…as thousands face arrests, deportations over special permits 

’Marafaele Mohloboli

The Lesotho government is making frantic efforts to engage South Africa to try and avert a potential crisis in which hundreds of thousands of Basotho face arrests, deportations and joblessness after they failed to secure the Lesotho Special Permit (LSP) to enable them to reside and work legally in the neighbouring country.

The four-year LSP was introduced in 2015 to enable qualifying Basotho to lawfully work, study or do business in South Africa.

The initial application process for the permit began in March 2016 and was due to end in June 2016. There have been three extensions since then, culminating in the final extension to 31 March 2017 for all applications.

A South African Home Affairs report issued in October 2017 said that 194 941 LSP applications were received out of an estimated 400 000 Basotho believed to be in South Africa.

“Out of these, about 90,225 were approved, 3 582 rejected,” the report stated.

“Of the adjudicated cases 6 735 applications were still awaiting collection at the VFS following notification via sms advising applicants of the status of their applications and readiness for collection which ought to be completed by 31 October 2017.”

Despite the expiry of the deadline for collection, at least 6700 Basotho had not collected their special permits which were ready by mid-2017 despite several appeals to them to do so.

Although 90 225 applications were approved, the figure is a drop in the ocean as it represents less than a quarter of the  400 000 Basotho estimated by the South African government to be living within its borders.

Even though most of those who applied succeeded in getting the LSP, more than 300 000 Basotho living in South Africa seem not to have bothered to apply and now risk being arrested and deported from that country after a moratorium of such deportations expired on 31 December 2017.

South Africa’s then Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba had already vowed that his government would enforce deportations upon the expiry of the moratorium as Africa’s second largest and most sophisticated economy seeks to stem off the tide of illegal immigration into its borders.

A similar permit was granted to hordes of Zimbabweans who fled political and economic turmoil in their country to South Africa. Those Zimbabweans who did not apply for the permit to regularise their stay or failed to qualify were deported once the process was over.

Home Affairs Minister, Tsukutlane Au, said the government had since requested an appointment with South Africa to address the  highly emotive issue of the LSP.

“I have engaged the Minister of Foreign Affairs and asked that they make an urgent appointment with our counterparts as this matter needs to be addressed with urgency.

“South Africa had already agreed to meet us in February but we would really like it to be earlier than that,” Mr Au said.

Though the minister was not at liberty to discuss the details of what he would present at the meeting, the Lesotho Times is reliably informed that the government would want a new extension to enable those who did not apply to do so. It also wants to discourage any deportations of Basotho after the moratorium expired.

Last October, Ministry of Home Affairs Principal Secretary, Machabana Lemphane Letsie, told this publication that the government would engage their South African counterparts to re-open the LSP applications to cater for those who did not apply.

“Not every Mosotho’s application was successful therefore such people are still without permits. “Another case is of those who started staying in South Africa after 30 September 2015. These were not given the opportunity so we are negotiating with the government of South Africa to offer them the opportunity as well,” Ms Letsie said.

Tempers flared at the South African High Commission offices in Maseru on Thursday as some of the Basotho, whose applications were approved, tried to collect their permits but found the process extremely slow.  They broke into song and dance and subsequently attempted to over-power security details to enter the embassy premises and register their concerns.

Security details at the embassy then sought intervention of embassy staff and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service LMPS.

It was eventually resolved that the permits be returned to their respective stations in South Africa where the applications were made. Basotho would then have up to 30 days to collect the permits at the point of application and regularise their stay in SA.

Those who fail to collect within the stipulated 30 day period will be deported alongside those whose applications were rejected and those who never applied at all.

Commenting on the Thursday commotion, the director of the National Identity and Civil Registry Tumelo Raboletsi said Lesotho had initially agreed with South Africa to have Basotho collect their permits at the High Commission in Maseru but this had been scuttled by rowdy people who were too impatient to wait for their turn to be served.

Mahlatholle Madiba, the First Secretary (immigration and Civic Services) at the South African High Commission, echoed Mr Raboletsi, saying, “Following the fracas at our gates, the dispatch process was not possible and we were forced to take the permits back to the offices where they were applied for in South Africa”.

“The applicants must now go and collect them there.

“We also engaged our government to allow those with receipts back into South Africa so that they can collect their permits.

“But beyond the 30 days granted they shall have to face the consequences (if they have not collected the permits) and there is nothing we can do about that because they have always known about the importance of the LSP,” Mr Madiba said.

The situation is more ominous nonetheless for those who did not apply for the permits at all.

Basotho working and living illegally in South Africa were handed a lifeline through the introduction of the LSP. It is not clear why so many failed to apply.

However, Refiloe Kolobe, a representative of the Mokorotlo oa Basotho association which advocates for the rights and welfare of Basotho living in South Africa, said the application process was “bungled” from the onset and the application fees were too high.

Mr Kolbe’s said his association took issue with the service fee of M970 required for each LSP application.  According to him, this is one reason why so few applied as many Basotho who are economic migrants to South Africa could hardly afford it. .

“We have had challenges from the beginning and no one ever mentioned anything about people having to pay for the service fee of M970 even after applications are rejected,” charged Mr Kolobe.

However, the service fees are stated on the website of VSF global, the agent for South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs through whom some of the applications are processed.  Mr Kolobe said M970 was a lot of money to expect from Basotho who are either unemployed or, if employed, are earning “starvation” wages in South Africa because of exploitative bosses known to underpay undocumented migrants.

Tefo Tefo

A PANEL of three High Court judges on Monday reserved judgment in the case in which the deputy leader of the Democratic Congress (DC), Mathibeli Mokhothu, is fighting to remain the official leader of opposition in the National Assembly.

The judgement was reserved to an unspecified date after lawyers representing Mr Mokhothu and the respondents presented their arguments on behalf of their clients.

National Assembly Speaker, Sephiri Motanyane, National Assembly Clerk, King’s Counsel Lebohang Fine Maema, Law Minister, Lebohang Hlaele, Finance Minister, Moeketsi Majoro and the Attorney-General are the respondents in this case.

The now exiled Mr Mokhothu, DC, National Independent Party (NIP) and Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) filed an urgent application before the Constitutional Court on 21 November 2017, challenging the National Assembly Speaker’s ruling that he no longer qualified as the official leader of the opposition.

This pronouncement was made on 3 November 2017, while Mr Motanyane was making a ruling on a point of order raised by the Minister of Forestry, Motlohi Maliehe on 14 July 2014, on whether or not Mr Mokhothu still qualified to be leader of the opposition after the Member of Parliament for Semena Constituency, Tlohelang Aumane, had just crossed the floor from the Democratic Congress (DC) to the Alliance of Democrats (AD).

Mr Motanyane ruled that Mr Mokhothu did not qualify to be the official leader of opposition because he commanded less than 25 percent of seats in the National Assembly.

Addressing the court on Monday, Mr Mokhothu’s lawyer, King’s Counsel Motiea Teele, said Mr Motanyane’s ruling was not correct at law because Mr Mokhothu had already been approved as official leader of opposition on the first special sitting of parliament immediately after the 3 June, 2017 snap elections.

He said the law did not state what should happen when someone lost the 25 percent majority of seats in parliament after he had already been appointed to the seat of official leader of the opposition.

The position of official leader of opposition is equivalent to that of a deputy minister in that it comes with benefits that include an office and an official vehicle.

And on Monday, justices, Tšeliso Monaphathi, Lisebo Chaka-Makhooane and Sakoane Sakoane reserved judgment to a date that they said they would announce in due course.

In the meantime, Mr Mokhothu will continue enjoying his benefits as the official leader of the opposition until the judgment has been delivered.

In the court papers, the political parties DC, NIP and PFD wanted an interim relief to stop Mr Motanyane and other respondents from removing Mr Mokhothu from his position until the finalisation of the case.

Substantively, the court has to decide whether or not the speaker’s ruling should be deemed “unconstitutional, null and void and of no force or effect”.

Before a parliament winter break last year, the DC, NIP and PFD had written to Mr Motanyane expressing their intention to form a coalition in the National Assembly.

In addition to nominating Mr Mokhothu as the official leader of the opposition, the parties also selected PFD deputy leader, Thabang Kholumo, as the opposition chief whip, DC legislator for Qalabane constituency, Motlalentoa Letsosa as chair of the opposition caucus while DC legislator for Senqu, Likeleli Tampane, was nominated as secretary.

The DC had to join forces with the two parties after one of its legislators, Semena constituency MP Tlohelang Aumane, defected to the Alliance of Democrats (AD) soon after the 3 June 2017 snap elections. Mr Aumane has since been appointed as Minister of Development Planning.

Following Mr Aumane’s defection, the DC was left with 29 seats- one short of the 30-seat threshold to retain the status of official opposition in the 120-seat National Assembly.

Mohalenyane Phakela

CAR importers and clearing agencies are up in arms with the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) over a new clearing system at  ports of entry which they say has not only increased tariffs but is taking longer to process effectively destroying their businesses.

Some of the car dealers say they are now paying 60 percent more in import duties as a result of the new LRA regulations.

Three clearing agencies who import pre-owned cars from Japan this week told the Lesotho Times in separate interviews that the new clearing system, which they say was introduced without prior consultations by the LRA in December 2017, had also bred mistrust as clients blamed them for the resultant delays in receiving their imported vehicles.

According to Mokhali Mofubetsoana, a Phoka Clearing and Forwarding Agency representative, the clearing of cars which used to be done before the vehicles reached the border was now being done only when they had arrived at the border and they were being charged higher taxes.

“We normally do pre-clearance but early in December they (LRA) introduced what they call top-up where they evaluate the imported cars again when they arrive at the border and then add an extra charge,” Mr Mofubetsoana said.

“The changes were not communicated to us beforehand so we do not know the basis for the higher taxes. The extra charges have negatively affected our business in that we can no longer give people the exact quotes which let them know exactly how much it will cost them to import cars from Japan.

“On top of that, some clients now think we are intentionally delaying the arrival of their cars which used to take about five weeks to get to Maseru. Now it can take even double that time on top of the extra charges we are now incurring.”

Joel Mohale of Flying King Clearing Agency said their business was falling apart because clients had lost confidence in them as they could not understand why it now took more than two months to get their cars.

“Our trucks that bring cars from the Durban port (in South Africa) get stuck at the (Maseru) border and as we speak, I have two truckloads that have been at the Maseru border since Friday.

“These trucks that we hire to bring cars would normally immediately return to Durban to collect more cars but that is no longer possible and we are even incurring unnecessary storage charges due to the delays. I also have cars that arrived on 15 December last year but they are still at the LRA warehouse awaiting clearance.

“We have met with them (LRA) on several occasions but no convincing explanation was given to us. What I learned is that this is one of their strategies to reach their tax collection targets which they have been missing.

“This is killing our business…We do not know how to explain it all to our customers. Other customers have even gone to the extent of threatening to shoot us saying we embezzled their money for they do not understand why it now takes over two months to get their cars.”

Another agent, Thapelo Makhahlela of TMM Holdings, said while they understood the need for the LRA to discharge its mandate of collecting taxes, the revenue authority had to be efficient and avoid the delays which were affecting their relationships with clients.

“This system was introduced without any prior notification and we only found out about it when the cars got to the border and additional taxes were demanded. We fail to understand this as we have regular meetings with the LRA but these changes have never been officially communicated to us.

“The other problem is that when the cars are evaluated, LRA officials never ask for the auction sheets or proofs of payments from us. They simply assess the cars by merely looking at them and just charge taxes that come to their minds at that time.

“We are not against the work of the LRA but they are destroying our businesses by taking a very long time to clear our cars. The clients do not understand what is going on and they are very angry with us,” he said.

Despite several attempts, this publication had still not obtained comment from the LRA at the time of going to print yesterday.

LRA Public Relations Manager, Pheello Mphana, said he was not at work and provided another number only for this reporter to be told by the lady who answered the phone that she was not the right person to respond to questions.

She promised to find someone who would phone back to comment on the matter but had not done so yesterday while her phone also rang unanswered. The Lesotho Times will publish the LRA’s side of the story as soon as it is availed.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

COMMUNICATIONS Minister and government spokesperson, Joang Molapo, says the recent vulgar remarks by United States President, Donald Trump, in which he made reference to “shithole countries” in Africa did not include Lesotho.

The controversial US President recently drew the ire of the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and various individual countries for his disparaging remarks about Haiti, El Salvador and other “shithole countries” in Africa saying their citizens should not be admitted into the US as immigrants.

Mr Trump said he preferred immigrants from countries like Norway which he felt would help further develop the US economy.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here,” Mr Trump reportedly asked at a meeting with members of the US congress in Washington DC last Thursday.

Mr Trump’s remarks have been roundly condemned by countries like Botswana as well as the AU, UN and the African group of ambassadors to the UN who described the utterances as “outrageous, racist and xenophobic”.

In its statement issued last Friday, the African group of ambassadors said it “noted with great concern the continuing and growing trend from the US administration towards Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of colour.”

The group also expressed its solidarity with the people of Haiti and others that have similarly been denigrated. It also affirmed its commitment to the “values and principles of multilateralism, diversity and equality enshrined in relevant African Union and UN Charter instruments”.

The AU also released its own statement “to express its infuriation, disappointment and outrage over the unfortunate comments made by Mr Trump which dishonour the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity”.

The AU demanded “a retraction of the comments as well as an apology, not only to the Africans, but to all people of African descent around the globe”.

Speaking on Lesotho’s position, Mr Molapo this week told the Lesotho Times that the government stood by the AU statement condemning the utterances.

He however, said the government of Lesotho “believes that enough noise has been made with regards to the (Trump) remarks”.

“We also don’t believe that Lesotho is part of the ‘shithole’ countries mentioned by Mr Trump.

“We have good relations with the US and we don’t believe that our friendship can be tainted by one unfortunate statement which could have been made in the heat of the moment.

“What President Trump is said to have said does not describe what our relationship with the US is like in reality. The good that the US has done cannot be tainted by this unfortunate statement and we believe that the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Lesego Makgothi) will take up the matter with the US and give us an answer,” Mr Joang said.

He said the Lesotho government was confident that action was already being taken to address the fallout from the remarks by Mr Trump, adding that if at all Lesotho would release its own statement, it “would not be driven by emotions, but it will be based on the context of our relationship with the United States which we would like to see continuing”.

Tsitsi Matope

THE Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) Acting Commissioner, Thabang Mothepu said security remains tight at the maximum facilities, emphasising that he was confident that the various security mechanisms introduced over the years were effective enough to prevent any escape attempts by inmates, including those implicated in high profile cases.

In an interview this week, Acting Comm Mothepu rubbished allegations of a plot by some correctional officers to facilitate the escape of certain inmates.

“What we experienced late last year concerning security, was a fabrication of an issue by some mischievous elements who wanted to create a storm out of nothing by peddling falsehoods,” Acting Comm Mothepu said.

He explained that in the midst of these negative forces, there was need to lead an effective reconfiguration of LCS to ensure that all staff members are professionals who trusted each other, worked together and not compromised by any external forces with hidden agendas.

“It’s important to understand that we have a situation that seems to indicate that there are certain individuals who want to take control of the LCS, and at times, working with some unprofessional elements within our organisation who are the peddlers of fake information. I wonder what their objective is. But I can say that our systems are strong; we are a professional entity that is part of the Government of Lesotho and those on a different mission within the organisation need to change or ship-out.”

He said a lot has happened since his appointment, including developments that have seen some high-profile inmates in LCS’ custody. Acting Comm Mothepu further explained that over the years, LCS has been handling high profile inmates and will continue to deliver its services effectively.

“We will not lose focus, in fact, if there are some people who really have some information and evidence of security threats, they are welcome to come to us and share that information. We will act on it. What is dangerous is to use the hype around some inmates in our custody to create issues that cause unnecessary alarm. That really drags the organisation back when all we are trying to do is to go forward. The fact of the matter is that, at the moment we do not have any complex situations, which the organisation feels we are unable to handle with regards to the security of inmates connected to high-profile cases or any other inmates,” Acting Comm Mothepu said.

He said the Correctional Service was not only dealing with certain inmates some people were interested in, but also many other inmates facing and convicted of serious crimes. “It is in our best interest not to neglect any of our duties or to work against the mandate LCS was created for through the constitution of Lesotho.”

He said LCS has positioned highly professional people in all key positions as one of the many mechanisms of strengthening security.

“I have a clear understanding that, when it comes to issues that have to do with security management and command, we need to have competent professionals who understand the vision of the LCS, appreciate our context and how to handle matters related to the institution.”

He said efforts to continue strengthening the organisation’s systems to meet its annual targets were on-going. This entailed, he said, ensuring that all staff spoke the same language and were at the same wave-length in terms of capacity to execute their various duties.

“We all need to understand why we come to work everyday. Remember most of us did not know each other before the LCS. Our work brought us together. It is that work we should do and execute professionally,” Acting Comm Mothepu said.

He said this year, the Correctional Service will focus on skills development programmes, and also ensure that the organisation’s good work spoke for itself through improved visibility programmes.

“We would like our development projects to be known and we plan to robustly engage with the media and various partners working in the areas of inmates’ rehabilitation, health, education, re-integration and other various forms of empowerment. We work with people (inmates) who need a lot of support and while we do what we can, we will also reach out to other actors for support to help improve the lives of the inmates after their release.”

Strengthening collaboration, he said, will help LCS to improve its services while exposing their work and challenges to actors who can provide support, particularly in the area of tertiary education for the inmates.

He said a good number of inmates serving long sentences have completed and passed their secondary school education but could not get assistance to proceed to tertiary education.

Acting Comm Mothepu said there was need to develop programmes that would assist many inmates who have demonstrated real potential academically.

Mohalenyane Phakela

WOOL and Mohair broker, BKB, yesterday filed an application in the High Court for the re-opening of its Standard Lesotho Bank account, which was frozen last week by the Maseru Magistrates’ Court following a request by the police.

Police Spokesperson, Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli yesterday told the Lesotho Times that they had presented an affidavit in court to have the account frozen to enable police investigations into the alleged irregularities of cash flow.

“We recently received a tip-off that there were some irregularities in the flow of funds in the BKB account at Standard Lesotho Bank. In such a scenario, the first step we took was to convince the court to freeze the account for obvious reasons. We would not want the person or people being investigated to withdraw the money and disappear,” Supt Mopeli said.

He said the account in question was opened using South African documents, “As a result, we are investigating whether the account is being operated within the confines of our laws. We will proceed with necessary actions once we have finalised our investigations.”

However, BKB filed a High Court application, case number: CRI/REV/001/2018, arguing that their operations were above board.

BKB is a South African company that sells wool and mohair on behalf of 40 000 local farmers through an auction in the Eastern Cape. Speaking at a News Conference, BKB’s General Manager, Isaak Stats, said they have been paying Basotho through the account for 24 years, and have never had any problems.

The company has been working with the local farmers for the past 44 years and we only decided to open a local account in 1993 to make it easier to pay Basotho farmers.

“We believe we followed the right procedures when we opened the account because Standard Lesotho Bank would not have accepted us to be their client. The account has been used solely to pay Basotho farmers. Over the years, we have never had any problems with it until last Friday when we were notified by the bank that they received a court order to freeze our account. We had to inform the farmers that their payments would not be processed. We continue to assure the farmers that they will receive their payment as soon as the issue has been resolved,” Mr Stats said.

He said they were puzzled by the incident as they had not received any communication from the police or the court as to why the account was frozen.

“Therefore, we instructed our lawyers to deal with the matter, and today (yesterday) they filed a case in the High Court requesting for the unfreezing of the account,” Mr Stats said, adding that, the company was readily available should they be needed for questioning.

He explained that as a South African company, they paid tax to the South African Revenue Authority, which he said had relations with Lesotho Revenue Authority. “It is important to also mention that we are in the process of registering a company in Lesotho to be closer to our clients whom we have been loyal to since 1974,” he said.

Commenting on the freezing of the account, the Marketing Manager of Standard Lesotho Bank, Manyathela Kheleli, confirmed the receipt of the court order, but could not divulge its contents due to the bank policy.

“I can confirm that we received a court order regarding BKB account but then, as the bank, we are obliged to keep our clients’ details confidential. Therefore, we cannot disclose the contents of the court order to anyone other than BKB. Our clients are the ones at liberty to disclose the contents to any other person,” he said.

Tefo Tefo

THE Lesotho Police Staff Association (LEPOSA) yesterday filed an urgent application challenging the promotions of six police officers with the police body accusing the police authorities of breaching the law.

Police Commissioner, Holomo Molibeli on 12 January 2018 promoted six police officers with immediate effect, following the announcement of six vacant positions within the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) last December.

The six officers who were promoted are Inspector Baleme Edwin Lebajoa who is now an Assistant Commissioner, Senior Inspector Lefu Ralethoko who was elevated to the Senior Superintendent while Police Spokesperson, Inspector Mpiti Mopeli and Butha-Buthe Police Senior Inspector, Thato Ramarikhoane, are now Superintendents.

Inspectors, Mohlapiso Mohlapiso and Boipuso Monne were promoted to the rank of Senior Inspector.

However, LEPOSA alleges the said promotions were executed contrary to the laws governing the LMPS.

In its court papers, LEPOSA calls upon the respondents to explain why “the promotions announced on 12 January 2018, shall not be declared null, void and of no legal force and effect in law for violating provisions of Section 8(1) read with 8(2) of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service Act No. 7 of 1998.”

The police association also wants the High Court to nullify the said promotions for not being compliant with the provisions of police regulations as amended in 2003.

Listed as the respondents are the Commissioner of Police, Mr Molibeli, Staff Officer to Commissioner of Police, LMPS Human Resources Officer, the six promoted officers and the Attorney General.

Supporting the association’s claim, LEPOSA’s secretary general, Moraleli Motloli made an affidavit giving rise to the police body’s complaint.

“On 11 December 2017, a Memo published by the 1^st respondent (Mr Molibeli) announced six vacancies in the Lesotho Mounted Police Service.

“The vacancies were in the ranks of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Senior Superintendent, Superintendent and Senior Inspector,” he states.

He alleges the candidates were only given seven days to apply, adding the memo that invited applications contained specifications that were couched in general terms “with a view to evade the legal obligations placed upon the 1^st respondent to base promotions in the LMPS on merit as envisaged by Regulation 7(2) of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (Administration) Regulations 2003 as amended.”

He adds: “Important and verifiable considerations such as training and educational qualifications were deliberately left out in the job specification even for the senior positions such as the Assistant Commissioner of Police.”

Senior Inspector Motloli argues the merit based system requires competitive stages such as shortlisting and interviewing of candidates.

“In this particular instance, there were no competitive stages followed after the advertisement. Instead, there has been startling secrecy which clearly offends the dictates of fair competition.

“In terms of the law, there should be a Police Appointments and Promotion Board which presides over all the stages of promotion and appointment of police officers,” he charged.

He further said the board should comprise the police commissioner, a person nominated by the Minister of Police and a person nominated by the Minister of Public Service.

However, he alleges there was never such a board to deal with the promotion of the said six police officers.

“On the 12 January 2018, the 2^nd respondent (Staff Officer to Commissioner of Police), purportedly on behalf of 1^st respondent, announced the promotion of six officers to the ranks that were initially advertised.

“The anomaly with these promotions is that they were not done by the board, and they were not based on any established criteria of promotions contrary to the provisions of Regulation (7) of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (Administration) Regulations 2003 as amended,” he stated.

He further accuses the police authorities of breach of procedure explaining that three officers, Senior Inspector Ralethoko and Inspectors Mopeli and Lebajoa, skipped ranks contrary to Regulation 7(1) of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (Administration) Regulations 2003 as amended.

S/Insp Motloli says this clearly demonstrates the wanton disregard for law in the processing of such promotions.

He further says promotion of the said officers was made in the middle of the financial year – something that he argued was “indicative of the fact that the 1^st respondent has his own preferences who cannot even wait for beginning of the financial year”.

The police association secretary general also alleges the promotions were “unfair, discriminatory and violated the provisions of the Police Act of 1998 read with Lesotho Mounted Police Service (Administration) Regulations 2003 as amended.”

The court is expected to convene tomorrow (today) to deal with the interim reliefs sought by LEPOSA, which include treatment of the application as an urgent matter and the suspension of the promotions until the finalization of the application.

’Marafaele Mohloboli and Bereng Mpaki

THE government yesterday presented the National Reforms Commission Bill 2018 that is aimed at establishing a commission to spearhead national dialogue towards the implementation of multisector reforms, amid strong protests by opposition legislators who eventually walked out to protest what were they said was government arbitrariness and lack of consultation on the bill.

The bill seeks to provide for the establishment of the National Reforms Commission whose mandate is to facilitate a national dialogue on the constitution and other related issues with the purpose of ensuring integrated constitutional, parliamentary, judicial, security and public service reforms.

The envisaged commission, which shall be composed of six commissioners and led by a chairperson who shall be a retired judge or eminent person, will operate for an initial period of 18 months and this can be extended for another 12 months to enable it to complete its mandate.

Among other things, the functions of the commission are to “examine the consistence and compatibility of the provisions of the (national) constitution in relation to democracy, rule of law, good governance, national defence and security, parliamentary and political systems.

“It shall collect and analyse information relevant for constitutional, parliamentary, judicial service, public service and defence and security reforms from any member of the public, religious organisations, civil society organisations, youth or women’s associations or groups or any other group that the commission may consider for purposes of constitutional reforms.”

The commission will also “review and prepare a draft bill to the constitution and any legislation as well as prepare and submit a report on its findings to the Prime Minister”.

Law, Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Minister, Lebohang Hlaele, presented the bill which was immediately opposed by opposition legislators who accused government of arbitrariness for suspending the Standing Order 51 (5) which would have enabled the bill to be scrutinised beforehand by parliamentarians.

Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) leader, Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, stood on a point of order saying the bill was against the pledge signed by the major political parties on the eve of the 3 June, 2017 snap elections in which they pledged to uphold an all-inclusive and participatory reforms process.

Advocate Rakuoane argued that if the government proceeded to present the bill, then it would be undermining the civil society organisations that were also signatory to the reforms pledge signed in April 2017. He said their input had not been considered in drafting the bill.

Thabana Morena constituency legislator, Selibe Mochoboroane, also stood on a point of order, saying the bill was being railroaded through parliament in violation of the reforms pledge which had indicated that reform process should begin with the national dialogue which would produce the road map and agenda for reforms.

“The government should have begun by the first step of the National dialogue that will pave the way for the reform process and the road map,” Mr Mochoboroane argued.

“The reforms should be for the good of our people and not for the government and they shall be informed by the National Dialogue. We can’t allow the tabling of the bill to commence as this will be starting on the wrong footing.”

Shortly afterwards, parliament was suspended as the Speaker of the National Assembly, Sephiri Motanyane, said he was not aware of the reforms pledge which was signed by the political parties.

“I was not aware of the pledge. It is the first time that I am hearing of it, but what I know for sure is that these reforms should be Basotho’s reforms. It is therefore incumbent for me to suspend this House and convene a meeting with government.”

When proceedings resumed almost 30 minutes later, Mr Motanyane ruled that there was nothing wrong with the presentation of the bill as it was procedural as all members had a chance to learn about it.

It was at then that the opposition walked out of parliament in protest leaving Hloahloeng constituency legislator, Ntlhoi Motsamai (of the Democratic Congress), who argued that government action was “unacceptable”.

“We need political accommodation and this process should be inclusive and have multi-level stakeholders which is not the case as of now,” she said.

The walk out was followed by a press conference where the opposition announced that it would boycott the reforms process as long the National Dialogue was not held.

“We are not going to be part of this process so long as it is not informed by the National Dialogue which shall be inclusive and benefit the whole nation,” DC leader and former Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, said.

“The National Dialogue shall inform a need for a commission and what the bill shall be called and all other processes. The set-up of a commission has to be the subject of agreement at the National Dialogue.”

The opposition stance was supported by civil society organisations who expressed their objections in a letter to Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane.

In its letter yesterday, the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) stated that “civil society learns with dismay that the government is intending to table a bill aimed at creating a commission to carry out reforms and that tabling would be followed by suspension of Standing Order 51 (5) to enable the Bill to be discussed without being referred to the (parliamentary portfolio) committee.”

The LCN further proposed that if the government was indeed committed to the reforms process, it should “promptly halt the legislative process and defer the bill until such time that stakeholders’ inputs on the government roadmap would have been received and multi-stakeholder conference convened”.

Pascalinah Kabi

SOUTHERN African Development Community (SADC) Oversight Committee Chairperson, Matias Bertino Matondo, has warned Basotho on the perils of chronic instability, saying there is need to engage in a serious soul-searching exercise to establish why Lesotho is the only one, out of 15 regional countries, to continuously endure an unstable political climate in which governments do not last full terms and army commanders are killed by subordinates.

A serious comparative analysis of Lesotho against the standards of its regional peers would also help Basotho focus on the things they need to improve to rid the Kingdom of its tag as the perennial bad boy of the region.

Dr Matondo defended last month’s deployment of the SADC standby force to Lesotho which has been criticised by opposition parties and some sections of civil society, saying it was a necessary move to create a conducive environment for the implementation of SADC recommendations.

He said some people were “oblivious of what was happening” on the ground in Lesotho and there was more to the security situation in the country than meets the eye, necessitating the SADC deployment.

The SADC standby force, also known as the SADC Preventive Mission in the Kingdom of Lesotho (SAPMIL), was deployed to Lesotho on 2 December, 2017. The standby force is made of 217 soldiers, 15 intelligence personnel, 24 police officers and 13 civilian experts.

A confidential SADC report that was prepared ahead of the deployment of the SADC force and seen by this publication, stated that the latter had a mandate of assisting the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in managing the security crisis in the country in the aftermath of the 5 September, 2017 assassination of army commander, Lieutenant General Khoantle Motšomotšo, by his subordinates; Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel Tefo Hashatsi.

According to SADC, one of the main objectives of the SADC deployment is to “assist in isolating renegade elements within the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF)”.

The standby force will also support Lesotho in retraining its army personnel, especially in the area of civil-military relations while working towards security sector and other institutional reforms.

Furthermore, the SADC force will “monitor the investigation of the assassination of Lt-Gen Motšomotšo, prioritise and expeditiously assist in the operationalisation of national unity and reconciliation dialogue with a clear approach, to be facilitated by SADC”.

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

Also missing are the arms confiscated by the LDF from the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) during a coup attempt on 30 August 2014 when the army raided and seized arms from police stations around Maseru.

It is suspected that all these arms are in the possession of rogue elements of the LDF who might want to use them to launch reprisal attacks, heightening instability in the Kingdom.

And even though there is a semblance of stability since Prime Minister Thomas Thabane was returned to power in the June 3 2017 elections, Dr Matondo said the standby force was necessary to maintain stability while Lesotho embarked on crucial reforms to ensure lasting peace which was crucial to socio-economic development.

In an exclusive interview with Lesotho Times this week, Dr Matondo said people should not be deceived by the fact that people were going on with their business as usual as there could be simmering tensions below the surface which could destroy the peace.

“I have been telling our colleagues, brothers and sisters from the Kingdom of Lesotho that everything is peaceful until something happens and when things happen, they come unannounced,” Dr Matondo said.

“I have been telling them that a single bullet to somebody’s head- God forbids- can disrupt the whole (reforms) process. We should not take things at face value and be deceived by the fact that people are going on with their business as usual.”

He said the standby force was not here to fight but to protect Basotho, which is why theirs was termed a “preventative mission”.

“We are here to ensure that no one is arrested out of personal vendettas, that human rights are protected and that no one is abused. We are not here to fight with the Basotho.

“Our mission is to help strengthen peace, security and political stability, lend assistance in the implementation of the constitutional, public and security sector reforms in line with SADC decisions and recommendations.

“We envision a peaceful, stable and vibrant Kingdom of Lesotho geared towards the realisation of its full economic, social and cultural potential through sustainable economic growth and development,” Dr Matondo said.

He said it would be a “beautiful” thing for Basotho to do comparative analysis to establish why other SADC countries had not experienced the kind of upheavals Lesotho was experiencing.

“How many countries have gone through what has been taking place here? How many chief of defence forces have been killed by their junior officers?

“It has never happened in South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia or Zimbabwe but it happened here twice. We have to ask ourselves, what is wrong, why should junior officers kill their senior officers twice? These are questions all Basotho should ask themselves.

“Secondly, why do we have so many snap elections here in the Kingdom of Lesotho? Why should we have snap election after snap election in this country?”

Dr Matondo said all these issues needed to be urgently addressed to ensure that governments were given a chance to rule the country for a full term after the reform process.

“So people should not be oblivious of what is happening here because sometimes we wake up in the morning thinking everything is alright when it is not alright.

“Only when things happen do we say there is something wrong that ought to be addressed. Common crimes will happen but when things are taking place and are politically motivated, then there is something wrong,” he said, adding they were also engaging the media to spread the correct message about the SADC mission which was to engage Basotho to ensure that the SADC decisions and recommendations were fully implemented.

“We will assist our Basotho brothers and sisters with training, capacity building and addressing the root causes of instability and these root causes are embedded in the political dispensation.”

He said Lesotho was the only country in SADC where floor crossing was so active and dynamic that a politician could be part of a coalition one day and suddenly shift allegiance resulting in the collapse of the government.

“We have done a diagnosis and there are specific provisions that need to be amended and one of the key issues which should be addressed is that of floor crossing.” Dr Matondo said, adding that failure to abolish floor crossing was a recipe for anarchy where governments would continue to collapse soon after being formed.

“Why not give a government time to go through the full-term to focus on development and investment? We are not saying the motion of no confidence should be abolished because those are instruments of democracy but they are instruments that should not be abused but used as mechanisms of holding governments accountable.”

He added: “We are not trying to please SADC but to build lasting peace and stability in this country. We want to ensure that there is real peace and stability and that no one will have a reason to flee this country”.

“No one in opposition should flee. There will be no need to flee when everybody is protected by the law. This is what democracy is all about,” he said.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

FORMER deputy leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) and current leader of the True Reconciliation Unity (TRU), Tlali Khasu, has described as “irrational,” claims by Prime Minister and ABC leader, Thomas Thabane, that he has been holding secret meetings with some cabinet ministers and legislators from the ABC.

Dr Thabane told a Sunday party rally in Malimong #22 constituency in the Berea district that some ABC legislators and ministers were holding secret meetings with the party’s former deputy leader, Tlali Khasu.

“I have noted that there are some ministers who are busy having caucus meetings initiated by the former deputy of this party and I urge those meetings to stop forthwith because the person behind them is no longer with us,” Dr Thabane said, adding, “he (Mr Khasu) has followed his heart and his vacancy shall be appropriately filled by party cadres at a conference”.

Mr Khasu left the ABC on 17 September 2016 after being suspended for three months for allegedly castigating Dr Thabane during a radio programme.

His spirited attempts to challenge the suspension in courts of law proved futile as the High Court upheld the decision.

Mr Khasu subsequently formed the True Reconciliation Unity (TRU) in January 2017 together with another former ABC stalwart, Pitso Maisa.

The TRU nonetheless found the going tough in the June 2017 snap national elections and its poor showing later fueled speculation that Mr Khasu would retrace his footsteps back into the ABC fold and abandon the no-hope TRU.

Trusted ABC sources told the Lesotho Times late last month that the former ABC deputy leader is making overtures to Dr Thabane to facilitate a return to the ABC after he found the going tough in the rough and tumble of Lesotho politics.

The sources cited Mr Khasu’s attendance of an ABC event in Makhoakheng late last month as evidence of his efforts to restore cordial relations with his erstwhile comrades.

Mr Khasu, however, flatly denied the claims that he intends to rejoin the ABC, saying he merely attended the event to visit Dr Thabane in person.

And in an interview with the Lesotho Times on Tuesday, Mr Khasu said it would be irrational for Dr Thabane to think that he would hold secret meetings with ABC legislators.

“To be honest I haven’t met with any one of them and I don’t even know what I would be discussing with them,” Mr Khasu said.

“I have enough on my plate as it is and if at all there was anything that needed discussing over a meeting, I would meet with him (Dr Thabane) and not his people.

“These are all lies. There are some people who are busy feeding him lies about me and he has chosen to believe them.”

Three weeks ago, Mr Khasu visited Dr Thabane in Makhoakhoeng and extended a Christmas message during a party which was thrown in honour of ABC artists for their work for the party. Mr Khasu’s surprise appearance was interpreted by some as part of his move to wiggle his way back into the party.

However, Mr Khasu said the visit had nothing to do with him wanting to rejoin the ABC.  It was merely a courtesy call on Dr Thabane as the two were “neither strangers nor enemies”, he said.

…threatens cabinet reshuffle to weed out corrupt ministers

…lambasts PSs for drunkenness

’Marafaele Mohloboli

PRIME Minister Thomas Thabane says he has no option but to reshuffle his cabinet to get rid of “corrupt ministers”.

The Prime Minister has also fired a broadside at unnamed principal secretaries whom he accused of drinking heavily, questioning where they were getting the money to splurge on expensive alcohol to keep themselves constantly inebriated.

He threatened ruthless action against such PSs.

Dr Thabane said he had been observing his ministers and was badgered by the failure of some in his cabinet to uphold the principles of good governance on which he based his campaign.

Dr Thabane’s threat of a cabinet reshuffle- the second such in less than two months- was made at a rally early this week in Malimong #22 constituency in the Berea district.

Dr Thabane came to power in the aftermath of the 3 June 2017 snap elections at the head of a four party coalition which comprises of his All Basotho Convention (ABC), the Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL).

He waged a successful election campaign that was premised on the pledge to tackle endemic corruption in the public and private sector in the country. After assuming power, he publicly stated that corruption would not be tolerated and vowed to bring offending ministers and other public officials to book.

And on Sunday in Malimong, Dr Thabane reiterated that corruption remained a persistent problem, saying he would not hesitate to use his powers to rid government of the bad apples.

He said he had observed over a period of time a trend wherein some of the ministers involved themselves in corrupt activities particularly in the awarding of tenders.  This did not reflect well on the government, he said.

He said he had engaged his coalition partners on the issue of graft and there was a consensus that it should not be tolerated.

“I have been watching (the corruption) in silence but I had to observe carefully lest I judge hastily,” Dr Thabane said.

“I have observed with sadness that some ministers within the ABC are beginning to take interest in these corrupt activities and I have decided to act before it gets out of hand. I have no other choice but to reshuffle.

“I loathe anyone who indulges in such activities be it the giver of the bribe or the one who is bribed because I won the elections with one of my campaign key messages being the fight against corruption.

“Appointing ministers is one of the powers vested in me and it is not always an easy thing to later reshuffle ministers. But when you are in my position it is something that you commit to do because you would have accepted to lead.”

Dr Thabane also warned ministers to cut back on foreign travels to avoid wasting money on unnecessary trips.  He would not hesitate to introduce tough measures to constrict unnecessary foreign trips.

“Airplanes are not taxi cabs, they are very costly and starting now I am going to disapprove of trips which I feel are not necessary. If at all you feel that I may disapprove of your trip even before you request, don’t even bother come to me,” Dr Thabane warned.

His call for the reduction in foreign trips echoes that of Finance Minister, Moeketsi Majoro, who made it abundantly clear in his maiden 2017/18 budget in July 2017 that Lesotho must save money for investment into productive sectors to boost economic growth and job creation.

Speaking at the time, Dr Majoro said cabinet ministers should cut back on foreign trips, drastically reduce their bloated delegations and forego first class travel.

He said he had formulated the proposed budget against the background of extremely challenging global, regional and local conditions which necessitated cost-cutting measures across the board including government expenditure as it related to ministers’ expenses.

The budget speech was delivered under the theme ‘Pursuing fiscal sustainability within the context of political instability and insecurity’.

Among other measures aimed at reducing expenditure, “ministers and equivalent ranks would no longer fly first class”.

“Ministers will no longer travel for more than seven days without the express permission of the Prime Minister based on elaborate justification,” Dr Majoro said, adding that ministers had to reduce the size of their delegations to international meetings to just the optimum numbers necessary for them to perform their duties effectively.

Dr Thabane also attacked some principal secretaries for drunkenness, saying, “I have also noted with concern and shame how some of you principal secretaries drink heavily”.

“One wonders where you get all that money that you spend so extravagantly on alcohol. I therefore urge you to stop this behaviour or else I shall have to deal with you.”

Dr Thabane also railed at some ABC legislators and ministers, accusing them of holding secret meetings with the party’s former deputy leader, Tlali Khasu.

“I have noted that there are some ministers who are busy having caucus meetings initiated by the former deputy of this party and I urge those meetings to stop forthwith because the person behind them is no longer with us. He has followed his heart and his vacancy shall be appropriately filled by party cadres at a conference.”

Mr Khasu left the ABC on 17 September 2016 after being suspended for three months for allegedly castigating Dr Thabane during a radio programme.

Mr Khasu subsequently formed the True Reconciliation Unity (TRU) in January 2017 together with another former ABC stalwart, Pitso Maisa.

Dr Thabane’s attacks on party members and threats to reshuffle the cabinet are the second such in the space of less than two months.

Last November, Dr Thabane told a party rally in Hlotse that his ABC had been infiltrated by “enemies who have come to confuse us”.

He said the enemies were spreading malicious rumours about the office of the First Lady, ’Maesaiah Thabane and its role in assisting vulnerable villagers. He also threatened at the time to reshuffle his cabinet.

He spoke at a time when social media was awash with complaints from people who claimed to be ABC supporters who accused his wife of “capturing the government”.

They complained that Dr Thabane had allowed ’Maesaiah to run the government through what they termed a “bedroom coup”.

Meanwhile, Malimong legislator, Mr Leshoboro Mohlajoa, took advantage of the Sunday rally to reassure Dr Thabane of the full support of the Berea members of parliament and voters.

The assurance put to rest earlier speculation that legislators from the district were not happy with the fact that only one of their number was appointed to a ministerial position last June despite the fact that the district had given the ABC its second biggest area electoral win with nine seats out of the 11 contested in last year’s national polls.

The ABC won the most seats in Maseru with 15 seats out of the 18 contested in the district.  The ABC garnered a total of 48 seats, while the AD won nine, BNP five and RCL one.

ABC legislator for Khafung #23 constituency in Berea constituency, Habofanoe Lehana, was subsequently appointed  Local Government and Chieftainship Affairs minister- a development which reportedly riled the legislators in the constituency who felt they deserved more appointments for their success and loyalty to the party.

The other Berea legislators are Fako Moshoeshoe (Mabote), Litšoane Litšoane (Bela-Bela), Likopo Mahase (Khubetsoana), Mohlajoa (Malimong), Motlatsi Maqelepo (Berea), Hlomelang Lefu (Makhoarane), Samuel Rapapa (Mosalemane) and Tšoeu Molise (Tšoana-Makhulo).

The discontent was laid bare by an audio clip that circulated on social media networks after the elections in which an unidentified woman – claiming to be a member of the ABC’s Berea election committee – claimed party supporters in the district had convened  a meeting with their legislators to voice their concerns at the lack of more ministerial appointments.

“We discussed the fact that our legislators were not appointed to  more ministerial positions and we made a decision to defect to the Democratic Congress,” the woman says in the clip.

“We need to make Ntate Tom (Thabane) see that we are not fools. It’s unfair that he did not reward our loyalty and decision to stick with the party through thick and thin.”

However, any lingering doubts about the legislators’ loyalty to the party were put to rest on Sunday when Mr Mohlajoa moved to reassure Dr Thabane.

“I would like to assure that there is no one else but you (Dr Thabane). You have the full support of this district,” Mr Mohlajoa said.

He said unemployment and poor infrastructure topped the list of challenges in the district and called on the government to build at least three factories to create 3000 jobs in the district.

 Lijeng Ranooe

QUEEN ‘Masenate Bereng Seeiso’s Hlokomela Banana Initiative continues to provide dignity for girls in different parts of the country through the Adopt-A-Girl SMS Campaign.

During her keynote address at a breakfast meeting held at Avani Maseru this week, Her Majesty handed over donor certificates to partners who pledged to adopt secondary schools to assist girls with sanitary towels, under a Hlokomela Banana Project, an initiative of the Queen’s National Trust Fund.

“I am humbled by the way Basotho noted my appeal for support through the adoption of schools, to help provide our girls with the dignity they deserve,” Her Majesty said.

Of the 310 schools in Lesotho, a total 91 schools comprising 15 288 girls have been supported under the Hlokomela Banana Project since it started.

The Adopt -A -Girl SMS campaign is expected to enhance the mobilisation of more support to cover girls in all schools across the country by 2020.

However, Her Majesty explained that when the initiative started, she felt strongly that it was unacceptable to have girls who missed their classes or dropped-out of school due to lack of sanitary towels.

“I then started to provide what I called, Dignity Kits, to help reduce the rate of dropout-rate at local high schools,” Queen ‘Masenate said.

She said following the initiative and calls for more partners to come on board, the number of girls adopted continues to grow.

“Through your generosity, we will be able to add eight more schools. My vision is that, by the year 2020, we will have the capacity and means to support all our girls, particularly those in the rural areas, and hopefully, continue supporting all girls across the country.”

Her Majesty said sustainability of support was possible with strong partnership that understands the importance to keep our girls in school at all times.

“I therefore encourage various actors, including the private sector and the civil society to come on board and work with us by adopting schools. I would also like to appreciate the support by partners already working with us and say, please keep up the good work you are doing.”

Her Majesty expressed her special gratitude to Lil-lets, explaining their incredible support have so far kept many girls in school.

“We would not be where we are today if it were not for the great support we have continued to receive from Lil-lets. I am equally humbled by the special support we have continued to receive from all our local partners,” Her Majesty said.

Other partners include Premier Foods Lesotho; Blue Ribbon; individual well-wishers; Metropolitan Lesotho; Econet Lesotho; First National Bank Lesotho (FNBL); Nedbank Lesotho; and Sekhametsi Investment, which donated M150 500 to the Queen’s National Trust Fund.

Also speaking at the event, the ‎Premier Foods Lesotho’s Senior Managing Director, Mpeake Sekhibane explained that the Hlokomela Banana Campaign started at the St James High School in Mokhotlong district.

“We started providing the Dignity Kits to 614 girls before we started mobilising more support from companies, encouraging them to each adopt a school. It paid off and received an overwhelming response,” Mr Sekhibane said.

He explained with currently 78 000 girls in the secondary schools of Lesotho, Her Majesty’s 2020 Goal can be achieved if 78,000 people could each adopt one girl.

Tefo Tefo

RESIDENT Magistrate, Polo Banyane, yesterday ordered the prosecution to prepare its argument on whether or not the army officers facing three counts of murder as well as the attempted murder charge arising from the shooting of Lesotho Times Editor, Lloyd Mutungamiri, should be released from detention.

Ms Banyane made a ruling after one of the lawyers representing the army officers, Advocate Letuka Molati, urged the court to release them from detention on the grounds that the trial date against such officers has not yet been set.

Advocate Molati was pressing for the release of the army officers on the basis of the Speedy Trial Act, which stipulates that an accused person should not be detained for more than 60 days without a trial date being set.

The murder-accused army officers are Sergeant Lekhooa Moepi (43); Captain Mahlehle Moeletsi (50); Lance Corporal Mahlomola Makhoali (32); Private Nthatakane Motanyane (24); Brigadier Rapele Mphaki (47); Motšoane Machai (39); Liphapang Sefako (48); and Nemase Faso (28).

The eight members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) allegedly strangled Lekhoele Noko, Molise Pakela and Khothatso Makibinyane at Setibing in the rural Maseru on 16 May 2017, and dumped their bodies in the Mohale Dam.

In a separate charge, four army officers are facing an attempted murder charge for shooting Mr Mutungamiri in July 2016.

They are Brigadier Rapele Mphaki; Khutlang Mochesane (57) from Ha-Makhoathi; Mahanyane Phasumane (37) from Masowe; Nyatso Tšoeunyane (41) from Lesobeng, Ha-Khupiso in Thaba-Tseka; and Maribe Nathane from Leribe. They first appeared before the Magistrates’ Court early last month.

According to the charge sheet, the said army officers shot Mr Mutungamiri at his home in Upper Thamae in the late hours of the 9 July 2016 after knocking off from work.

The army officers facing murder charges and the ones facing an attempted murder charge were all remanded in custody after being told to apply for bail before the High Court because the Magistrate’s Court did not have powers to hear bail application on the attempted murder charge.

They have since been attending regular remand proceedings at the Magistrates’ Court from Maseru Maximum Security Prison.

But, in a new turn of events, the accused want to be released from detention as they argue the prosecution seems not ready to proceed with the trial of the cases against them.

Advocate Molati argued there was no valid reason why the said army officers were still being detained because there had not been any suggestion that they could pose any security threat if released from prison.

“Only the commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Commissioner of Police or the Director General of the National Security Services (NSS) could give evidence that a person is a security threat.

“But none of them has adduced such evidence, so far,” Advocate Molati argued.

But the District Public Prosecutor, Qcinumuzi Tshabalala, told the court that he was unable to brief the court on the progress the investigations of the two cases because he was on leave for the past few weeks.

Therefore, he pleaded with the court to grant him some time to prepare his argument to oppose the release of the said soldiers under the said law.

Ms Banyane remanded the said army officers in custody and told them to appear again on 7 February on remand.

She ordered the prosecution to be ready by then to address the court on whether the said soldiers should be released from detention or not.

’Marafaele Mohloboli 

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER and leader of the Alliance of Democrats (AD) Monyane Moleleki says the party’s secretary general, Mokhele Moletsane and Youth League president, Thuso Litjobo, must both be incorporated into the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Mr Moleleki’s remarks were made in the wake of the infighting that has split the party into two factions backing Mr Moletsane on one side and Mr Litjobo on the other as the party gears up for an elective conference scheduled for 4 March, 2018.

The duo were expected to fight it out for the post of deputy leader which fell vacant after the death of Kabelo Mafura who was also minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation last month.

However, Mr Litjobo announced that he and Mr Moletsane had withdrawn from the race after being advised to do so by the party leader, Mr Moleleki.

Mr Moleleki felt that the duo’s candidatures would foment divisions and destabilise the party.

However, Mr Moleleki spoke of the need to accommodate them in the NEC while addressing party faithful at a thanksgiving ceremony in Matlakeng constituency on Saturday.

The ceremony was held to thank the supporters for the party’s showing in the 3 June, 2017 snap elections where it won one constituency and a further eight proportional representation seats.

The AD subsequently cobbled its seats together with those of the Reformed Congress of Lesotho, All Basotho Convention and the Basotho National Party to form a coalition government.

Speaking at Matlakeng, Mr Moleleki, said the two were now politically mature and it was time they became part of the NEC.

“I love the secretary general (Moletsane) and the president of the youth league (Litjobo) equally,” Mr Moleleki said, adding, the two were “bullets the AD could use to destroy the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the Democratic Congress (DC)”.

“They are both my sons that I groomed over the past 11 years and when I look at them now, I am convinced that they are ready to be part of the NEC.

“I therefore plead with you (party faithful) to deliberate on the positions which you will elect them to.  I plead with you that Litjobo and Moletsane must be elected into the NEC. But I will not dictate the positions as I have realised that there are two positions which may cause divisions in the party.”

Mr Moleleki said if elected into the NEC, Mr Litjobo and Mr Moletsane would work to destroy the LCD and DC which he described as the “jackals’ parties.”

Mr Moleleki also said that each party branch within a constituency would have a single representative for a maximum of 500 members at the elective conference.

Those branches that had more than 500 members were entitled to two representatives.

Tefo Tefo

FOUR police officers who stand accused of murdering Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) head of the internal audit department, Thibello Nteso, have been remanded to 5 February, 2018 by the Maseru Magistrates’ Court.

The quartet first appeared in court on 12 January 2018 to face charges of murdering Mr Nteso near the residence of former police commissioner, Molahlehi Letsoepa, on 6 February 2017.

The four are police constables, Moeketsi Dlamini (38) from Ha Mofoka and Monaheng ’Musi (30) from Ha Motsepa in Thaba-Tseka, Inspector Thaele Ramajoe (45) from Koabata in Berea and Superintendent Tlala Phatela (52) from Ha Phatela in Qacha’s Nek.

They also face an additional charge of malicious damage to property for allegedly damaging the deceased’s vehicle.

Magistrate, Monyake Hlabanyane, on Monday remanded them in custody to 5 of February, 2018 after submissions by Maseru District Public Prosecutor, Qcinumuzi Tshabalala, who told the court that police investigations into the matter were ongoing.

It is the state case that Dlamini and ’Musi were on guard duty at the home of the then Police Commissioner, Letsoepa, in Maseru West on 6 February, 2017 when they allegedly shot and killed the 44-year-old Mr Nteso.

He was shot once in the hip area and the same bullet also penetrated the other leg.

The constables claimed they had suspected a plot to attack the former police commissioner after they noticed a firearm-holder in the late Mr Nteso’s car which was parked near Mr Letsoepa’s residence.

They fired shots at Mr Nteso’s vehicle at about 9pm that night to stop him as he was driving away from the residence of the LEC corporate secretary who lives near the former police commissioner.

It is alleged that Mr Nteso was at the corporate secretary’s residence to work on a forensic audit report.   A fortnight ago, the deceased’s younger brother, Tankiso Nteso, told the Lesotho Times that his brother had confided in him that he had been handling a big case of embezzlement of funds from LEC coffers involving more than M170 million.

It is understood his forensic audit had contributed to the suspension of the Managing Director and the Chief Finance Officer.

The other two suspects in the murder case, Inspector Ramajoe and Superintendent Phatela, allegedly ordered the cover-up of the murder by tampering with the crime scene.

The officers were arrested a few days after the family of the late Mr Nteso told this publication of their disappointment at the slow pace of the police investigations into his murder.

The police later explained that the delays were caused by the unavailability of Mr Nteso’s post mortem report which was only handed over to them two weeks ago to facilitate the arrest of the suspects.

Last year, the Nteso family hired a private investigator and a private pathologist as they were wary of the credibility of the police investigations and the findings of the government pathologist.

The deceased’s younger brother said the findings by the private investigator showed that Mr Nteso’s murder was linked to his work which would have exposed the embezzlement of  more than M170 million from LEC.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

PRIME Minister, Thomas Thabane, has defended the deployment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force to Lesotho, saying its presence was necessary to stabilise the security situation in the country.

Dr Thabane also warned the opposition against fomenting chaos in the country and advised them to rather join the government in its peace-building efforts to ensure lasting stability and sustainable development.

Dr Thabane, who is also the leader of the main ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, said this during a party rally early this week in the Maletsunyane #47 constituency in Semonkong.

His remarks come in the wake of last Wednesday’s press conference by the opposition where former Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, demanded the withdrawal of the SADC Force as a pre-condition for the opposition’s participation in the process aimed at coming up with multi-sector reforms that will create lasting peace and stability in Lesotho.

Dr Mosisili, who is also Democratic Congress (DC) leader, said that the presence of the SADC force not only created a hostile environment which was inimical to the reforms process but also to attracting foreign investors to Lesotho.

The press conference followed the opposition’s walk out of parliament in opposition to the introduction of the National Reforms Commission Bill of 2018.

The bill is aimed at establishing a commission to spearhead national dialogue towards the implementation of multi-sector reforms in line with SADC recommendations.

Law, Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Minister, Lebohang Hlaele, presented the bill which was immediately opposed by opposition legislators who accused government of arbitrariness for suspending the Standing Order 51 (5) which would have enabled the bill to be scrutinised beforehand by parliamentarians.

The opposition walked out of parliament after they unsuccessfully tried to block the introduction of the bill.

They argued that a national dialogue should have preceded the crafting of the bill to enable it to incorporate the views of all stakeholders.

Dr Mosisili subsequently said they would not cooperate on the reforms process as long as SADC troops remained in Lesotho.

His sentiments were echoed by DC spokesperson, Serialong Qoo, who told this publication that the opposition had made a collective decision not to attend any of the parliamentary session until the withdrawal of the SADC forces.

“As we have always said, the SADC troops have no business here in Lesotho and they should go as part of our pre-conditions to participate in the reforms process.

“We also want people who have been detained due to political influences to be released from prison and they include the former commander of the LDF, Tlali Kamoli,” Mr Qoo said.

“We want the reforms as badly as they want them, but they should get their act together. We have not even started frustrating the process as yet. More is still to come if they don’t rectify their wrongs,” he added.

However, Dr Thabane defended the presence of SADC Force at the Sunday rally in Semonkong.

“SADC sent its forces in the fields of politics and security and they are not here for fun,” Dr Thabane said, adding, “Their mission is to establish exactly why Lesotho is always in the public eye on issues that cause violence.

“Let this be the last time we shall have to seek the intervention of other countries simply because we cannot deal with our own issues.”

The SADC forces have been in the country since 2 December, 2017.

The deployment of the standby force – made of 217 soldiers, 15 intelligence personnel, 24 police officers and 13 civilian experts- was endorsed by SADC leaders to assist the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in managing the security crisis in the country in the aftermath of the 5 September, 2017 assassination of army commander, Lieutenant General Khoantle Motšomotšo by his subordinates, Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel Tefo Hashatsi.

According to SADC, one of the main objectives of the SADC deployment is to “assist in isolating renegade elements within the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF)”.

The standby force will also support Lesotho in retraining its army personnel, especially in the area of civil-military relations while working towards security sector and other institutional reforms.

Furthermore, the SADC force will “monitor the investigation of the assassination of Lt-Gen Motšomotšo, prioritise and expeditiously assist in the operationalisation of national unity and reconciliation dialogue with a clear approach, to be facilitated by SADC”.

Dr Thabane also railed at the opposition for seeking to destabilise the country.

“When we were in Parliament a few days ago there were a lot of issues at play and it was evident that there are some people who want to throw this country into anarchy.

“I would, therefore, like to openly urge those people to stop holding night meetings plotting the government’s downfall because that will not do them any good. They have tried before but failed,” Dr Thabane said.

He said they should rather focus their energies on assisting the government to ensure lasting peace which was crucial for socio-economic development.

“I urge them to support this government so that we can all work for peace.

“I went into exile once and I shall not do that again. I know that they thought I was running away from them but I was only running away from (former army commander Tlali) Kamoli’s gun and look where he is now.”

Dr Thabane fled the country in 2015 after allegedly uncovering a plot by Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) members to kill him. He was subsequently joined in exile by current coalition partners, Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Thesele ‘Maseribane and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) leader, Keketso Rantšo.

DR Thabane also accused Lieutenant General Kamoli of plotting to overthrow his first administration in 2014.

Lt-Gen Kamoli who was forced into retirement at the recommendation of SADC on 1 December, 2016, is currently languishing in remand prison awaiting trial for murder and attempted murder.

The murder charge is for the fatal shooting of police Sub-Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko during the 30 August 2014 attempted coup against the first government of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.

Several soldiers, under Lt-Gen Kamoli’s command, stormed various police stations and seized arms they claimed were to be used against civilians at a Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) rally that same weekend.

However, Dr Thabane’s government charged that Lt-Gen Kamoli launched his coup attempt in reaction to his dismissal by the Prime Minister a day earlier.

The 14 attempted murder charges stem from the 27 January 2014 simultaneous bombings of the Moshoeshoe II homes of First Lady Maesaiah Thabane and the Ha Abia residence of former Police Commissioner, Khothatso Tšooana.

The opposition has since criticised Dr Thabane’s Sunday address, saying his government was abrogating its responsibilities to SADC.

LCD spokesperson, Teboho Sekata, said it was surprising to hear a “whole prime minister saying that SADC forces will be dealing with politics”.

“The government is simply shifting the blame for anything that goes wrong on to the opposition. Why is it so difficult for them to hold a national dialogue and bring back the exiled (opposition) leaders so that the reforms are inclusive?

“They are just making things difficult for themselves.”

DC spokesperson, Serialong Qoo, said “it is true that we are holding meetings as the Prime Minister said and that is expected of us as the opposition”.

“We have only asked that the reforms be inclusive, the soldiers arrested on political issues be released and the exiled leaders be brought back.

“It is not just us who are holding these meetings. We are holding them in concert with other parliamentarians who are part of the government and are not happy with the administration. We shall not cease to hold such meetings,” Mr Qoo said.

Pascalinah Kabi

“They have shot you badly…pray hard and ask God to spare your life.”

These are the last words Thato Matamane uttered into her husband’s ear, a few seconds before Mr Sebolai Nkesi took his last breath.

As she narrates the ordeal of the recent brutal killing of her husband, Ms Matamane is visibly distressed and traumatised.  She cannot come to terms with her tragic loss.

“It was around 9:40 pm on December 20 (2017) when I called my husband on his mobile phone, asking him where he was because it was getting late. He told me he was at Ha Motšoeneng, driving back home,” Ms Matamane said.

Mr Nkesi arrived at their Ha Tsautse home shortly afterwards. In about five minutes to be precise.   She heard Mr Sebolai moving his car into his usual parking space.

She also heard the driver’s door closing and waited to welcome him in the house. But her excitement to hear more about the business deal her husband had just sealed and which they had discussed earlier in the day turned into an endless horror nightmare.

“I heard gunshots. I called my husband by name and when he didn’t respond, I opened the door. As I was trying to step out, they shot at the door. I quickly closed it and escaped by a whisker. I ran back into the house,” she said.

She phoned her neighbours asking for help but none of them stepped out for fear of being shot as well. As she sat down, shaken, she remembered that she had not locked the door and quickly went to lock it.

She gathered the strength to open the curtain and see what was happening outside.  Her eyes met with a horrifying scene.  Her husband’s virtually lifeless body lay between the main entrance door and the car he had just parked.

There were eight wounds on the body and two on his head.

“When I saw his body there, I didn’t care whether they were going to shoot me or not, I opened the door and rushed outside straight to him. He still had his pulse but he had lost so much blood, and I cried; they have shot you. …..pray hard and ask God to spare your life –  He responded by nodding slightly. I ran around knocking at my neighbours’ doors to try and get help to get him to hospital,” said Ms Matamane.

The neighbours subsequently opened their doors and attended to Mr Nkesi but it was already too late. Upon inspection, the older neighbours indirectly informed Ms Matamane that her husband was dead.

“They said to me we were no longer going to hospital but needed to wait for the police to come and take his body. It was a nightmare that I haven’t awoken from. I stood there, feeling numb and within no time the police arrived.

“They informed me that the case was beyond them and called for the CID – Criminal Investigations Department – whose officials came after two hours to take statements and collected the body,” Ms Matamane narrated as she pulled down her doek, trying to block out the persistent pain around her upper body.

She added: “I can’t accept that he is dead nor forget what I saw. I have three most distinctive pictures of his body in my mind – when he lay dead, during the post mortem and at the mortuary. Each of these scenes were very different and all remain very vivid in my memory.”

The mother of two minor children said the 35 days since the demise of her husband had not only left her severely distracted but had also deeply traumatized their 9-year-old son who was very close to his father.

“One day I caught him praying, asking God to give me life so I can raise him and his little sister … He was pleading with God that he was not ready to raise his three-year-old sister should I also die. It pained me. My son is a mess now and he is suddenly scared of men because my husband was gunned down by two men. I saw them even though I can’t identify their faces,” she said.

Ms Matamane said the two suspects, still on the run, did not only kill Mr Nkesi but went on to shatter her family’s dreams.

“My husband was a businessman. He had just bought Setsoto (a public bar at Ha ’Nelese) and he had dreams for us, but they are all gone…We just don’t know where and how to start,” she said.

Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said investigations into the case were ongoing and that “no arrests have been made.”

Pascalinah Kabi

FORMER Airwing Commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Exavery Letsoela, has been appointed the new commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) as the government continues with efforts to   restructure the security sector and weed out elements associated with detained former commander Tlali Kennedy Kamoli.

Lt-Gen Letsoela replaces Major General Lineo Poopa who has been acting commander since the 5 September 2017 assassination of Lt-Gen Khoantle Motšomotšo by his subordinates, Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel Tefo Hashatsi.

Government also made further made significant changes to the LDF top brass, appointing Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s former bodyguard, Matela Matobakele, Deputy Commander. He has also been promoted to the rank of Major General.

Maj-Gen Poqa Motoa, who previously held the rank of Brigadier, has also been appointed as Chief of Staff for Administration and Human Resource affairs while Major General Ramanka Mokaloba, (previously a Brigadier) was appointed Inspector General of the LDF.

The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and National Security, Colonel Tanki Mothae (Retired), this week confirmed Lt-Gen Letsoela’s and other appointments.  Lt-Gen Letsoela’s is with effect from 23 January 2018 while the other appointments are with effect from 24 January 2014.  He added that Maj- Gen Poopa had been retired with immediate effect pending redeployment elsewhere in government. The nation will be informed of Maj- Gen Poopa’s new assignment in due course, he said.

Colonel Mothae said, without elaborating, that more changes would be made at the LDF in the coming months.

He said His Majesty King Letsie III, acting on the advice of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, had decided to appoint Lt-Gen Letsoela as the new LDF head with effect from 23 January 2017.

He described the appointment as “critical in the restructuring of the LDF”.

The defence principal secretary said Maj Gen Poopa’s retirement followed discussions the outgoing commander had with the Prime Minister.

“The Prime Minister held discussions with Maj Gen Lineo Poopa and he has since been retired. The nation will be informed of his next appointment as agreed with the Prime Minister,” Col Mothae said.

Maj Gen Poopa was appointed acting commander following the assassination of Lt-Gen Motšomotšo, who was gunned down by Brigadier Sechele and Colonel Hashatsi , at his Ratjomose Barracks offices in Maseru.

According to the government, the two  killed Lt-Gen Motšomotšo after accusing him of “selling them out” after his decision to hand over  various members of the LDF accused of various crimes during Lt-Gen Kamoli’s reign to the police for investigations and prosecution.

Lt-Gen Motšomotšo, who had served as Lt-Gen Kamoli’s deputy, during the latter’s reign of terror period, had made an about turn and started fully cooperating with Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s coalition which took power after the June 3 snap plebiscite.   Lt-Gen Motšomotšo had told Messrs Hashatsi and Sechele that he had no option but to cooperate in the implementation of a SADC commission of inquiry report which recommended the prosecution of all LDF officers involved in various atrocities under Kamoli.

Two junior LDF officers, Corporal Tjekane Sebolai and Private Selone Ratšiu, had already been handed over to the police for interrogation over the fatal shooting of Lisebo Tang near Lt-Gen Tlali Kamoli’s residence in Ha Leqele in May 2014.  Ms Tang, who was in the company of her partner, was shot after being inexplicably mistaken for a person intending to cause harm to Lt-Gen Kamoli.

Several former LDF officers, including Lt-Gen Kamoli himself, are now in detention over various other atrocities including the murder of former army commander, Lt-Gen Maaparankoe Mahao, the shooting of Lesotho Times Editor Lloyd Mutungamiri, the bombings of the Moshoeshoe II homes of First Lady Maesaiah Thabane and the Ha Abia residence of former Police Commissioner, Khothatso Tšooana, among other cases.

None of the soldiers involved in the atrocities had been prosecuted under the Pakalitha Mosisili-led seven party coalition regime, with the Democratic Congress (DC) leader saying SADC recommendations were not binding.

However, Dr Thabane, whose All Basotho Convention (ABC) and its coalition partners had born the biggest brunt of Lt-Gen Kamoli’s excesses, moved fast to implement SADC recommendations after assuming power in June 2017.

Even though Dr Thabane had the grace to appoint Major General Poopa as acting commander in the wake of Lt-Gen Motšomotšo’s murder, sources said that Major General Poopa would never be confirmed to become substantive head of the LDF.

This was because his name had loomed large in some of the Kamoli era atrocities. Major General Poopa’s name looms large in Lt-Gen Kamoli’s attempted coup of 30 August 2014 during which the LDF raided police stations, seized arms and the killing of police officer, Sub Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko.

The sources said more senior soldiers would be investigated and arraigned in line with the SADC recommendations. So far no-one has been actually charged over the 30 August 2014 coup attempt which was condemned widely as an illegal act.

Maj-Gen Poopa is also suspected of having a hand in the escape of   former National Security Service, Colonel Tumo Lekhooa, whom the police wanted to interrogate. Col Lekhooa is alleged to have fled the country and has not been seen or heard of since.  It is understood that the police had appealed to Maj-Gen Poopa to assist in the arrest of Tumo Lekhooa to no avail.

“The police have an interest in some senior army officers who cannot be interrogated at the moment because of their positions. Therefore, some drastic changes will have to be made in the LDF to facilitate investigations,” one of the sources said.

Another source also added: “Not so long-ago, SADC spoke of some rogue soldiers who were likely to cause trouble, and that these soldiers needed to be isolated. We are likely to see the interrogation of these high-ranking soldiers by the police now that the position of the commander has been substantively filled by a professional man.”

Lt-Gen Letsoela’s Biography

Lt-Gen Letsoela joined the army in March 1987. He enrolled in the Pilot Pupils Course at Dunnotar Central Flying School in Pretoria, South Africa in 1992. He received his flying wings in November 1992 and proceeded to the Multi-Engine Flying School (MEFS) for an Operational Conversion Course at Bloemspruit Air Base in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1993.

Thereafter, he returned to Lesotho as full time operational pilot for subsequent type ratings on service Casa 212 and Cessna 182Q aircraft. He attended several aviation training courses and military staff appointment preparatory training programmes.

He rose through the ranks holding different staff appointments including Flying Instructor, Base Flight Safety Officer and Director: Air Operations and Training. He enrolled for a two-year diploma non-resident training programme on Aircraft Accident Investigations under the auspices of the Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA) from 2006 to 2008.

Upon graduation from Singapore Aviation Academy, he attended the Joint Command and Staff Course (Senior Division) at the Zimbabwe Staff College in 2009, in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Concurrently, he pursued a part-time Diploma in Defence and Strategic Security Studies and International Relations at the University of Zimbabwe. He was appointed Deputy Airwing Commander in 2011, occupying the rank of Major.

He was promoted to Airwing Commander in August 2013, occupying the rank of Brigadier. In 2014, he attended the Executive National Security Programme at the South African National Defence College in Pretoria before he was promoted to the rank of Major General as the Airwing Commander in November 2016.

He was awarded several medals for excellence, including the Military Gallantry, Military Brave Deeds, Military Meritorious and Military Service Medal.

Mikia Kalati

THE Econet Premier League second round gets underway this weekend following a busy transfer window which has seen the big guns making changes to their teams.

Lioli have appointed Morena Ramoreboli as their coach.  Ramoreboli has worked with a number of teams in the Free State, South Africa including as assistant coach at Bloemfontein Celtic and Maluti FET where he secured a famous victory over giants, Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup.

He takes over from Motebang Makhetha who was the interim coach after the club parted ways with Halemakale Mahlaha in October 2017.

The truth of the matter is that a number of key players in the Lioli squad are aging and Ramoreboli’s big task is bringing in young blood to take over from the likes of Bushy Moletsane, Shetsane Ramooseka and Motlalepula Mofolo.

Lioli surprised many people on Monday by announcing that the club was releasing seven players including the long-serving and influential Mofolo.

Tse Nala have not been as dominant as they were two seasons ago and time will tell if Ramoreboli is as good as the likes of Mosholu ‘Shoes’ Mokhothu who brought a lot of success to the club.

The country most decorated side, Matlama, are also on a revival mission following the appointment of Mosito Matela early this season.

Tse Putsoa moved to third position on the log standings after beating LDF on Sunday. They moved to within three points of second placed Lioli.

However, they still have a long way to go before catching up with pacesetters Bantu who have a seven point lead.

Matlama have also bolstered their strike force with the acquisition of Lebajoa Mosehlenyane who joined after the expiry of his contract at Bantu.

The Leribe-born attacking midfielder did not get much game time at the league champions and now has a chance to rediscover the form he had while playing for the now defunct Mpharane Celtic and Linare.

Bantu have a lot on their plate as they begin their African Champions League campaign in February against Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows.

The biggest challenge will be striking the right balance between their international and domestic assignments.

Local teams have struggled in the prestigious continental competition but A Matšo Matebele have a chance of rewriting the history books by becoming the first side to going past  the preliminary stages in two decades.

There are also teams like Kick4Life who were the surprise packages in the league last season going pound for pound with the like of Bantu and Lioli in the race for the league title.

It looks like it will also go down to the wire at the bottom end of the table where clubs with so much history like Linare and Likhopo have to play for survival.

Last season the two teams survived the chop by a whisker and we wait to see if they will repeat the feat.

Tse Tala have only managed secured 11 points from their 12 matches and they will have to do better in order to avoid their first ever axing from top flight football.

Majantja and Sefotha-fotha who were promoted at the start of the season are safe at this stage but they have to maintain the standards they displayed during the first round to be sure of their place in the top flight.

Veteran, Ntebele ‘Tata Mocholene’ Taole, has already returned to the dugout as LMPS coach after a long spell out of the game.

It will be interesting to see if Taole is the man to change the fortunes of the police side that has been blowing hot and cold this season.

Affectionately known as Simunye, LMPS have failed to live up to expectations despite boasting the like of Tšepo Seturumane who is one of the best players alongside seasoned defenders, Basia Makepe and Nkau Lerotholi.

Mikia Kalati

LOVERS of football in Lesotho have been presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the 2018 World Cup in Russia where they could participate in a five-a-side football competition.

The initiative called Castle Lager Five was recently launched by the Castle Lager beer brand in South Africa in the presence of tournament ambassador Samuel Eto’o.

The qualifiers to choose the team that will represent southern Africa at the tournament in Russia will be staged in Zambia in April and they will be contested by Lesotho, Tanzania, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The five-a-side will be staged simultaneously with the World Cup tournament in Russia.

Former Likuena captain, Lehlohonolo Seema, who selected the Lesotho team for last year’s Castle Lager Brew League has once again been given the honour to select a team that will represent the country in Zambia.

To stand a chance of being selected, players need to buy a six-pack of Castle Lager beer and fill out an entry form. The deadline for submitting entries is 24 March.

Former football stars from the five participating countries, Tinashe Nengomasha (Zimbabwe), Christopher Katongo (Zambia), Ivo Mapunda (Tanzania) and Siza Dlamini (Swaziland) will mentor their teams for the tournament.

“I may have represented my country in different competitions such as the COSAFA Cup, along with many of my countrymen and I am very proud and honoured to have been chosen to be among the legends from our region,” Seema said.

“It shows that if you have served the game well it will also reward you.

“The tournament is a massive opportunity for every Mosotho and I encourage everyone to buy Castle Lager products to stand a chance to go to Zambia and Russia.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Basotho as they will also be opportunities for a super fan and also entrepreneurs who own taverns that sell Castle lager products.

“It was also an honour for me to meet a top African player like Samuel Eto’o who conquered the world playing for teams like Barcelona and winning big trophies,” he said.