phori and Mapesela said the government had introduced progressive legislation to localise the sale of wool and mohair to ensure farmers fully benefited from their produce. They said instead of supporting the government efforts, the CBL, LRA and the SLB had all conspired to sabotage the government to make it unpopular in the eyes of the farmers.

Mr Phori went as far as saying the recent resignation of “one of the local bank managers” was “good riddance” as the bank manager had contributed to the controversy in the wool and mohair.  Although Mr Phori did not mention the local bank manager who had resigned, this could have been directed at Mr Vumbukani, who resigned in September 2019.

“I am happy that one of the local banks’ managers has resigned. I am hopeful that his departure will breathe some fresh air into this (wool and mohair) project. In one of the meetings that the cabinet sub-committee (on wool and mohair) held with managers of local banks, he (the bank manager) told us point blank that he would not consider the proposals which were raised to speed up processing payments for farmers,” Mr Phori said.

Mr Mapesela, who was Trade and Industry minister when the regulations were promulgated in 2018, concurred with Mr Phori. He said the wool and mohair sales were sabotaged by the banks to discredit the government.

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Mohalenyane Phakela

THE Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) paid M10 000 to the family of Lisebo Tang, who was gunned by soldiers guarding the Ha-Leqele residence of then army commander, Tlali Kamoli, on 9 May 2014.

The money was meant for compensation to buy a cow and sheep to be slaughtered at Ms Tang’s funeral as well as pay for her coffin. In return for the payment, the LDF got the Tang family to agree not to sue the army over Ms Tang’s death and also gagged the family from speaking to the media about the incident.

This according to Ha-Leqele headman, Tšosane Mphutlane, who testified during yesterday’s trial of three soldiers accused of murdering Ms Tang while on guard duty at Lt-Gen Kamoli’s home in May 2014.

The three soldiers are Tjekane Sebolai, Selone Ratšiu and Kopano Matsoso. They stand accused of murdering Ms Tang and attempted murder after they shot and injured her male companion, Tšepo Jane.

When the trial got underway before Botswana judge, Justice Kabelo Lebotse, yesterday, Chief Mphutlane took to the stand and read a document which he said was an agreement between the LDF and the Tang family after the 2014 killing of Ms Tang. Chief Mphutlane said he stamped the document in his capacity as a witness and area chief of Ha-Leqele on 14 May 2014.

Part of the agreement was that the Tang family “would not sue the LDF for the death of their child and not talk to media regarding the issue”.

“On 14 May 2014 a group of soldiers led by one Khotso Ramoqopo came to my place saying they were a delegation sent by the LDF to negotiate compensation with the Tang family,” Chief Mphutlane told the court.

“When we arrived at (the late) Lisebo Tang’s home in Ha-Leqele, we found Lisebo’s mother, two brothers and two neighbours who had come to pass their condolences.

“They (LDF delegation) said they had come to offer M10 000 compensation which would buy a coffin for the deceased, a cow and a sheep for the burial as well as pay for mortuary services. They said on top of that they would provide the Tang family with transport to attend the post-mortem as well as fetch the corpse from the mortuary.

“The LDF also pledged to build the family a two-roomed house before the funeral as they were still residing in a shack at the time. The agreement was signed that same day and my office stamped it. On 22 May 2014 they came back to give the Tang family the M10 000.”

Chief Mphutlane said the soldiers first came to his house in the early hours of 10 May 2014 seeking assistance to get hold of the Tang and Jane families to inform them about the previous night’s incident which left Ms Tang dead and Mr Jane injured.

After being shot by the three soldiers, Mr Jane and Ms Tang were rushed to the Makoanyane Military Hospital by Lt-Gen Kamoli’s eldest son, Atlehang.

Atlehang, who took the stand as a state witness on Tuesday, said when he ferried the duo to hospital, Ms Tang was still alive and “crying that she had been shot”. He said Mr Jane and Ms Tang were found half naked in their vehicle soon after the shooting incident.

“It was between 11pm and 12 midnight when I heard gunshots outside our home. About five to 10 minutes after the shooting died down, I rushed to my father’s bedroom where we discussed the incident. He then went outside and came back to inform me that the guards had shot people outside therefore I should take the car and ferry them to the hospital.

“Before fetching the car, I went to the crime scene where I found Tšepo in the driver’s seat and Lisebo on the passenger side. Both of them had their pants down on their knees with liquor bottles in the car. Lisebo was crying saying that she had been shot.

“Our neighbour, Tlhoriso Limo and Sebolai were also at the scene and they assisted in loading the injured onto the vehicle which I used to take them to the hospital,” Atlehang said.

Atlehang told the court that it was not the first time he was seeing Mr Jane as they were neighbours. He also said that Mr Jane had a company which was responsible for road construction in the area during that time and some of his employees rented the Kamoli family’s flats which were opposite the family’s private compound.

“Tšepo would at times sleep at our flats which his tenants occupied. The standard procedure while coming to our yard at night while driving was that one has to switch off the front lights and put on the lights inside the car so that the soldiers could clearly see who they were dealing with. The same procedure applied to the tenants and their visitors since only a passage separated the main compound with the rented flats.

“I asked Tšepo why he had driven like that (with his lights on) when he knew there were soldiers guarding the place and he said he was sorry he acted that way because he was drunk. I was with Ratšiu who also asked Tšepo why he had turned the vehicle like that in front of the gate,” Atlehang said.

The trial continues today and more witnesses are expected to take the stand. Advocate Lepeli Molapo is the prosecutor while Advocate Sello Tšabeha is representing the accused soldiers.

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• accuses Thabane of ignoring reforms while entertaining himself on foreign trips

Pascalinah Kabi

TEMPERS flared in parliament this week when outspoken Thaba-Bosiu Principal Chief, Khoabane Theko, accused Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his coalition partners of prioritising their entertainment in lavish foreign trips instead of driving the crucial multi-sector reforms process which has hitherto proceeded at a snail’s pace.

The constitutional, security sector, judicial, media and governance reforms were recommended by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2016 to foster long term stability in the Kingdom. But Lesotho has already missed SADC’s May 2019 deadline for the full implementation of the reforms.

Chief Theko, who has consistently called for the ouster of Dr Thabane for allegedly fuelling divisions in his All Basotho Convention (ABC), drew the ire of Basotho National Party (BNP) leader and Communications minister, Thesele ‘Maseribane, who begged to differ with the outspoken chief’s perspectives.

The heated exchanges happened during a joint sitting of the senate and national assembly in Maseru on Tuesday. The two houses jointly met to receive input reports from the country’s 10 districts about what ordinary people want to see included in the reforms. The reports were presented by the National Leaders’ Forum (NLF), which comprises of leaders of political leaders, traditional and religious leaders. The NLF is partly tasked with establishing consensus on the reforms.  A subcommittee of the NFL was involved in sourcing input from the districts.

The reforms process continues to move at a snail’s pace.  The NLF only met a fortnight ago to review reports from the in-district consultations that ended in May 2019. The consultations were conducted to ensure that Basotho of all backgrounds were afforded the opportunity to input the reforms.  The NLF met while Dr Thabane was away in Canada for the Canada- Africa Business Forum.

Chief Theko said the only reason why the reforms were moving at a snail’s pace was because the current coalition government was more focused on “entertaining themselves” as evidenced by the Prime Minister and his ministers and officials continuing to lavish themselves with cushy foreign trips.

“How many times have the South African people leading the reforms come into this country and found our leadership not ready? Is it the executive’s blame that they are not taking this (reforms) issue seriously,” Chief Theko asked rhetorically.

“You have a prime minister who will go to Canada for cannabis issues and you will have his deputy (Monyane Moleleki) going to the inauguration of the Botswana president, leaving behind the issues of reforms when the SADC facilitators are in this country.

“Let us face the truth and stop hiding behind non-issues. Let us have the deputy prime minister stand up and respond to this. What is the most important issue for him right now? Is it the governance issue and making sure that reforms are successful or is it for them to entertain themselves and go wherever they want to and not prioritising this (reforms) exercise? Let us not be deceived. It is this government that has delayed (the reforms) and no one else,” Chief Theko said to a rapturous response from senators and opposition legislators who banged on their desks.

All the while, Mr Moleleki sat quietly between Chief ‘Maseribane and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Motlohi Maliehe.

Chief Theko drew the ire of Chief ‘Maseribane who interjected him and asked to respond on the government’s behalf. Chief ‘Maseribane said there was nothing wrong with government leaders going on investment and reciprocal foreign trips. For instance, Mr Moleleki attended the inauguration of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi because the latter’s government had attended Dr Thabane’s June 2017 inauguration.

Chief ‘Maseribane said it was not only the government that had caused delays. Even opposition leaders had delayed submitting their input reports for collation alongside the input from the districts.

The reports from the districts were compiled by a subcommittee of the NFL, the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) and a team of experts.

Some members of parliament and senators however, demanded raw copies of the reports from the districts, saying there were some “questionable” contents in the summarized reports given to them by the NFL and the LCN. They did not believe the summarized reports were fully representative of the views from the districts.

Chief Khoabane and other principal chiefs, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso (Matsieng), Peete Lesaoana Peete (Koeneng) and Joel Motšoeneng (Leribe) were among senators who demanded raw reports from the district consultations.

They questioned the authenticity of the reports they were given and suggested that the LCN and the NFL sub-committee could not have been objective when they summarised the views of Basotho gathered through the in-district consultations.

Chief ‘Maseribane insisted it was unfair for only the government to be blamed yet the opposition was also party to the delays. But he spoke amid spirited interjections from opposition parliamentarians who refused to accept any blame for the delays.

The unrelenting Chief ‘Maseribane insisted, “The record is very clear, I was there (at the recent National Leaders’ Forum) representing the government and I was not embarrassed to stand and tell the whole world that the government requests more time to prepare itself”.

“The opposition was represented by Ntate Rakuoane (Lekhetho) and it is on record that they said they cannot give their concept paper. Let us be honest, we (government) are now making amends (for the delays). Allow me to make a point that we are here to make amends and we are not here to point fingers at each other.”

A defiant Teboho Sekata, the spokesman of the LCD, had been shouting and banging his desk demanding a chance to speak, prompting the chairperson of the joint sitting, Pelele Letsoela, of the Basotho Democratic National Party (BNDP) to plead with Chief ‘Maseribane to allow Mr Sekata to speak.

Mr Letsoela’s appeal however, fell on deaf ears as an equally defiant Chief ‘Maseribane refused to sit down.

“I am also showing that I am able to stand my ground. I will speak only the truth. Yes the Canadian trip took place and yes the Botswana trip took place. A president was inaugurated in Botswana and there is nothing wrong with the Lesotho leadership going there because they (Botswana leaders) were here when the prime minister was inaugurated (in June 2017). I represented the government on the reforms so let me speak.

“These are my knees and you will not tell me to sit down. I am explaining an issue here,” Chief Maseribane said while looking intently at Democratic Congress legislator, Khati Rapitso, and Basotho Congress Party leader, Thulo Mahlakeng.

The visibly irritated Chief Maseribane then charged towards Mr Rapitso and Advocate Mahlakeng. As he was approaching their table, Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) leader, Lekhetho Rakuoane, defused the situation by extending his hand and pulling Chief Maseribane to the seat next to his.

Chief Maseribane then agreed to sit next to Advocate Rakuoane thus diffusing the potentially explosive situation. It was not immediately clear what Mr Rapitso and Advocate Mahlakeng had said to incense Chief Maseribane so much as their microphones were switched off. The Lesotho Times has since established that Chief Maseribane had been angered by one of the opposition legislators’ claim that the government leaders were enriching themselves through the fledgling medical cannabis industry.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, the situation returned to normal and proceedings went on smoothly.

Before that, BNDP leader Mr Letsoela, who is not a legislator, had threatened to leave parliament if the lawmakers continued to be rowdy.

“Are you refusing to grant us an opportunity to make our presentations? We are only visitors here and I am begging you and let me tell you honourables, if you reject our request, we will take our things and leave. I am telling those that refusing to be guided by us when we are here to assist you that we will take our things and go,” Mr Letsoela said.

The post Tempers flare in parly after Chief Theko attacks Thabane appeared first on Lesotho Times.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

TWO of the country’s biggest opposition parties, the Mathibeli Mokhothu-led Democratic Congress (DC) and former Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing’s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) have begun talks aimed at forging a broad opposition coalition to topple Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.

The talks, which are being held under the mediation of fellow opposition parties which are represented in parliament, are also aimed at reconciling the LCD and DC which have been feuding ever since Mr Mokhothu replaced former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili at the helm of the DC in January 2019.

A united opposition in combination with the Professor Nqosa Mahao faction of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) would garner enough votes to topple Dr Thabane in a no confidence vote in parliament.

The embattled premier faces a tough battle to remain in power after disgruntled ABC legislators loyal to his estranged party deputy, Prof Mahao, filed a no confidence motion against him in parliament in June 2019.

The motion, which is yet to be tabled and voted on, is the culmination of several months of infighting stemming from Dr Thabane’s refusal to accept the February 2019 election of Prof Mahao as deputy leader on the grounds that the latter is a relative newcomer who should not have been elected ahead of more seasoned party stalwarts.

The no confidence motion was filed by the ABC’s Koro-Koro constituency legislator, Motebang Koma, and he was seconded by the DC’s deputy leader, Motlalentoa Letsosa.

Although the motion is supported by all other opposition parties, a vote against Dr Thabane is unlikely to succeed without the support of the LCD which has been holding out for a possible coalition deal with whichever ABC faction is prepared to accept its demands for a government of national unity (GNU) and the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC).

The LCD is also demanding the release of murder-accused former army commander, Tlali Kamoli, and other detained soldiers. Mr Metsing has even held talks with Dr Thabane in June 2019 but so far no deal has been reached. His well-publicised fallout with Mr Mokhothu has militated against a broad opposition front to possibly bring down Dr Thabane’s government.

Hence the rest of the opposition who consider the ABC ripe for the taking due to the bitter Mahao-Thabane feud and the consequent no confidence motion, have resolved to bring Messrs Mokhothu and Metsing to the negotiating table.

“We saw it fitting for us as opposition leaders in parliament to intervene between the two warring parties as we could see that things were spiraling out of hand between them (Messrs Mokhothu and Metsing),” Movement for Economic Change leader, Selibe Mochoboroane, said of their mediation efforts.

“It (DC-LCD fallout) is not good for anyone as it was also affecting us in parliament on national issues where we have always enjoyed their unity even when their leaders were in exile. We did not think it wise to sit back and watch and hence we initiated the peace talks which are still on-going,” added Mr Mochoboroane.

Yesterday Mr Mokhothu confirmed there were ongoing talks, saying he and Mr Metsing had already met twice in the past few days to iron out their differences as well as build consensus on the no confidence motion against Dr Thabane and other motions which were brought before parliament by the opposition.

“We have met twice in the past few days. The problem we were facing was that of deteriorating relations between the two parties (DC and LCD) especially among the supporters. The followers were attacking each other on Facebook and on local radio stations.

“The bad blood kept on growing and all of us were concerned that it was getting out of hand. Other opposition parties expressed their concern and got us, as the leaders of the parties, to discuss. So we deliberated and came to the conclusion that we need to get our members to refrain from attacking each other. We are still deliberating on other issues including our motions which are before parliament to see if we can reach a consensus.

“We have the motion to amend the constitution to stop the prime minister from advising the king to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections in the event of the premier losing a no confidence vote.  We will also deliberate on the no confidence motion and also Ntate (Samuel) Rapapa’s motion to amend the parliamentary standing orders to allow for a secret ballot in the no confidence vote against a sitting prime minister.

So these are some of the motions we will discuss to try and build a consensus. We used to meet like this in the past to discuss issues. We have met before to discuss these issues but when we didn’t reach a consensus that filtered down to our followers who started calling each other enemies.”

Mr Metsing yesterday told the Lesotho Times that “so far the meeting which was held was about the manner in which LCD and DC supporters were engaging each other”.

“We felt the way they were engaging each other had gone beyond acceptable boundaries. At times it was no longer about engaging and there were personal insults and character assassinations. So everybody was saying this had gone too far and called on us as the leaders of the LCD and DC to intervene.

“We have not engaged on other issues but there is a desire that we engage on issues of national importance. The LCD’s position remains the same in demanding a GNU and TRC but there is always room of engaging with the opposition or even with government. As the LCD we have always wanted to be independent so that we can negotiate with whoever we want but if the opposition wants to engage us we will definitely listen because we believe in engaging and negotiating,” Mr Metsing said.

DC Spokesperson Serialong Qoo said “the meetings are an initiative by all opposition parties who agreed that there would only be a strong position against the government if we all work together as a united front”.

“The opposition parties agree that they can only save Lesotho if they hold hands and work together against Prime Minister Thomas Thabane,” said Mr Qoo.

LCD Deputy Spokesperson, Apesi Ratšele, said the talks were meant to help the two parties bury the hatchet.

“The main objective of the talks is to achieve peace and harmony among all opposition parties and bury the hatchet where things have gone wrong. We want to work for the common good of our people and just pray that at the end we will all be able to turn a new page and start on a clean slate.

“There is progress in the talks and a meeting for party spokespersons and another for all party leaders will be held before the end of the week,” Mr Ratšele said.

The LCD’s support for a no confidence vote would spell the end for Dr Thabane’s two year-old administration. That is assuming the 21 ABC legislators who have publicly backed Prof Mahao vote with the opposition legislators. With the LCD’s 11 seats, a Mahao-opposition alliance would have 70 votes out of the 120 legislators who make up the national assembly.

If successful, the talks would bring an end to the long-running conflict between the two parties which began when Mr Mokhothu succeeded Dr Mosisili as DC leader in January 2019.

Sources privy to the developments in the opposition parties said that Messrs Mokhothu and Mr Metsing were fighting over who is the greatest in the ranks of the opposition and congress movement.

The sources said that while Mr Metsing was happy to defer to Dr Mosisili, he now feels the latter’s retirement has opened the door for him to assume that mantle. “As one who served as deputy prime minister and is much older than Ntate Mokhothu, Ntate Metsing is not willing to play second fiddle and he feels the mantle of congress leader has passed to him from Ntate Mosisili,” one source said of the sour relations between the 52 year-old Mr Metsing and the 41 year-old Mr Mokhothu.

Mr Metsing has likened the DC-LCD to an emotionally sibling rivalry.

“It is so draining when siblings fight because their fight gets uglier than when they fight their enemies. I have seen DC members hoisting our t-shirts at their rallies and I always wonder why we have to be so confrontational.

“We don’t need to be fighting like this and we know that united we stand and divided we fall. Together we can achieve big things and ensure service delivery for our people,” Mr Metsing recently told LCD supporters at a rally in Thaba-Phatšoa, Leribe.

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• facilitates private gun purchases for its soldiers
• move flies in the face of SADC’s instability warnings 

’Marafaele Mohloboli

THE Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) is facilitating the acquisition of weapons by its soldiers for their private ownership.

But the development has stirred serious concerns in light of the current proliferation of weapons being used in numerous murders in the country for which nobody has been held accountable.

Highly placed sources have queried why the soldiers should get institutional assistance for purchasing private firearms particularly after the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had already issued warnings about the possible misuse of weapons by rogue soldiers who may want to destabilise the country.

The LDF has gone out of its way to facilitate the purchase of private guns by its members by facilitating stop order payments to the favoured supplier after making all the necessary arrangements with that supplier.  This is a marked departure from the normal practice wherein soldiers wanting to buy private firearms apply for licences, just like any ordinary civilians, and then purchase the weapons in their private capacities once necessary approvals are granted and never through wholesale deals facilitated by the LDF.

Despite the warnings by SADC, it has emerged that the LDF had approved a deal for a local company, Rugged Lava Arms & Ammunition, to supply private guns to its soldiers for their personal use.

The company, which has only been in business for a year, now stands accused by the soldiers of failing to deliver the guns almost six months after it started receiving payments through stop order deductions from the soldiers’ salaries.

Even the Czech Republic, the country where the guns are being sourced from, is said to have delayed granting an export permit to Rugged Lava Arms & Ammunition, amid concerns about the instability in Lesotho.

In terms of the deal between the soldiers and Rugged Lava, owned by one Peete Sekhonyana, the payments are deducted from the soldiers’ salaries over a three year period and the amounts deducted vary depending on the model of the guns ordered.

LDF Public Affairs Officer, Lieutenant Kelebone Mothibi, however said there was nothing wrong with soldiers acquiring private weapons for personal use. He also dismissed fears that the weapons could be used to destabilise the country.

“There is nothing wrong with officers acquiring private guns because they have been trained in their handling and they have also been vetted, hence we don’t think they could be used to destabilise the country in any way. The weapons are for their personal protection outside their work,” Lt Mothibi told this publication yesterday.

Ahead of the deployment of the SADC standby force to Lesotho on 2 December 2017, the regional body warned of the likelihood of army equipment including missing arms of war being used in plots by rogue soldiers to destabilise the country.

The SADC standby force, also known as the SADC Preventive Mission in Lesotho (SAPMIL), was essentially deployed to prevent rogue soldiers from destabilising Dr Thabane’s coalition as it went about implementing SADC recommended multi-sector reforms to curb perennial instability in the country.

A confidential report by SADC ahead of the standby force’s deployment stated that some arms of war had gone missing from the LDF armoury and warned that missing weapons could be used by rogue soldiers to launch reprisal attacks as efforts to hold them accountable for past transgressions intensified.

The report speaks of arms of war and ammunition missing from the armory of the LDF as well as heavy AK47 rifles that disappeared from the Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS).

Apart from those SADC warnings, violent crime has been on the upward trend in Lesotho with numerous murders being reported in the last few months for which  nobody has been held accountable.  The opposition has blamed the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) of committing some of the murders.

Meanwhile, the non-delivery of the guns six months after they began paying for them has left some of the soldiers fearing that they could be victims of a scam by the arms supplier.

“Some of us have been paying for the guns since June 2019 and we had hoped we would be having our guns by September 2019 as promised by the supplier,” said one soldier on condition of anonymity.

“But we are surprised that to date we still haven’t gotten our guns and we have not been given any updates. We could have got the guns from any other registered supplier but we were made to believe by our bosses that this is an authentic deal because this particular company is owned by one of the cabinet ministers.

“But with the way things are happening now, we fear we may have been scammed and we want the payments stopped and we should be refunded what has been deducted so far.”

But Lt Mothibi said the deal was still on and Mr Sekhonyana would deliver the weapons beginning next month.

“The company (Rugged Lava Arms & Ammunition) belongs to one Mr Peete Sekhonyana and he is the one who approached the LDF authorities with this arrangement (to supply guns) which was accepted.

“He in turn approached several countries to source the merchandise after satisfactory vetting that those who had applied are free from criminal records and can be entrusted with such weapons.

“He found a supplier who also did his own vetting to make sure that the guns would not end up in the wrong hands. Then there was the arrangement of (stop order) payments which started in June. Those who applied (for the weapons) were informed that the first batch of guns would be delivered in December, meaning that no deal has been breached as yet,” Lt Mothibi said.

He said he did not have information on the number of officers who had applied for the guns.

On his part, Mr Sekhonyana denied claims that he was merely a front in the company which some say is owned by a cabinet minister (name supplied) from one of the coalition parties.

“I built this company from scratch and it is just over a year old. I approached the LDF authorities and marketed my products. I came up with an affordable payment plan and the deal was approved. I have also done this with all the other security agencies.

“The vetting process to determine who is eligible to get a gun is done by the authorities together with the issuance of the licenses. Mine is just to supply the merchandise after having satisfied myself that all the procedures have been met. The countries that supply me have their own vetting processes to make sure that the guns don’t end up in the wrong hands,” Mr Sekhonyana said.

He however, contradicted Lt Mothibi by saying that the first batch of guns should have been delivered in September 2019.

“There was a delay from my supplier in the Czech Republic who told me that they had not approved my export permit because they had learnt that Lesotho was going through a phase of instability and therefore they did not want to play any part in aggravating that.

“I later received a call from my supplier’s office in South Africa saying they wanted to come over and see for themselves what the true situation was on the ground with regards to the reports of instability. They came and did their own checks in the presence of the LDF authorities.

“They took about seven weeks to compile a report on their findings which was then sent to the Czech Republic.

“The export permit was finally granted after the report but now the problem is that they had already sold the guns to another buyer. The first consignment is now expected in February 2020 and I have communicated this to the LDF authorities,” Mr Sekhonyana said.

The post LDF in weapons storm appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Moorosi Tsiane

MALEHLOA Likhomo and Theko Khanyapa were last weekend crowned 2019 Festive Open Chess champions at Scenery Guest House in Maseru.

Likhomo collected nine points and took home M600 for winning in the female category while Khanyapa pocketed M1 000 for winning the Open category with0 10 points.

Maboloko Leboela took home M300 for coming second in the female category with nine points while Naleli McPherson (eight points) came third and bagged M500.

Sechaba Khalema collected nine points to second and took home M380 while Liteboho Mohatlane came third with eight point winning a M280 prize.

Chess Federation of Lesotho (CFL) spokesperson Selatela Khiba said the tournament was part of a series planned in the build up to the February Zonal tournament to be hosted by Lesotho next year.

“It is one of the tournaments that we have lined up in the run up to next year’s Zonals which we are going to host next year where we are expecting nine other Zone 4.5 countries,” Khiba said.

Khiba said there are two other tournaments that will be played prior to the main event next February. To qualify for the tournament, local players must accumulate as many points as possible with the top five getting a chance to represent the country.

“We are left with two tournaments namely the National Championship next month and the Lesotho Open penned in for January 2020. For players to qualify for the national team, we will add all the points that they have collected in these series and the top 10 will play in a closed tournament.

“After that closed tournament, the top-five players from both the female and male categories will then represent the country in February,” Khiba said.

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Moorosi Tsiane

THABO Senong says poor game management brought his side’s downfall despite scoring first against an unstoppable Nigeria to lose 2-4 in an Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier (AFCON) 2021 qualifier at Setsoto Stadium on Sunday.

The Sunday result saw Nigeria cement its place at the summit of Group L with six points. Benin are second after a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Sierra Leone. Likuena are now third with one point.

Likuena surprised the Super Eagles grabbing an early lead in the opening 10 minutes courtesy of a Nkoto Masoabi header. However, the joy was short-lived as Alex Iwobi equalised shortly afterwards capitalising on a Mkhwanazi Motlomelo blunder failing to clear the ball from the box.

The home side was punished once again towards the dying minutes of the first half through a Chimerenka Chukwueze header.

James Osimhen scored Nigeria’s third and fourth goals in the second stanza.

Likuena’s second goal came as own goal from Collins Awaziem towards the dying minutes of the match.

Senong told the media after the match that although his charges showed courage throughout the match, inexperience and poor game management cost them the match.

“Our players showed lots of courage throughout the 90 minutes and we had some good moments but we were inconsistent in some actions and applications due to lack of experience,” Senong said.

“We led early in the match but they remained focused and we got carried away. We got bit excited and we conceded before half two goals in the first half. Our game management was poor.”

Senong said their opponents’ experience made a difference on Sunday but said they would have to build from the positives of the match.

“When our players concentrated, they applied themselves well but Nigeria’s quality was evident especially later in the second half when there was lapse of concertation. After we scored, we struggled to manage the game.

“This is a lesson learnt. It’s important that we focus on our next assignment as there are still four matches to play. I saw a lot of positives from our players while the number of chances that we created give me hope.

“Some of the decision went against us but we can only move on and learn. We must learn from it and move forward; it is crucial for our players to learn and acquit themselves better in the next four games.”

Senong said he was impressed with the progress that the team has made since he took over in July 2019 but said there was still more to do.

“The team is disciplined on and off the field, they are now confident in attack maybe because our attackers play in foreign leagues and those are the positives we are taking to next matches. However, we must improve our set plays and game management.

“When we lead, we must control possession and delay the game. We must play for the team and not the spectators; that’s what our players should know,” Senong said

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