Mikia Kalati

THE Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) will hold its presidential elections on 16 September this year and Salemane Phafane is seeking a third term at the helm of football’s governing body.

Phafane’s intentions have attracted a lot of attention especially on social media platforms where football fans are airing their views regarding how LeFA should operate.

Some are of the opinion that given LeFA’s perennial struggles to attract sponsors as well as the poor performances of the national team, Ntate Phafane should not stand for re-election but make way for fresh ideas.

Such are LeFA’s struggles that fans are even raising funds to host awards to motivate the players.

This is not the first time supporters have called for a change of leadership at LeFA. Back in 2013, supporters and some football legends handed a petition to Prime Minister Thomas Thabane protesting poor administration of the sport in the country.

I think those who occupy leadership positions in different institutions must understand they are not there for self-interest but they are there for the sake of the nation.

Ntate Phafane has been in charge since 2004 when he succeeded the late Thabo Makakole who died in a car accident.

That is 13 years and more than long enough for him to have implemented whatever ideas he had in mind.

There are a lot of successes and failures that he can point to during his time as the LeFA boss and he must make peace with the fact that at some point he will have to make way for others.

Leaders everywhere must always heed the voice of the masses who give them mandates and in the case of the LeFA, it is not a secret that people have been calling for a change.

LeFA and the national teams’ struggles to attract sponsorship is one of the many things that Ntate Phafane should consider and maybe change might work wonders for the association.

I find it a sad development that the A Division has gone for four years without sponsors.

Our sports leaders need to ask themselves why companies are more than happy to work with clubs instead of national federations.

Our senior national football team, Likuena has repeatedly failed to reach the final of the regional COSAFA Cup since doing so under the leadership of the late Makakole in 2000.

The best that the team has managed are two semi-finals in the 2013 and 2017 editions.

As for the other competitions such as the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers, it has been a disaster and apart from poor performances, Likuena has always been marred allowance rows with the association before important games.

The national under-20 side Makoanyane XI also reached the final of the regional youth competition in 2003 but have struggled to reach the same standards.

They say a new broom sweeps clean and Ntate Phafane even recently applauded the new government led by Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane for the support they have given to LeFA because it is something they never got from the previous regime.

This came after Dr Thabane and a high powered government delegation graced Likuena’s send-off ceremony ahead of their African Nations Championship qualifier against Comoros last month.

In his speech during the ceremony, the LeFA president described the occasion a historic moment, saying it was the first time in his many years in football administration that a prime minister had attended the national team’s send-off ceremony.

These are some of the many things that come with change.

It is not a secret that the previous government came in for caustic criticism from various sporting associations in the country for allegedly paying lip service to the development of sport by extending measly budgetary allocations which were often disbursed late to the beneficiaries.

My message is not only for the LeFA president, but all members of different associations who have served many terms of office.

They should take a leaf from the sports mother body, the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission where a president can only serve two terms in office and make way for others to come up with new policies.

The poor performances of our teams and athletes in major international competitions such as the recent World Championships in London, Likuena being booted out of CHAN by Comoros, as well as last year’s Olympic Games in Brazil all point out to the fact that all is not well as far as sports are concerned in this country.

We seriously need to go back to the drawing board and our sports administrators need to self-introspect and decide whether they are still the right people to lead.

Mikia Kalati

PREPARATIONS for the Confederations of Schools Sports Association of Southern Africa (COSSASA) Games to be held in Lesotho from 31 August to 3 September 2017 are at advanced stage, the organising committee has revealed.

The organising committee’s Public Relations Officer, Teboho Pholo, this week told the Lesotho Times the games that will feature seven countries over four days.

“Our preparations are at an advanced stage and everything is in place to host all the countries that have confirmed their participation,” Pholo said, adding, “The venues for the different sporting codes are ready and we are looking forward to the games.”

He said they hosted Pholo said they recently hosted a COSSASA delegation who had come to ascertain the country’s readiness to host the regional school games.

“Our visitors from COSSASA were very happy with our preparations and luckily they came at the time when we were also having our national school championships.

“It’s just a matter of putting final touches to a few things to ensure everything is in place come next week.

“The only sad part is of all the companies we sent sponsorship proposals only one has come on board to sponsor the games.”

Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Lesotho will all be represented in the under-13 and under-17 categories in basketball, soccer, volleyball, rugby, tennis and netball.

Lesotho are the defending champions in the under-13 and 17 categories of soccer having won gold last year.

The Lesotho under-17 team will be bidding to win gold for the third successive year having won it in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

“We had our own school championships over the weekend and competition was very high among the schools.

“We hope that our players will take the competitiveness to their regional counterparts and use home advantage to do well and get as many medals as possible.

“My only disappointment is that we did not have a good crowd and I hope that it will improve when we host our regional friends.”

Lesotho last hosted the COSSASA games in 2015.

Mikia Kalati

The Federation of Lesotho Rugby (FRL) is confident the country’s rugby sevens team will do well in their first ever international tournament that gets underway in Zambia on 30 August.

Lesotho is among the nine countries that will take part in the Lusaka International Sevens Tournament and the Likatola team are in Group A alongside Zambia, Botswana and Burundi.

FRL Secretary General, Litšitso Motšeremeli, said the players were looking forward to the tournament although their preparations had faced several challenges.

“It will be a new experience that we are all looking forward to as a team,” Motšeremeli said.

“The tournament will be a learning curve for us as it will be the first time that we compete in a Sevens international competition.

“It is a chance to show the continent how far we have come.”

Motšeremeli said due to financial constraints, the team was yet to report for camp and players went home after training.

“We are facing challenges to be as professional as other teams in small things like having the players in camp and giving them the right meals.

“But the players understand our struggles and remain focused for the test ahead. They want to make a mark even though we will take it one step at the time as a country that is still learning and getting used to the international stage.”

He said after the Zambia tournament, they would host one of their own before going to Namibia “and if we do well we will be promoted to a higher level of the sport in the continent”.

Motšeremeli also said their recent Gala Dinner helped them raise M22 000 which will assist them in their activities.

“We have a lot of activities especially our development programmes where the coach has been going to different schools for coaching clinics.

For his part, Likatola Sevens coach, Roy Zhou said his players were working hard and looking forward to their first competition.

“We have been working hard and everything is on track.

“The team spirit is high and we will banking on our speed to win matches against our opponents who are generally big and strong,” Zhou said.

Mikia Kalati

BANTU midfielder, Teboho ‘Shakes’ Lilane, has joined Matlama on a season-long loan deal after struggling for game time last season at the champions.

Bantu president, John Leuta, this week told the Lesotho Times that they released Lilane after receiving a written request for his services from Matlama.

Meanwhile, Linare who have been struggling during the last two seasons are hopeful of reinforcing their squad with experienced campaigners such as Pali Tšalong, Teboho Mota and Motlomelo Mkwanazi.

Tšalong and Mota were on Matlama’s books but went into self-imposed exile due to work commitments. Mkwanazi featured for Sandawana last season.

Linare Public Relations Officer, Refiloe Makhobotloane, said his side were in the market for new signings whose identities could not be revealed at the moment for fear of jeopardising the negotiations that were in progress.

“Yes, we have a few new faces training with our club, but nothing has been finalised and we are still negotiating with their clubs.

“We cannot give out names at this stage but we are looking at reinforcing the team with seasoned campaigners,” Makhobotloane said.

Meanwhile, LDF coach, Motheo Mohapi, said his side would register the Likhopo duo of Thabo Mongali and Teboho Ratebesi for the new season.

He said they would join the team as soon as they finished their army officer training programme.

“We will register them once they finish their training in October or November. We have already sorted out the paperwork with their previous club,” Mohapi said.

He also said it was highly unlikely that veteran midfielder Molefe Lekoekoe would return to action this season as he was battling to recover from a knee injury.

“He is still not back with the team and it is highly unlikely that he will return to action anytime soon,” he said, adding, time would tell if he would recover.

Mikia Kalati

KICK4LIFE coach Leslie Notši says his side will have to dig deep to maintain the standards of the previous season after losing three key players during the off-season.

The club has lost Thabiso Brown, Morapeli Lesoetsa and Thapelo Tale who scored 31 goals among them during the 2016/17 season.

Brown is in Bolivia where he is expected to play in the new season while Lesoetsa is in the United States of America to pursue his academic studies and football career after being handed a scholarship by the club.

Tale is still club less after declining an offer from Kick4Life who revived his career in the second round of last season.

Notši this week told the Lesotho Times that while he was happy with their pre-season, it would be hard to maintain the same standards that saw Kick4Life securing a top finish for the first time.

“We made good use of the eight weeks we had to prepare for the new campaign and it looks like we are going to have another week as the new season has been postponed,” Notši said.

“Everything went as planned although losing three key players has left a big void in the team.

“The trio proved themselves last season and would have given us an edge if they were still with us but we have to accept that they have gone for greener pastures.

“Tale declined the offer that we made him and we respect his wish even though we would have loved to have him in the team.”

He said they brought in quality replacements including Bonang Mohapi who signed from Sky Battalion.

“We have brought in new players who come with a wealth of experience and looked to have settled into our style of play.

“We have a two more players that have been training with us and we are still negotiating with their clubs for their services.

“I would say we are now in a transition period because of the changes that we have had in our squad.

He also welcomed the return of Nkoto Masoabi who was out injured for the better part of last season.

Kick4Life’s reigning Player of the Year, Bokang ‘Lefty’ Mothoana, is still nursing an injury sustained on national duty.

The Likuena skipper missed the regional COSAFA Cup in June as well as the two-legged qualifiers against Comoros last month.

“Lefty is still out and is going through rehabilitation.

“We are doing the best that we can to support him and national team coach, Ntate Moses Maliehe, has also been supportive.

“We know he is disappointed to be out because he is a passionate player but the support system that he has will help him recover quickly,” Notši said.

Editorial

OUR body politic is characterised by perennial squabbles over so many issues but one thing that is sure to unite Basotho across the partisan divide is the decision by the government to write off M43.54 million members of the Ninth Parliament owed when their term of office prematurely ended in June this year.

The legislators qualified for M500 000 interest-free loans from Nedbank Lesotho as part of their benefits, and were supposed to repay the money over five years starting from March 2015.

The Ninth Parliament was elected during the 28 February 2015 snap elections which also brought to power a seven-party coalition government led by former premier Pakalitha Mosisili.

The government underwrote the loans and also paid interest on the legislators’ behalf.

However, the legislators’ terms came to a premature end after a 1 March 2017 parliamentary no-confidence vote on Dr Mosisili’s government prompted the holding of snap polls on 3 June 2017 which was followed by the 10^th Parliament.

Following the bailout, some sections of society are outraged by the move, describing the MPs’ loan scheme as “legalised corruption by the elite”.

Attorney Tumisang Mosotho, who was at the forefront of criticising the previous government for writing-off legislators’ loans, told this publication he opposed the move on principle and not on which regime was in power.

Attorney Mosotho, who launched an online petition against the scheme last time, said: “It should be clear that we are not attacking the man but we are attacking the principle, we are attacking the issues.

“Our campaign was based on matters of principle and we once again stand firm in saying this is wrong, no matter who is in government.”

He said Lesotho could ill-afford to continue with the scheme given its status as a least developed country.

“We can’t afford this scheme with all the challenges we are facing. And, we can’t have people telling us that they deserve such loans because they fought to oust the previous regime. Once they say that, it means no one cares what the voters want anymore and their contribution to usher in a new government has been forgotten.”

There have been many positive signs from the new government including talk of reining in on profligacy and creating fiscal discipline.

It would also be important to rein in on such huge pay-outs to MPs, especially in view of the fact the some of them are not necessarily incapable of paying back their loans on their own.

It is understandable that the former legislators would want some form of compensation for sacrificing their tenure to kick-start and support the process that led to the inauguration of the new government.

But everything in life is about balancing often conflicting interests and it is imperative for our leaders to walk that fine line between partisan and national interests.

No-one can argue against the sacrifice the legislators in the previous parliament made. But at the same time, it cannot be denied that with such decisions come with the opportunity cost of what government could have done with the money in terms of stimulating economic development.

Lesotho faces a myriad of economic challenges and it is therefore understandable why there is this disquiet over the writing off of the loans.

The bickering may go on with arguments for and against government writing off MPs’ loans.

We believe that the ultimate solution lies with the implementation of the constitutional, administrative and governance reforms that the country has committed itself to.

Once these are implemented, the ensuring stability would mean that the MPs would last their full tenure and thus taking away the need for such government largesse.

Why Yan Xie has to go!

You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.― James Madison, The Federalist Papers

THE relationship between the government and the people can be as simple as Madison, one of the founders of the United States Constitution, put it in the Federalist Papers. The principle is simple; the people give the government control over themselves and the government learns to control itself.

It is not about the legal constraints that may or may not exist. It is about knowing what is right and what is wrong. The relations between the government and the people in the final analysis are regulated by moral ethical issues and self-regulation. Let no one say, “I can do it.” It is about whether it should be done and whether it is the right thing to do.

The June 2017 elections in Lesotho removed a government which had outlived its usefulness as a result of lack of accountability and also rampant corruption. The expectations of those like me who voted were high and we do not want to go back to the trenches with the new government. But the new government must, at the same time, show that it respects the people. It is not enough to say that the people have conferred power to the government; such a government in Madison’s terms is obliged to control itself. Let us not hear any of the government surrogates uttering the usual mumbo jumbo that it is the prerogative of the minister or the prime minister to do certain things. We have to see the difference between what we rejected and what we voted for. Prerogatives are not a licence to do whatever one wants. They are expected to be exercised with diligence.

Let us also not hear the surrogates telling us about the honeymoon period! Only human beings deserve such. Institutions need no respite from public pressure and are not entitled to a honeymoon. The people gave the government power to rule, but not to disrespect them. The announcement by the Acting Government Secretary to the effect that “….the Office of the Right Honourable the Prime Minister has appointed Mr Yan Xie as the Lesotho Head of Special Projects and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy and Trade Advisor on China-Asia Trade Network” brought a chill down my spine. At first, I thought it was fake news, but soon realised that it was not. Our government had acted in a manner that brings shame to us as citizens.

In every country there are places and institutions in government which are restricted or protected from everyday interactions and people. The office of the Prime Minister is one such place. In all the countries of the world, offices like those are sensitive and places of pride. Those are places where it would not be acceptable to find foreign nationals, heading strategic organs. I already hear, the usual mumbo jumbo that Mr Xie is a naturalised Mosotho. I have lived through all post-colonial governments in Lesotho and have witnessed with horror how those naturalisations or outright sale of Lesotho passports have taken place. This is how, a large number of countries which used to allow visa free travel for Lesotho citizens withdrew those privileges. I am not impressed. Mr Xie may have been naturalised, but it is well-known that he is not clean.

I will therefore not waste my time trying to find out whether he got Lesotho citizenship legitimately or otherwise. Those who have the time and energy may follow events in Australia before they howl, oh he is a citizen. I’m reminded that in South Africa close by we have some corruptors who have also acquired South African citizenship under opaque circumstances. We are now witnessing a clamour for a judicial inquiry into whether they have captured the state. Issues about citizenship and loyalty to the state are too complex to be discussed in a flippant manner that government surrogates would like us to do. In some countries, issues of nationality and citizenship are taken so seriously that there are stipulations on what a naturalised citizen can and cannot do. The Australian cabinet crisis shows the sensitive nature of citizenship.

More importantly, and as already alluded to above, Mr Xie is a well-known personality in Lesotho. His business empire is in retail, construction, and pharmaceutical and the meat industry. Except in retail and construction, his businesses are takeovers under opaque circumstances of government businesses. But also significant thing is that he tends to hide his real ownership of most of those businesses, claiming that he finances them but does not own them. Fortunately, the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) has not bought into his claims. The question therefore is who exactly is Mr Xie? We have to explore whether Mr Xie has the necessary credibility to head a unit in the Prime Minister’s Office, let alone be a “..Prime Minister’s Special envoy…”

Yan Xie’s world
Yan Mr Xie has been in business in Lesotho for a long time now. He is generally regarded as the leader of what has come to be called the Shanghai group of Chinese in Lesotho who run all types of businesses from cafes to construction. They generally are under his wing. Mr Xie represents them and often collects donations from them for distribution when the need arises. Mr Xie knows and sponsors most politicians who matter in Lesotho. It was well known that since 2006, his Jackpot Supermarket was a shop of choice for several ministers, who did not have to pay for their routine grocery requirements. In return, Mr Xie is well looked after with government tenders and acquisition of government businesses whenever they go for sale. It is through his connections that he has been able to acquire the Lesotho Pharmaceutical Company in Mafeteng and Meraka Lesotho Abattoir among others. In all those acquisitions, Mr Xie charms his way to politicians whom he sponsors in any case.

Mr Xie acquired his citizenship on 22 December 2006 in terms of Certificate No: NAT.23/2006. There is no need for now to spell out the background to his naturalisation. But it is important to note that at that time up to the present, Mr Xie has brought under his wing politicians of all stripes and used his Jackpot Supermarket before it was reconstituted, as a cash cow for several ministers. In addition, he has dished out money and other favours to a long list of politicians including funding their election campaigns. Being a benefactor of the powerful, Mr Xie had become untouchable until LRA summoned the courage to investigate him culminating in his 2011 debacle where several of his businesses were raided and closed for some time for suspicion of fraud.

In reports at the time, the LRA suspected that Mr Xie had been understating tax obligations for Jackpot Supermarket, his other retail shops and the two construction companies. He was also suspected of making false customs declarations for goods that his businesses imported from South Africa. Overall, LRA suspected that he owed over M20 million in taxes for submitting documents which understated his income; he also understated his customs funds obligations, and generally did not run a clean business. With the assistance of the police, most of his known businesses were raided and closed. The benefactors of Mr Xie were up in arms, but LRA stood its ground.

Two things are important here:
a) All known businesses of Mr Xie were closed while LRA went on with its investigations. It is not known whether and how much Mr Xie settled his obligations since LRA does not disclose such issues about its clients unless there is a court order. But what is known is that Mr Xie liquidated his businesses and months later resumed business under new companies. The old companies which owed LRA no longer existed. As a result of the closure and the liquidation of those companies, a number of local companies which were owed money had no alternative but to write-off substantial amounts of moneys owed. One company whose records I have seen wrote off almost M500 000 of the debts Mr Xie’s company owed.
b) Mr Xie also runs a lot of companies as a silent or a hidden partner. For example, he ran a company called Jackpot Wholesalers which was under a different organisation as opposed to Jackpot Supermarket. He claimed then that he was not the owner but the financier of that wholesale. It was closed, but I have no confirmation that it was liquidated like the other companies. He has a string of such companies.

Mr Xie doesn’t seem to care about those businesses as long as they are a front and a means through which he stays in the front seat for government tenders. He is a ruthless tenderpreneur.

As a result of his connections, Mr Xie has acquired several government-linked businesses as already mentioned. But more significant, is that in most of the businesses he has acquired are run by some of the people who gave him the tenders without tendering. For now I will resist the temptation to mention them by name, but should the need arise, I am more than willing to expose the scams our new envoy is engaged in. He has also won a large number of government construction businesses from Metolong to closer home in Maseru. I now know that he is already circling around to be awarded a contract to complete a new State House without tender.

Whenever he is assured of winning a government tender without going through the normal process, he is willing to do so. But quite often he uses his surrogates to tender while he lobbies for them in government. As soon as they win the tender Mr Xie either takes over directly by buying them off or uses one of his well-known tricks of saying that he finances that business. This is exactly what happened recently in the scandalous police uniform tender whereby Mr Xie’s surrogates were awarded a tender illegitimately and then he won the trophy by buying out the main shareholder and director of the company. Without doing anything but use his influence he had a M7 000 000 police uniform tender. The matter is still running its course in the lethargic Lesotho courts but by the time judgement is issued, Mr Xie’s time as a supplier of police uniforms will probably have expired. He will have fulfilled the terms of the contract and those who challenged will probably win a Pyrrhic victory. If they ultimately win several years down the line, the best they can get is to sue for compensation.

An interesting thing here is that Mr Xie is an ever smiling character but he has around him a former police officer who does his other dirty work. People know that this is the guy who navigates Mr Xie from falling in the hands of the law enforcement officers. If in Lesotho, we can have a person charged for delaying to register with the tax authorities, but it only remains with LRA to wrestle him and no charges follow you should know that something is wrong. Both his connections and the connections of his police friend matter!
The question therefore is whether Mr Xie is fit for office? Is he a fit and proper person to be appointed to such an important position?

Why Yan Xie must go!
Anybody who understands global developments knows that China is an evolving economic superpower. Over and above the setting up of BRICS funding mechanisms, China has established and committed billions of dollars in development finance for Africa over the past decade as Beijing seeks to secure its political and economic clout on the continent. Any country in the world, developed or developing is scrambling to have a share in development finance and trade with this emerging giant. Dealing with this giant requires an active engagement and also sensible strategies lest one chases a passing chimera. This is why most countries have established specific Councils which are able to strategise on how to take advantage of the potential development and trade bonanza. It is not just about grabbing anybody who is from China and assigning him to head special projects and become an envoy.

More critically, it is about identifying knowledgeable and credible people who could advance our interests as a country. I fear that the global business community will see us as a captured state with a corruptor as our envoy.
Let us just consider what he has done with “these gifts” of the businesses he has acquired as a first step. None of those businesses have prospered. He, for all intents and purposes runs a medium size supermarket and those businesses he has been gifted by successive regimes in Lesotho. The rest of his empire is dependent on government tenders.
In most countries, for people to be eligible to key positions, they require that an ethics test be passed. This is a test which attempts to find out whether the person is a fit and proper one to be entrusted with key responsibilities. Unfortunately in Lesotho, our system does not require people to be evaluated on their ethically propriety. Indeed, if Mr Xie was evaluated, on the basis of his business dealings alone, he would have been barred from assuming any public office. He has sponsored key people in the old regime and he sponsors others in the present regime. For now, I will not release the nature and extent of the sponsorship, but am horrified how people are indebted to him.

This is why I call upon the government to release Mr Xie from his appointment in order not to continue to embarrass us. We have gone through too much to be settled with a corruptor. To both the old regime and the present one, I wish them silence. The old regime doesn’t have to do anything but keep quiet about Mr Xie. For the new regime, we only require them to release Mr Xie from his post. I don’t think it will be good for anybody if we were to engage in a damaging debate about the extent of Mr Xie’s control over them. This government needs to be protected from itself. The opposition is too weak to pose any danger to this government, but the recklessness of this government on this matter will ensure that it does not last five years. Let me repeat Mr Xie’s sponsorship of key politicians in Lesotho is extensive and those who want to challenge me on this are advised to sit back and relax lest all is revealed. Mr Xie must go!

• This article was originally published on Prof Sejanamane’s blog lesothoanalysis.com His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lesotho Times.

Nthakeng Pheello Selinyane

THE main opposition views on our country’s future continue to baffle many a good citizen. The former prime minister, Pakalitha Mosisili’s Democratic Congress (DC) and its second co-ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) only came at the last minute into the church/European Union-mediated, all-party pledge to accept election results and implement reforms.

Of the ninth parliament’s seven-party ruling coalition, the non-congress Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) and National Independence Party (NIP) told this paper four weeks ago that they would unequivocally honour their commitment to reforms, and do their utmost to overcome any hurdles thereto.  Of the main Congress parties, the DC said it would gladly join the action “should we be invited”; while the LCD said ambiguously that the environment was not conducive and it wouldn’t participate “while we still have to duck and hide” – whereas their government had already submitted a two-year roadmap for the same to SADC when it suddenly fell, and published it locally.  In an unpredicted fashion since the landmark open-air solemnisation of peaceful handover of power from one prime minister to his bitter rival in 2012 and 2015, the outgoing prime minister and DC leader opted not to speak at the occasion in June 2017.  The DC has since acquiesced in a limping LCD-led questioning of the election results and calling for an all-party unity government – a gambit which has been thrown into disarray as the party was reported by the Lesotho News Agency to have withdrawn its court challenge, though the party issued an ambiguous, feeble rebuttal of the report.

The deputy leader of the DC and Official Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mathibeli Mokhothu, has blundered again on MoAfrikaFM since the SADC Summit of August 19, 2019 where Prime Minister Thomas Thabane repeated his inauguration pledge to implement all the now widely, if not universally, embraced six-sector reforms covering the security forces, the parliament, the courts, the constitution, the public service, and the media and information. There Mr Mokhothu flew off at a tangent and explicitly alleged that SADC had promised the government to field regional forces to disturb peace and fan instability in Lesotho by “punishing” the loyal and obedient Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) members, forcibly returning to service the soldiers incarcerated (and currently on open arrest after prolonged detention ordeal) on mutiny charges and others who fled to South Africa to escape the prospect of the same ordeal.

Mr Mokhothu’s handler would seem to be one Johnson Fako Likoti, who wrote here on the same subject of an imaginary military intervention under the heading “Can an intervention bring reforms?” Exactly why the two subjects of military intervention and reforms would have anything to do with each other, only Dr Likoti knows. Dr Likoti starts out writing that “speculation is rife that there will be a military intervention in Lesotho as a consequence of assisting the government of Lesotho, to implement paragraph 19 of the communiqué which demands a roadmap and security reforms”. As a sober thought, this statement is nonsensical: how does (an undefined) assistance have military intervention as its consequence? That communiqué nowhere singles out security reforms, but makes general reference to reforms, and only congratulates the government for commitment thereto, and to implementation of all the Summit decisions on Lesotho, while urging, not demanding, production of a roadmap. The SADC decisions are Phumaphi recommendations for completion of the Mahao murder investigation and prosecution of those fingered, release of the LDF “mutiny” accused and safe return of army exiles, suspension and prosecution of LDF personnel named for crimes of treason, murder and attempted murder, and the six-sector reforms.

While admitting there is no mention of “intervention” in the communiqué, Dr Likoti says the Foreign Affairs Minister Lesego Makgothi “had put some spark on this speculation” when he said in a mid-Summit interview that Lesotho had requested the beefing of the SADC Oversight Committee in Lesotho with high-level military personnel- like those on the Phumaphi Commission – to enable the region a first-hand appreciation of the blockages or resistance that might be encountered, in case it had to assist in overcoming the same. Yet, the minister later said, even as this decision was taken, the LDF Commander gave a resounding assurance that he was in full control and did not anticipate any hurdles in the effectuation of the government’s orders. Contrary to the false convictions of the Congress ideologues, he has already said he knows and accepts that dissolution of that dubious court martial is the prerogative of the defence minister.  Stressing that this does not sit well with “some people”, and challenging the minister to divorce his statements, Dr Likoti reminds us that SADC works on the principles of sovereign equality, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and brotherhood. This is important to bear in mind, he says, in light of the unpalatable seeds of the 1998 military intervention.  Likoti doesn’t canvass these seeds of 1998, but could they not have been the same intransigence against prosecution of national business via mutually accommodating, peaceful resolution conflicts?

Under a section that pretends to draw the lessons of 1998, the former cop does none of such; save to say it was motivated by South Africa’s political interests, not political instability or a humanitarian crisis – which he says are the requirements for such action.   Despite the promise of the article’s title, Likoti makes no effort whatsoever to speak to the subject of reforms, but just keeps asking whether the intervention is in the offing, contending that SADC as yet has no clear procedures and criteria for the same, and must follow UN Charter provisions, which are given effect by resolutions of the UN Security Council – unlike the case of 1998; and then recoils into the shell of peaceful resolution of conflicts. But we don’t have outstanding conflicts in Lesotho; even the half-hearted, shame-faced LCD’s court challenge of four constituencies has been withdrawn, and its variegated grumbling to SADC has been rejected out of hand, while posing no threat of violence.  This much Likoti accepts, only for the benefit of saying this scenario “doesn’t warrant the above ministerial statement of policing national reforms by foreign forces”. In the end, Dr Likoti succumbs to a compulsive urge to lie; saying “the contemplated intervention” should carefully consider that SADC owes Lesotho good neighbourliness; and its predictable pretext of a humanitarian intervention can only be valid when internationally accepted as such; though he says contemporary history is riddled with cases of circumventing this process.

Intervention requires acceptance by all national players, Dr Likoti falsely claims; but for now the Basotho should not be forced “by gunboat diplomacy to conduct what is in their national interest”.

Yet this last point turns his argument on its head – modern self-destructing nations are shepherded that way, though we don’t need that now. Although the notion of good neighbourliness is weird to apply in relations of supranational bodies and their members; if SADC were to show any bad neighbourliness, this time around, first time in 37 years, what would be the cause of that? The very attitude of making it a yoyo or Ping-Pong, shielding our rulers from consequences of their atrocious decisions, often trading national sovereignty then invoking it to insulate themselves from any obligations of civil statehood and nation building?  Though the communiqué makes no reference to security reforms, it is clear which quarters of the affected departments of state would resist the reforms, in ways that might warrant assist based on intimate knowledge of the state of security – meaning the degree of subordination of the forces to elected politician and their use only for common good.  Likoti refers this use of the forces only in the common interests as an important condition for UN-sanctioned intervention.

It is now common cause that Dr Likoti, along with former deputy prime minister and LCD leader Mothetjoa Metsing widely propagated a thesis that in Lesotho the army answers only to itself under “their” Khokanyan’a Phiri coalition government, and both Mr Metsing and his former boss Dr Mosisili publicly associated the army with their political fortunes; while the military parades’ instructions to vote for their parties, and vitriol charged at the current prime minister thereat are now legend thanks to the Phumaphi Commission. It was at the Commission that Lt-Col. Tefo Hashatsi admitted that his vow to his Special Force to die for resistance of subordination to civilian authority was also preparedness to kill therefor.  These forces have a long decade of usage for all the wrong political and personal including criminal agendas! Minister Makgothi has said expressly that government doesn’t fully expect the fingered men to take their arraignment lying down; and their variously voiced commitment to resistance cannot be taken lightly. It isn’t resistance to reforms that might necessitate military intervention, though the bulk of LDF could quash any “uprising”; but the effect of such reforms, i.e. restoration of civilian supremacy and the rule of law.

Against this background, one can only understand Dr Likoti’s little, apostolic epistle of hope against the prospect of intervention. But the foregoing might not be surprising if we consider Dr Likoti’s journey to this point. As (economic and) political adviser to Dr Mosisili, Dr Likoti – whom local social media and other opinion leaders love teasing and taunting him by referring to him by the Sesotho translation of his family name “potholes” to imply his thought path is potholed – routinely abused widely revered statesmen, opposition leaders and leading activists, the media, churches and civil society – wrongly and pretentiously speaking and writing as (part of) the government; until he ended up fighting the DC’s battles at the IEC where he was turned away as having no standing or party authority to so do. He had on appointment given an exclusive interview to a South African television channel where he swore he was not chosen for being a DC member because he was not (sic) the party’s member, and shocked many by saying his role would be to learn and suck wisdom from his client the prime minister as he know far better and had insight that he could only envy!.  Being a former briefcase boy of the slain Basotho National Party minister and general secretary V.M. Makhele (of the notorious 1986 Khalong-la-Baroa murders), he made waves on being named as advisor of Mosisili who to this day – per a long train of public sayings – hates the BNP identity and party more than leprosy and equates it to an epitome of death.

As a protégé, a stable hand, and indoctrinated, unquestioning follower of a party bigwig, he went on to join the police  force when it was “reserved” for the ruling party’s boys and girls who couldn’t make it to college for lack of space or low elementary school grades.  Many who grew up with him or got to know him in these capacities were shocked when he furiously took to saying on radio, “We as the Congress of Lesotho know the cruelties of MaNazi (the BNP), and we are committed to fighting their evils and uprooting them” in the dying days of the DC-led ancient regime earlier this year.

Changing identity isn’t a bad thing as we respect everybody’s choice, but insulting your previous identity with pepperings of falsehoods that could easily divide a nation, in prosecution of a political project of hatred is socially protestable and morally reprehensible.

Mr Selinyane’s views do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lesotho Times.

Monaheng Mahlatsi

Monaheng Joseph Mahlatsi

LESOTHO is about to embark on security, constitutional, media and public service reforms. The need for those reforms is clear evidence that there is a serious moral decay in the Mountain Kingdom. This calls for effective and efficient reform strategies for moral regeneration. From the foregoing background, I have the following metaphysical and ethical questions respectively: First, what is the ultimate cause of the observed moral degeneration? What is the philosophical basis of the envisaged reforms? Put simply, what is the foundation of those reforms? Secondly, do individual and collective Basotho have a moral duty towards achieving successful reforms? I approach this issue of reforms from an interesting philosophical observation that the traditional Basotho metaphysics and ethics of Botho have been overlooked for a sustainable and holistic reform process.

The definition of Botho

The concept of Botho has its roots in the concept of Motho which means a human being. The concept is sometimes expressed through the maxim: “motho ke motho ka batho” in Sesotho language. In English language this means that; to be a human being is to affirm one’s humanity by recognizing the humanity of others and on that basis, establish humane relations with them. Therefore, the establishment of humane relations is Botho (humanness). Humane relations are understood in terms of a continuous relation of interdependence and interconnectedness of individuals in a community. Another dimension of Botho is where relationality is strongly expressed in the conceptualization of a person as existing relationally in a perpetual state of dependence and interdependence.

It is through this concept that one could be regarded as a bad or good person. For example, in the Basotho community, the expression: “ke motho” is used which means a good person. This expression is usually used when a person is honest, peaceful, respectful and polite towards other people. On the contrary, the expression: “hase motho” is used which means a bad person. This expression is used when a person is egoistic, cruel, dishonest and impolite towards other people.

The concept of Botho defines cultural values such as compassion, reciprocity, harmony, humanity and dignity of community for the purpose of building and maintaining the wellbeing of the community. These cultural values are attributed to Botho by their positive contribution to the wellbeing of both individuals and the community. In this context, the community includes God, ancestors, human beings, animals, plants and non-living beings. This is referred to as the ontological hierarchy of beings/forces.

Traditional Basotho Ontology

By Basotho ontology it is meant what is described by Basotho as natural hierarchy of the natural order.  The order starts from God and descends through ancestors, living human beings, animals, plants and down to non-living things. All beings in the hierarchy possess life principle endowed by God. All beings in the hierarchy are interrelated and interconnected. That is to say, life is shared among all natural beings. For example, a human being cannot exist on his own since his existence depends on all beings in the ontological hierarchy.

This web of life which extends to include spirits such as God and ancestors has great influence upon the unborn and living human beings. On one hand, given that God is the creator of all beings He is capable of strengthening or weakening the life principle of each being below Him. On the other hand, ancestors can influence the present generation through their experience, teachings, suffering and wisdom. The web of life is understood in relatedness and interconnectedness of all natural beings. This means that, in the traditional Basotho communities, an action or behavior was acceptable or appropriate as long as it promoted the relationships of beings in the ontological hierarchy. Therefore, the promotion of the relationships of beings in the ontological hierarchy of beings is Botho. The promotion of Botho was demonstrated by human beings in a community. This implies the traditional Basotho ethics.

Basotho ethics  

An individual human being is valued as a full human being when s/he belongs to the community. The idea of communal belonging of an individual human being is found in the Basotho ontology of a person which says: “motho ke motho ka batho” mentioned above. This implies the harmonious relationship between human beings in a community. This implies that one cannot live in isolation from the community. The traditional Basotho communities also put more emphasis on the importance of communal life. An individual was understood to be equally important as long as that individual human being works towards the common good rather than to be individualistic/egocentric. That is to say, individuals were considered independent but they also had a moral obligation to promote the wellbeing of the community and respect other human beings as well as non-living beings.

The equal importance of an individual in the traditional Basotho communities was realized through the Sesotho expression which says; “ha le fete khomo le je motho”. The meaning of the expression is that, if and when one is faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the preservation of the life of another human being then one should choose to preserve the life of another human being. This clearly shows that, in the traditional Basotho communities, there was mutual care between individual human beings. That is to say, egoistic accumulation of wealth was not a priority. Therefore, according to the traditional Basotho ethics, an action or behavior was acceptable as long as it promoted the wellbeing of the community and the opposite was unacceptable. From the foregoing, it could be concluded that the traditional Basotho ethics was based on Botho which was informed by the traditional Basotho ontology.

Botho, Basotho ontology and ethics

Botho which was informed by the traditional Basotho ontology was demonstrated in a community by way of life. The traditional Basotho way of life was promoted and safeguarded by Borena (chieftainship). The most important responsibility of Morena (a chief) was to ensure the welfare of the people such as allocation of land for human settlement, cultivation and animal grazing. Other responsibilities that were invested in a chief are the executive, legislative and judicial powers. When doing his responsibilities, he was always supported by elders in decision-making process. For example, Morena Moshoeshoe I was advised by Morena mohlomi. It is worth noting that Morena Moshoeshoe I was also advised by prophets such as prophet Chapi and prophetess ‘Mantsopa in order to receive wisdom from God and ancestors. Currently, according to the Lesotho Constitution of 1993, King Letsie III is legally advised by the Prime Minister on political matters. This is not wrong but the questions are: is it enough for the King and Prime Minister to be advised on political issues only? Who advice the Prime Minister on spiritual matters? From which sources do the King and Prime Minister receive spiritual advice?

If there was dissatisfaction about any chief in the traditional Basotho communities, one was free to move away to a more humane chief. Usually, a more humane chief attracted many followers by providing basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing as well as holding feasts for the people. The chief executed his responsibilities through pitso (public assembly) and lekhotla (court). These were places where justice was delivered through dialogue. The dialogue was normally open to people hence it made the public assembly and court completely democratic. Clearly, it was through the public assembly and court where people were able to freely speak their minds in order to reach a consensus. This process of decision-making by the chief and the people affirm the Sesotho proverb which says; “Morena ke Morena ka Batho” which in English language means a chief is a chief by the people.

The traditional Basotho fieldwork was done through communal labor (letsema) where people served the chief and each other to cultivate fields. A field of a chief was known as: “ts’imo-kholo” which means a wide field in English language. It was cultivated by people collectively to produce food for the needy. During the time of hoeing and harvest, all people came to work at Tsimo-kholo with their tools and food. In the light of the above, one can safely conclude that the traditional Lesotho was a stable democratic Kingdom with a clear governance structure supervised by chieftainship which was advised by elders and prophets before it was suppressed by the British reforms. This is indicative that the traditional Basotho communities practiced participatory democracy. A participatory democracy is a form of government where people have all freedoms and rights to rule themselves. In other words, it is a form of government where people are free to participate in decision-making, law-making, policy-making and governance in general. With the advent of colonial reforms, the Basotho worldview was changed.

The impact of colonial reforms on Lesotho

After the death of Morena Moshoeshoe, his successor Letsie I (1870 – 1891) became the paramount chief and encountered difficult challenges that threatened the chieftainship. First, there was lack of support and cooperation from his brothers Molapo and Masupha who were chiefs of the current districts of Leribe and Berea respectively. Second, Britain gave the Cape authority and administrative duties over Lesotho in 1871 without seeking the consent of Basotho. Third was the interference by Protestant missionaries who were influencing the Cape authorities to legally restructure Lesotho through Western Christianity.

The most serious problem encountered by chieftainship was the disagreement between Marena (chiefs) and bafo (commoners). The disagreement was caused by the British administration through its colonial policies aimed at reforming Lesotho. The cardinal trouble was triggered by the fact that there were many chiefs in Lesotho after the death of Morena Moshoeshoe. Consequently, there rose many conflicts over land. Moreover, as a result of those conflicts, the British attempted to stabilize the existing administrative hierarchy of chiefs by recognizing a few number of chiefs. The recognized chiefs were gazetted while the ungazetted were not officially recognized. The right to gazette chiefs was invested in the Principal Chiefs in consultation with the District Commissioner not with the Paramount Chief. This was done by passing proclamations 61 and 62 of 1938 which again limited powers of chiefs.

Fines were diverted from chiefs to the government by introducing new Basotho Treasury Courts currently known as local courts and gazetted chiefs were paid salaries. Chiefs whose powers were threatened resorted to the supernatural power. That is to say, chiefs engaged themselves in liretlo (ritual murders) to retain their power. Consequently people lost confidence in their chiefs when realizing that chiefs are killing them for medicinal purpose. This created a wall of mistrust between chiefs and the people.

The limitation of the powers of the chiefs by the colonial, discriminatory and imperial policies was opposed by the Council of Commoners (Lekhotla la Bafo) led by Josiel Lefela. It started with supporting chieftainship by warning the chiefs about the potential threats if chiefs support the British reforms but all in vain. Instead, the council ended up being a threat to the chiefs because they (chiefs) thought they would cease to receive their salaries from government if they resist the British reforms. Consequently, the British reforms separated chiefs from the people and stopped them from seeking advice from elders and prophets.

Eventually, Josel Lefela had also warned the Basotho against the European missionaries, traders and commissioners that; the missionaries are the thin end of the wedge, the traders are the body of the wedge and the government is the head of the wedge that splits tribe. To date, colonial reforms have left Lesotho with a mixture of leadership system made up of traditional (chiefs), political (politicians), religious (church leaders) and business leaders. This kind of leadership has diverse moral values, beliefs, experiences and worldviews that conflict. As a result, Basotho are left in the dark about not knowing which moral value, belief, experience and worldview is good or bad for them hence serious reforms are necessary.

Conclusion

Lesotho is overwhelmed by moral degeneration as a result of colonial reforms. The traditional Basotho notion of Botho must be the basis of security, constitutional, media and public service reforms. The success of the reforms is a moral obligation of all Basotho individually and collectively. The Basotho people should determine the new Lesotho they want. More importantly, the existing leadership of Lesotho also has a moral duty to work for social unity and peace. They should first reconcile with God, ancestors and people. True reconciliation will then unfold peace and harmony among the Basotho people and beyond Lesotho.

BOTHO Pele Foundation Mahlatsimojo7230@gmail.com.  The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lesotho Times.

Mohalenyane Phakela

AWARD-WINNING film-maker, Lebohang Motlomelo, has issued an appeal for sponsorship to enable him to travel to the United States of America where his film, The Lost Cause, has been shortlisted for an award at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival.

Motlomelo says he is even willing to produce commercials or any digital and video work in exchange for return tickets to the prestigious event at Historic Hoover Theatre in California from 29 September to 1 October this year.

The Silicon Valley African Film Festival seeks to promote an appreciation of Africa and Africans through moving images. Aptly themed “Africa through the African lens”, it is the only film festival in California that exclusively focuses on films by African filmmakers.

The festival has become an annual destination for out of state and international guests.

The Lost Cause has also been screened at the Dieciminuti Film Festival (DFF) in Italy from 24 to 28 January this year, at the UK Screen One International Film Festival on 24 March and the Screen Test Student Film Festival in Chicago, United States of America on 22 April.

The film also won the Best Student Film at the Lesotho Film Festival 2016 In November last year. It tells the story of a young man (Mosiuoa) who finds himself trapped in a world of pride, wickedness and evil after his brother (Ramonne) left him alone to join the liberation army in response to the capture of their father by the army.

Speaking to the Weekender this week, Motlomelo- a Broadcasting and Journalist student at Limkokwing University in Maseru, said that attempts to secure funding from government were fruitless.

“The organisers of the festival will only cover the accommodation and ground transport so I need about M 25 000 for a visa as well as return air tickets,” Motlomelo said.

“My efforts to get sponsorship from the government through the ministries of gender; communications and tourism failed as I either got no response or was told they do not sponsor such trips.

“I even propose an exchange programme where I produce a television commercial, corporate video or photoshoot to the value of the amount I need for my trip. I have my own equipment.”

He said it was important to attend the awards ceremony as this would foster working relations with other African and American film-makers.

“I have never been to any of the international screenings of the Lost Cause but this one is more important as it is about Africans therefore the spotlight will be on us and it will be easier to form working relations with prominent people in the industry,” he said.

Motlomelo’s invitation letter states that he will get to interact with the audience in post-screening dialogues as well as “visit with students in some of our local schools to share personal stories about their home countries, background and profession”.

“The Silicon Valley African Film Festival is the only film festival in California that is exclusively focused on films made by African filmmakers and each year, presents 60+ films by seasoned and emerging filmmakers from over 26 African countries.

“The 2017 festival highlights include: Red Carpet / VIP reception, a colourful opening ceremony flag parade featuring flags of the countries in the festival, African drumming and dance, film screenings, post-screening dialogue with filmmakers in attendance, theme parties, African market, fashion show, food, Diaspora Spotlight – USA and awards ceremony,” the letter further states.

Mohalenyane Phakela

PRIMARY and high school choirs from all parts of the country will lock horns at this year’s Lesotho Schools Music Association (LeSMA) finals at St Michaels High School in Mpharane in the Leribe district on 10 September.

The choral competition has six categories of Junior Primary (29 schools), Senior Primary (13 schools), Junior High School (22), Senior High School (10), Female (six) and Champs (seven).

Choirs that have previously won in the Senior High School category are eligible to contest in the Champs category.

These include Cenez, Phomolong, Abia, Itekeng, Maputsoe Community, Lioli and Khethisa high schools.

LeSMA secretary general, Diana Mfana, told the Weekender that due to lack of sponsorship there were no monetary prizes but only trophies and medals for the top three in each category.

“We had monetary prizes in the past when we used to have sponsors but now that we are on our own, we can only afford trophies,” Mfana said.

She however, said the competition was very important for grooming choristers from an early age.

“It is important for children to be introduced to choral music at an early age so that they develop until they can become members of those choirs that compete in the national African Melody Festival as well as foreign competitions.

“Choral music is one of the genres that still maintain our cultural aspects so it is important to groom children from primary schools to ensure it does not perish,” she said.

Mohalenyane Phakela

RAPPER T-Mech says the high quality sound on the Kea Kena single from the upcoming Moddaw Presents Challenge IGI (I’m Going In) compilation album is proof that the local sound is ready for the world market.

Produced by Magic In Progress (MIP), the Hip Hop jam with a huge Kwaito influence, could be well become the party anthem this festive season.

“Kea Kena is a statement piece with major kwaito influence but a lot of hard hip hop sounds mashed up into one groovy anthem,” T-Mech said, adding, “It is drenched in a variety of genres and sounds mashed into one power packed party anthem.”

He said the song was the ultimate testimony of his tireless work over the years to polish his product which is now ready for the global market, hence Kea Kena which translates to I am going in.

“The first important thing is the quality of the track, everything from the instrumental down to the final master went through a series of listening sessions and adjustments by qualified sound engineers and producers, following a set of international rules and guidelines from techniques learnt from studies, credible names, literature and international standards.

“In terms of marketing, the song will be on more than 40 digital platforms for sale and some free promotions or streaming links using platforms such as Econet’s Music Time/Simfy, iTunes and Amazon among others in three weeks’ time.”

The Moddaw Presents Challenge IGI (I’m Going In) compilation is due to be released in November this year and will feature other rappers such as Lemeke oa Mochini and L Tore.

One of the producers, Moddaw oa Mochini, also told the Weekender said that the idea behind the compilation was to collectively sell Lesotho’s craft.

“As a Hip Hop aficionado, I have always wanted to do something for our industry and as I travelled I realises other nations did not know anything about our Hip Hop.

“Even our own corporate sector knows very little about us (rappers) and we are only referred to as ‘those boys who rap’.

“I initially planned to do one huge song that featured most of the rappers but then a song like that would have been too long to listen to so I eventually settled on a mixtape.”

He said T-Mech was the first to respond when he called other rappers to join the project, adding there would be at least 10 others coming on board.

Mikia Kalati

THE 2017/18 Premier League season finally gets underway this Saturday after a delay which was partly due to the delay in the disbursement of prize money for the previous campaign.

The Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) confirmed that the money finally came through on Monday from league sponsors, Vodacom with champions, Bantu pocketing the lion’s share of M200 000.

Despite the setbacks, clubs have been preparing for the new season and the pre-season has seen significant activity in the transfer market, particularly by the big guns.

On paper, the country’s most successful side, Matlama appear to have caught the biggest fish, particularly  with the capture of former Linare and Bantu forward, Nzenze Nkulu, who impressed last season with a 17-goal haul for Linare.

Nkulu will certainly give Tse Putsoa a new dimension in attack. The team has over the years relied on Motebang Sera for goals.

Matlama  also secured the signature of Teboho ‘Shakes’ Lilane on a season-long loan deal from Bantu while Lisema Lebokollane is back having been on loan at Lerotholi Polytechnic where he also studied.

Lebokollane has been impressive in the pre-season, bringing stability to the defence that leaked last season.

The fact that coach, Seephephe Matete, has had a pre-season with his players could be another advantage, given that he only joined the club midway through the last campaign.

The changes comes after a disastrous 2016/17 season where the most decorated club only managed an eighth place finish and this means that Matete will have nowhere to hide if things fail to work out.

Defending champions, Bantu, also overhauled their squad by bringing in exciting prospects while parting ways with some of the players that helped them win the title.

Experienced and versatile, Thabiso Mohapi, joined bitter rivals Lioli.

Another experienced player, Katleho Moleko, was also released by the club.

In came, exciting youngsters such as defender Johannes Molapo who joined from Sandawana and is seen as the long-term replacement for retired former captain Tlali Maile.

Tsietsi Motšeare was also signed on the back of an outstanding season for Sky Battalion.

National University of Lesotho side, Rovers, also hogged the off-season headlines after acquiring the franchise of Sky Battalion to return to the top flight league.

Rovers had been relegated to the A Division but they made the most of Sky Battalion’s financial struggles to buy the latter’s franchise.

It remains to be seen whether or not they will put their house in order so that they do not find themselves in the relegation dogfight once again.

The pressure will also be on Lioli coach Halemakale Mahlaha to lead Tse Nala back to the glory days.

Mahlaha took over a club that had won back-to-back titles but narrowly lost out to bitter rivals Bantu last season.

Lioli’s squad remains intact and Mahlaha will be boosted by the return of star player Tumelo Khutlang after his failed move to South African First Division side Mthatha Bucks.

Another of the country’s oldest clubs, Linare will be looking to get their house in order after years of struggling to keep up with the big boys.

They look set to register a number of seasoned campaigners such as Motlomelo Mkwananzi, Pali Tšalong and Teboho ‘Teacher’ Mota.

Mkwananzi, a Likuena international, was on the books of Sandawana while Tšalong and Mota return after a self- imposed exile due to work commitments.

The arrival of former national team striker Teele Ntšonyana as coach in the second round of last season brought stability and helped Linare survive relegation.

This time around the legendary Likuena striker has a chance to improve the squad and bring in players that he feels will help him compete better.

Kick4Life also made headlines as they lost some of their key players including attacking midfielder Morapeli Lesoetsa who left for the United States of America on an academic scholarship and sharpshooter Thabiso Brown who is set to play in Bolivia.

They also lost experienced striker Thapelo Tale who enjoyed a good run of form after joining midway through last season.

All eyes will be on Coach Leslie Notši to see if he can replicate last season’s top four finish or even go on to challenge for the big prize.

It looks like we have an exciting season coming up and I cannot wait for the games to begin.

It would be amiss for me to sign off without saluting Metropolitan Lesotho and Standard Lesotho Bank for heeding the football fraternity’s call to increase sponsorship packages.

The two companies this week announced a new increased three year package for the Independence Cup that takes place every October which will see the winners walk away with M200 000.

This is the same amount that the league champions receive after a gruelling campaign for almost a year and yet the Independence Cup is only played over two days.

I am particularly impressed with the individual accolades where the Player of the Tournament will pocket M8000, up from last year’s M1500.

This is a massive improvement and it shows that the companies and the premier league management are really concerned about the wellbeing of players.

I also salute premier league chairperson John Leuta.

Mikia Kalati

MARATHON queen Mamoroallo Tjoka says she is firmly focused on the future and has put behind her the recent troubles she has endured.

Tjoka said this in a media briefing early this week after winning Sunday’s Mandela Day Marathon in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa which carried a M100 000 winner’s purse.

This was her second victory since returning from a two year doping ban. She won a car at the Zululand Ultra Marathon in March this year.

Speaking with the local media for the first time since her return, Tjoka said it took desire and hard work to continue shining despite the setbacks.

“I did not throw in the towel, but used that as a motivation to comeback stronger,” Tjoka said.

“I do not want to talk about what happened in the past. I have put it behind me and I’m focused on the future.”

She said she trained hard knowing it would take something special to beat Ethiopian Selem Abere who had won the Pietermaritzburg race for the previous two years in a row.

The 32-year old told this publication that she was now wiser and would not run every race that came her way to avoid injuries and stay in good shape.

“I am not sure of my next move but would like to run at the High Altitude Summer Marathon in Mokhotlong in December and I might do smaller races such as the 10km and 21km.

“I have not made a decision about the Soweto Marathon but I will run the smaller Or Tambo Half-marathon and another in Bloemfontein.

“I am wiser now and aware that I should not overload my body and invite unnecessary injuries by running too many races.

“I have to rest my body and take good care of it to continue performing well at the higher stage for more years.”

Meanwhile, the Lesotho Amateur Athletics Association (LAAA) Public Relations Officer, Sejanamane Maphathe, praised Tjoka as well as Ramolefi Motsieloa who finished fourth in the male category.

“Both athletes are shining again after coming from two year suspensions.

“Both could have won but Motsieloa tired in the final kilometre and was overtaken by the Ethiopians.

“Young athletes should learn from these two not to give up under any circumstances because life comes with challenges.

“They were punished for being ignorant enough to use banned substances to recover quickly from injuries using banned,” Maphathe said.

He said it was good that the duo were back to represent Lesotho and he also reserved special praise for Tjoka who had matured enough to refrain from overloading herself with too many races.

“As for Tjoka, she is now very smart and will not overwork her body by running in almost every race.

“She ran her first race in March since returning and the second only came months later,” he said.

Moorosi Tsiane

THE 2017 Lesotho netball team is aiming to go down in history as the first national side to win the netball competition in the Confederation of School Sports Association of Southern Africa (COSSASA) Games, coach Shanduka Munyaradzi has said.

The games kick-off today until Sunday and Lesotho host regional counterparts South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia in football, tennis, rugby, netball, volleyball and basketball in the boys’ and girls’ categories.

The games will be played at different grounds in Maseru including Lehakoe Recreational Centre.

Lesotho has previously won the football competition on several occasions and Munyaradzi has rallied his charges to step up and become the first national side to win in netball.

“We have been training hard ever since I selected this squad after the Lesotho Institute of Sport Association (LISA) games a fortnight ago,” Munyaradzi told the Lesotho Times on Tuesday.

“My girls are ready for the challenge and we are determined to be the first local netball team to win gold.

“We will be playing countries which have done very well in the region. Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Malawi are our biggest problem but we have beaten Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland in our previous encounters so they don’t pose much of a threat but we need to be prepared for every team and we will not be taking any for granted.”

He said the games presented the perfect opportunity for them to atone for poor performances at the Youth World Cup Championship in Botswana and the Africa Union Sport Council in Angola (both in 2016) where they lost all their matches.

He said although they were underdogs, he had emphasised to his charges the importance of “turning past failures into today’s success”.

“Last year’s performances were very embarrassing and the target is to perform better than in Botswana and Angola,” he said.

Mikia Kalati

THE new Premier League season will roar into life this Saturday as defending champions Bantu begin their title defence against new boys Sefotha-fotha at Maputsoe DIFA Ground.

The second of the two matches that will kick-off the new season is between the country’s most decorated side, Matlama, who will take to the field against Liphakoe at LCS Ground.

Matlama coach, Seephephe Matete, is confident that his charges will be more competitive this season after reinforcing the squad in the off-season.

Tse Putsoa signed Nzenze Nkulu from Bantu on the back of his impressive 17 goal harvest for Linare where he spent last season on loan.

Teboho Lilane also joined from Bantu on a season-long loan deal while Lisema Lebokolloane has returned from an academic loan spell at Lerotholi Polytechnic.

“I am very happy with the preparations that we had and the postponement of the start of the season also gave us more time,” Matete said.

The veteran coach also said he is happy with the new acquisitions, adding it was normal for any team to reinforce prior to the start of a new campaign.

“I am excited with the new additions but they still have to adapt.

“We only tested them in friendly matches and the league is a completely different ball game altogether.”

The former Likuena coach, who is also a Matlama icon from his playing days, said he hoped his charges would be more competitive as he had a pre-season with them unlike in the previous campaign when he only joined the club in mid-season.

“It is always important for any coach to have a pre-season with the team to gauge the players’ level of fitness, technical abilities as well as the mental strength.

“It’s all in our hands because we also reinforced the team where we felt there were weaknesses.

“Last season we were conceding goals in almost every game and I hope that the new additions will help us become more compact.

“In Nkulu, we have a player that score goals. All in all I am happy with our preparations and the strength in our squad.”

Meanwhile, Bantu coach, James Madidilane, said his side was on a mission to defend the championship they worked so hard to win last season.

“We have prepared very well but I am not happy with the numbers of players that we brought in.

“We have not been able to reinforce our squad the way we wanted, but we are ready for the opening match,” Madidilane said.

The South African who won the league in his first year with the club said losing key players was part and parcel of the game and wished Lilane and Thabiso Mohapi well at their new clubs Matlama and Lioli respectively.

“You should expect the unexpected every season, and we had to decide whether to release Lilane or just loan him out.

“As for Mohapi, the issue was beyond our control but those that we have will do the work for us.

“We have also brought in Tsietsi Motšeare who did very well at his former club and brings some energy into our team.

“We cannot cry over the players that have left the team but we wish them well. Football is like that all the time.”

On Sunday, LCS host LMPS and the police outfit is set to unleash the new faces such as Relebohile Mabone and Tšepo Seturumane.

New boys Majantja host Linare in Mohale’s Hoek while former champions Lioli welcome Sandawana to Setsoto stadium.

Kick4Life will face off with the new look Rovers while Likhopo entertain LDF.

Premier League fixtures:

Saturday

Matlama v Liphakoe

Sefotha-fotha v Bantu

Sunday

LCS v LMPS

Lioli v Sandawana

Majantja v Linare

Likhopo v LDF

Kick4Life v Sky Battalion

Top 4 on Monday received a shot in the arm when its sponsors in Metropolitan Lesotho and Standard Lesotho Bank announced an increased prize money for this year’s edition of the tournament

Mikia Kalati

THE annual Independence Top 4 tournament winners’ purse has been increased to M200 000 from last year’s M150 000, the competition’s sponsors, Metropolitan Lesotho and Standard Lesotho Bank announced this week.

The tournament will played on 7 and 8 October this year.

Premier League Management Committee Chairperson (PMLC), John Leuta revealed that they were handed a new three year- deal where the sponsorship for each year will be M520 000, bringing the entire package to a total of M1, 560 million.

Leuta said this package was purely for prizes and excludes logistics such as stadium hire and playing kits for the teams.

“The winners will receive M200 000, the runners-up, M100 000 and the third and fourth-placed, M70 000 and M50 000 respectively,” Leuta said.

Last year, the winners walked away with M150 000, the runners-up, M60 000 while the third and fourth placed teams got M40 000 and M30 000 respectively.

The Player of the Tournament will receive M8000 compared to last year’s M1500.

“There will also be M4000 for the Man of the Match in all the four games over the two days, M6000 each for the Goalkeeper of the Tournament and Top Goal Scorer.

“We have also increased the prize money for the referees and assistants because we want the best officiating during the games hence the Referee of the Tournament will receive M4000 with the two best Assistant Referees each getting M2000,” Leuta said.

He said just like last year, a portion of the money will be allocated to corporate social initiatives (CSI) where each of the four clubs get to spend M15 000 on a school or orphanage of their choice.

“Last year M40 000 allocated for CSI but it has been increased to M60 000 with each team getting M15 000 compared to last year’s M10 000.”

For his part, Standard Lesotho Bank Chief Executive Officer, Mpho Vumbukani, said they were happy to commence the new three year sponsorship package for the Independence Cup from 2017 to 2020.

“We are extremely happy to forge ahead with the third wave of our three-year cycle of the Independence Cup journey from 2017 to 2020.

“I believe that we made a solid investment in this football franchise that is now a force to be reckoned with and many football lovers look forward to the independence football spectacle every year with great anticipation.

“We are proud sponsors that will once more be joining Basotho in the celebration of independence through football and this tournament is also our way of thanking Basotho for their unwavering support of our two companies,” Vumbukane said.

Metropolitan Lesotho Managing Director, Nkau Matete, echoed Vumbukane’s sentiments, telling the briefing that they were extremely happy with the positive change they had made to local football through sponsorship.

“Today marks the third cycle of the sponsorship. The first took its course and we have just finished the second,” Matete said, adding, “The tournament has been a success since it started and we have worked well with Standard Lesotho Bank in sponsoring it”.

“Bantu has won it four times, Lioli twice and maybe this is the year that a new team will hoist this trophy.

“We are proud of our partnership with the premier league and thank Ntate Leuta for the good partnership.

“We are also proud that the standards of football are improving in a sport that was known for conflicts and fights.”

The tournament will be contested by premier league champions, Bantu; runners-up Lioli as well as LCS and Kick4Life who finished third and fourth respectively.

Prize money break down

Winners: M200 000

Runners-up:M100 00

Third place: M70 000

Fourth place: M50 000

Player of the Tournament: M8000

Top Goal Scorer: M6000

Goalkeeper of the Tournament: M6000

Referee of the Tournament: 4000

Assistant Referees: M2000 (each)

New boys Sefotha-fotha were on Tuesday given a big boost ahead of their first ever match in the elite league as they were handed a kit sponsorship by Builders City

Mikia Kalati

PREMIER league debutants Sefotha-fotha on Tuesday received a major boost ahead of their first match in the elite league after securing a M11 000 kit sponsorship deal with Builders City.

Sefotha-fotha have a daunting task against champions, Bantu at Setsoto Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Builders City representative, Mohshin Mayet, said the sponsorship was one of the ways in which the company gave back to the community that continued to support them.

“We encourage giving back to the community and this is part of ploughing back,” Mayet said.

“The plan is to motivate children to continue participating in sports activities and we will always give back wherever possible.”

For his part, Sefotha-fotha vice president, Hlompho Maitin thanked Builders City for their gesture.

He said the club comprised of police officers and others from the Mabote constituency and it aimed at using football as a tool to combat crime in the community.

“We encourage children to play football rather than get on the wrong side of the law.

“Above everything I thank Builder City for their noble gesture and I hope that it is a beginning of many things to come our way because we have a lot of financial challenges.

“Some of our players are still students and we have to assist in paying school fees and it would be helpful if our sponsors injected more into our team.

“I also call on our supporters to return the favour by supporting their company because it is only then that they will give more,” he said.

The club has kept faith in coach, Tiisetso Molete, who helped them win promotion.

They also reinforced the squad with the former Matlama young duo of Letuka Mosehlenyane and Tšolo Molibeli. Phalatsi Sekoloto also joined from LMPS.

Maitin also said they will wait for the January transfer window to decide whether or not to bring in reinforcements.

…unveiling ceremony set for tomorrow

Mikia Kalati

THE Lesotho Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) has agreed a three-year multi-million maloti deal with Econet Telecom Lesotho which will see the latter replace fellow mobile communications company, Vodacom Lesotho as the sponsors of the premier league, the Lesotho Times has learnt.

Econet are no strangers to sponsoring the league as they did so from 2002 to 2009 when Vodacom took over.

Two PLMC committee members yesterday told this publication that the new three-year sponsorship package is worth M2 million and the champions stand to pocket M500 000.

This represents a two and half fold increase on the M200 000 that Bantu received for winning last season’s title.

“It’s true that we have penned a three-year deal with Econet and the launch will take place on Friday evening,” one PLMC member said on condition of anonymity.

“We could not refuse the offer as it was more than double the current deal.

“We have penned a new three-year contract and the package is much, much bigger,” said the source, adding, “Negotiations have been going on for some time and we finally reached an agreement last Friday”.

“The sponsor wants the launch to take place as soon as possible and that is why it is taking place on Friday.

“We have already sent out invitations to the minister of sport.”

The PLMC member said that the new deal had nothing to do with the fact that the clubs only received their prizes for the 2016/17 season this week from Vodacom.

He said it was only because they wanted a bigger deal on the table.

“We felt that the value of the league has gone up and our teams need a bigger deal that will take the standards of the game to another level.

“Luckily Econet responded to our plea and we are happy an agreement has been reached.”

Econet Telecom Lesotho Public Relations Officer, Puleng Litabe, was coy about the latest developments, only telling this publication that something would be happening on Friday.

“There is something happening on Friday and you will be informed about it,” Litabe told this publication yesterday.

Behind the scenes of the film Papali – We Dare You

 Mohalenyane Phakela

ALLIANCE Française has lined up music, poetry and film activities beginning on Saturday till 29 September this year.

Alliance Française has been promoting cultural activities and exchange in Lesotho since 1981, forming partnerships with local organisations and artistes.

The opening event for this month will be the creative writing workshop by Bangladesh-born poet Hassan Masum who is on a mission to foster links between local and Bangladeshi poetry.

The poetry class will be followed by a writing competition which is open to 30 poets who are expected to register before the event by emailing Masum on hassanmasumpoetry@gmail.com.

A monthly discussion forum “Speak Up 4 Lesotho” will be held at the AF Hall on 15 September. The forum is aimed at stimulating debate on topical issues.

The discussion topic will be ‘Arts and Culture Policies – a blessing or a curse?’ and it will be held ahead of the Arts and Innovation Week organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture which has been set for the first week of October.

The regular wine and music event, In Alliance Veritas, will be held on 21 September. The event offers patrons the opportunity to sample French wines while enjoying good music.

This time AF has partnered with Conservation Music to raise funds for the latter’s upcoming project which is aimed at creating meaningful songs with a traditional feel.

On 25 September, The Alchemy of Words will be staged for students at Machabeng College. This is a multi-media performance about the life and work of the late French poet Arthur Rimbaud which combines animation, music and puppetry.

It premiered at the South African National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from 29 June to 9 July, 2017 and it is a French-South African collaboration which features the likes of Naomi van Niekerk, Arnaud van Vliet and Yoann Pencolé.

The screening of the short film, Papali– We Dare You, will bring down the curtains on 29 September at the AF Hall.

The film, by Sesotho Media & Development, is about love and relationships among young people in the era of HIV/AIDS.