Pascalinah Kabi

Former Court of Appeal Assistant Registrar, Matieho Mothobi, was this week grilled by the police after criminal charges were laid against her for allegedly leaking confidential court information.

Ms Mothobi, worked as the Court of Appeal Assistant Registrar until 21 June 201, when she took up a new post as mediator at the High Court.  She now stands accused of leaking confidential documents, including a controversial February 2017 email, between her and the Zimbabwean born judge, Justice Moses Chinhengo.

The email suggests that Justice Chinhengo is friends with Justice Kananelo Mosito, in whose favour he ruled, in a recent case dealing with the latter’s long stalled appointment to lead the Court of Appeal for the second time.

Senior Inspector Rantoane Motsoetla, from the police public relations office, confirmed that Ms Mothobi had been hauled to police headquarters in Maseru for questioning over the allegations.

“I can confirm that ‘M’e Matieho Mothobi was called by the police for questioning on Monday. She was not arrested but merely called to help the police with investigations,” Snr Inspector Motsoetla said, adding she had been released the same day after “successfully assisting us with the investigations”.

Justice Chinhengo recently refused to recuse himself from a case involving Judge Mosito, the former Court of Appeal president, despite protestations by Attorney Qhalehang Letsika, Advocates Karabo Mohau, Motiea Tele and Zwelakhe Mda that he was conflicted.

The leaked email suggests that Justice Chinhengo is friends with Justice Mosito and should have recused himself from the case in which the Law Society of Lesotho had petitioned the apex court for an order that Justice Mosito’s appeal, against a Constitutional Court judgement which blocked his reinstatement, be set and heard within 14 days from the 2nd of October 2018.

Dr Mosito, the Prime Minister, Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs, Minister of Justice and Correctional Service, Attorney General, His Majesty King Letsie, Attorney Letsika and Advocates Mohau, Tele and Mda and the Registrar of the High Court and Court of Appeal were cited as 1st to 11th respondents respectively in the Law Society’s petition.

Justice Chinhengo ruled in favour of the Law Society, ordering that the appeal be heard within 20 court days. This means the appeal is now due to be heard before 29 October 2018.   Justice Chinhengo delivered his judgment last Tuesday.  The email was then leaked shortly afterwards on Thursday.

Justice Chinhengo ruled that the lawyers’ argument that he could be conflicted could not be sustained and dismissed their recusal application. But the leaked 21 February 2017 email between him and Ms Mothobi seems to suggest otherwise.

The email, of which the Lesotho Times has a copy, was in relation to a case involving the appointment of Court of Appeal judges to hear Dr Mosito’s appeal against a Constitutional Court judgment that had nullified his re-appointment as Court of Appeal president.  Judge Chinhengo, who sits in the Court of Appeal, appeared in the main to want to recuse himself from the case.

“I have previously recused myself from matters involving Dr Mosito,” Justice Chinhengo wrote in the e-mail to Ms Mothobi.

“Since my appointment to the Court of Appeal bench and working with Dr Mosito, albeit for a short period, I developed a fairly close friendship with him at the personal level. My judgement may be coloured by that relationship.

“I lecture part time in procedural law at the University in Zimbabwe where Dr Mosito is an external examiner. He being the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lesotho, his appointment as external examiner was on my recommendation in 2015. I would rather not sit in his appeal for these reasons unless there are compelling reasons that I do so,” Justice Chinhengo states in the email.

Attempts to get a comment from Ms Mothobi were unsuccessful as her mobile phone was not reachable and she did not respond to a WhatsApp messages left in her inbox.

In a separate interview, High Court Acting Deputy Registrar Mojela Shale, said it was the “management of the High Court” which had reported Ms Mothobi to the police on suspicion that she might be responsible for leaking confidential government documents from the Court of Appeal, including the email.

“Confidential government documents have been leaked from the office (which she held) and as she was virtually the chief accounting officer, there are therefore suspicions that she might be the one who leaked those documents,” Adv Shale said.

He said that all civil servants, including Ms Mothobi, were sworn to the oath of secrecy upon their recruitment into the public service. The leaking of confidential government documents goes against the oath.

“We are not conclusively saying Ms Mothobi is the one leaking these confidential documents but as the chief accounting officer, when a confidential communication that took place between her and the judge (Justice Chinhengo) and other judges is leaked, she is the first suspect and there are strong suspicions that she is responsible for this as this was her communication.

“All civil servants are sworn to secrecy and when confidential government documents are leaked, investigation procedures must be taken and we have since reported the matter to the police who will investigate our suspicion that she is responsible for this,” Adv Shale said.

He said that the leaked communication and other documents were never for public consumption and should have remained confidential. In a case where such is leaked, Adv Shale said, criminal charges must be laid against the suspects.

He said that legal steps had to be taken to send a strong message to civil servants that anyone suspected of leaking confidential documents will face the wrath of the law.

On information that Ms Mothobi has since been asked to vacate her office at the Court of Appeal premises after the leakage, Adv Shale said Ms Mothobi and others were promoted to the mediator positions by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on 21 June 2018 and should thus have moved offices already. Ms Mothobi had nonetheless remained working from her office at the Court of Appeal despite her appointment to the High Court.

Adv Shale said that although mediators were legally supposed to be housed at the High Court premises, there had been resistance from the recently promoted mediators to leave their respective offices and relocate to the High Court premises because, at the moment, “there were no individual offices marked for such.”

“So, on Friday (5 October 2018), she was told to immediately vacate the Court of Appeal Assistant Registrar’s offices to come and work from the High Court because she should have relocated to here immediately after her promotion.

“She wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place because she is a junior. The Court of Appeal is administered by the Deputy Registrar but she was posted there because at the time there was only one deputy registrar.”

Ms Mothobi’s probe has, however, left the High Court deeply divided with some of her colleagues suggesting that her grilling is a witch-hunt against suspended Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara’s “loyalists”.

“There is no case against Ms Mothobi. The concerned email was not strictly between her and Justice Chinhengo. The email was a group message between her and other judges and there is no way that the management can say with certainty that she is the one who leaked it. Anyone copied into the mail could have leaked it,” one source said, adding “there are now two teams here, those supporting the suspended CJ (Majara) and the current Acting Chief Justice ‘Maseforo Mahase”.

The source said there were bound to be such actions taken against those viewed as working in common cause with Justice Majara.

However, another source said suspicions that Ms Mothobi could in fact have leaked the email and other confidential documents were rampant in the judiciary. Some court officials, using muffled tones, had been alleging that Ms Mothobi was a mole for the opposition.

The source said there were suspicions that Democratic Congress (DC) spokesperson, Serialong Qoo, could have been referring to Ms Mothobi as the leaker of the email in his recent radio interview with a local radio station.

In an audio that has since gone viral on social media, Mr Qoo is heard saying “immediately after delivering a judgement, that person whom the judge gave a copy of an email at that time (February 2017) when the judge did the right thing, has since brought to the fore that copy”.

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Ntsebeng Motsoeli

ALL Basotho Convention (ABC) legislator, Nyapane Kaya, has accused government ministries and departments of intentionally neglecting to reconcile their accounts to hide embezzlement of public funds.

Mr Kaya made the allegations at the Monday session of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with the Ministry of Social Development.

Mr Kaya was holding fort for the PAC chairperson, Selibe Mochoboroane who was not present.

Even though he did not put a figure to the money that he claimed was lost in the mismanagement of the public funds, Mr Kaya said government was losing a lot of money through corrupt practices.

“We cannot succeed as a country if we use public funds there are no reconciliations made,” Mr Kaya said.

“We have learnt that reconciliations are not done on purpose because people want to hide the misappropriation of public funds.

“Internal audits have to be done on a regular basis but nothing like that has been happening. We know that most of the government ministries, if not all, do not do internal audits and this creates an opportunity for misuse of public funds.”

Mr Kaya said the same practice prevails at secondary schools where the schools’ managements and their boards do not conduct financial audits of the money they receive from government as grants for vulnerable children.

Mr Kaya said there have been reports that in some schools, senior members of the management were using some of the money that the government disburses for vulnerable children for personal purposes.

“There have been reports of schools managements embezzling the grants for vulnerable learners. We have heard that in one school the principal and a board member took M10 000 and invested it in one of the money laundering schemes but they lost all the money when the scheme closed down,” Mr Kaya said.

Mr Kaya also lamented the alleged favouritism in the issuance of grants to vulnerable citizens where the poorest are reportedly overlooked while the relatively better off families benefit from the social assistance programmes.

The government offers social assistance to various vulnerable groups of the society that include children, people living with disability and the elderly.

“There is an outcry from the communities that some better off families were receiving social assistance while those who are worse-off are not receiving any assistance. This makes the selection of the beneficiaries very questionable. We want to understand the criteria for enrolling beneficiaries in the programmes,” Mr Kaya said.

Matsieng legislator, ‘Matsepo Ramakoae who is also a member of the PAC, said according to the 2015 Auditor General, Lucy Liphafa’s report, there were some discrepancies in the distribution of donations to orphans and vulnerable children.

Ms Ramakoae said it was not clear how and who is selected to be enrolled in the social assistance programmes.

“There is indeed a problem in our communities with people who are selected to benefit from the grants. It is not clear why some people are selected for the programmes and why others are left out. We want to understand the method that is used to identify the most vulnerable people for the programmes,” Ms Ramakoae said.

The 2015 Auditor General’s report has shown some irregularities in the distribution of aid goods to orphans and vulnerable children where there was no clear documentation of the distribution list, making it doubtful if the items would have reached the rightful beneficiaries.

“There were instances where items issued to beneficiaries were not marked to indicate that they had all been received. That poses a risk of items being consumed by people who are not the rightful beneficiaries,” the report said.

There report has also revealed that there were unsupported payments to orphans and vulnerable children, contrary to the 2014 Treasury Regulations that original supporting documents be attached for any expenditure incurred by a government entity.

“Contrary to the requirement, there were no supporting documents attached to the payment vouchers amounting to M44 046 for support of school fees, transport, clothes and groceries to orphaned and vulnerable children.

“There was no evidence that the listed children received clothes and groceries, as there was no register of any document signed by beneficiaries and/or the children to ensure accountability,” the report said.

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…but queries raised over the company’s shoddy work

Pascalinah Kabi

Water Minister Samonyane Ntsekele said the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) would not hesitate to cancel a major road construction project awarded to Nthane Brothers firm if the latter produced substandard work.  He was responding to questions from reporters who questioned him on why Nthane Brothers had been awarded such a key contract despite its past run-ins with the government over shoddy work.

The LHDA yesterday announced that it had awarded a M235 million road construction tender to a joint venture of Nthane Brothers and Sinohydro SA – a company with close ties with Chinese-owned Sinohydro Corporation.

Sinohydro Corporation, which was established in China as a state-owned hydropower project contractor during the 1950s, joined forces with Nthane Brothers to successfully bid for the 16-kilometre road priced at M235 million.

Nthane Brothers, which owns a 60 percent shareholding in the joint venture and is therefore its lead partner, has been under fire for substandard works in Lesotho. In 2014, the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) demanded that it refunds the government a whopping M36 million. The PAC also directed that the company be blacklisted from state construction jobs as punishment for substandard work.

The verdict came in the wake of the long-running dispute between the Nthane Brothers’ firm, Lesotho Consolidated Civil Construction (LCCC) and ministry of Public Works, over the building of a 27-kilometre road stretching from Ha Cheche to Matšooana on the Likalaneng to Thaba-Tseka highway.

The PAC wanted the return of M36 million which the government advanced to the LCCC in two tranches of M15 million and M21 million for the job.

The LCCC had been expected to have completed the job in August 2010. However, a 2014 PAC report said the firm “is ostensibly going on with its substandard work” and recommending that the then ministry of Public Works principal secretary, Lebohang Phooko, institutes recovery processes through legal means and ensure that LCCC is never awarded government contracts for a certain period as punishment for “shoddy work and threatening supervising engineers.”

Despite the firm’s past, the Water Resources Minister, Mr Ntsekele, yesterday announced that a joint venture with a majority of shareholding belonging to Nthane Brothers had been awarded the M235 million road construction tender.

The road stretches from Mapholaneng to the Khubelu River where the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP)’s Phase II dam – Polihali – is going to be constructed starting the beginning of 2020.

“Construction works on Phase II of the Lesotho Water project are underway following the LHDA awarding the first construction contract for the Polihali North-East Access Road (PNEAR) to Sinohydro SA and Nthane Brothers Joint Venture. The contractor is expected to be on site by the beginning of November, marking the start of Phase II’s six-year construction period. The contract is valued at approximately M235 million,” Mr Ntsekele said.

Responding to the media’s questions in relation to Nthane Brothers’ past, the minister said the LHDA had put in place stringent measures to ensure that the joint venture delivers satisfactory works and that they would not hesitate to terminate the contract in the event that it produces substandard work.

“Like you are saying that the company has a questionable past, it is a Mosotho owned company and we are going to closely monitor it to ensure that the road constructions are up to the specifications and should we discover that it is doing a poor job, we will not hesitate to terminate the contract,” Mr Ntsekele said.

He said the Nthane Brothers and Sinohydro SA joint venture was awarded the contract based on merit and that there were steps put in place to ensure that every successful contractor performs to the specifications.

“In each contract, there are specific terms and conditions and the contractor knows well the parameters that they are supposed to be operating within, to work towards the quality that we need and produce satisfactory outcomes. They are not just going to build the road and go, there are clear steps that will be followed to the latter to ensure that they construct a desired road,” Mr Ntsekele said.

He said Nthane Brothers and Sinohydro successfully bid for the tender as joint venture of 60/40 percent shareholding which was based on assets each company brought to the table.

Mr Ntsekele said it was important for people to understand that the Lesotho and South Africa governments had agreed to ensure that black people benefit from this project by way of getting jobs under the Phase II project.

He said these were positive developments that Basotho had been waiting to hear for a long time. The minister hoped that these developments would excite Lesotho nationals residing in and outside the country.

He said that the project was going to help alleviate the high unemployment rate in the country and that it was important for Basotho to understand that black people, including Indians and Chinese, were going to get jobs on merit as long as they are citizens of South Africa and Lesotho.

“Indians and Chinese are also black people. We need to understand what black people means because it is not just people with ‘hard hair’ but in South African laws, Indians and Chinese who originate from that country are regarded as black people and in Lesotho, everyone with a Lesotho citizenship is black regardless  of their colour,” Mr Ntsekele said.

Lesotho’s Chief Delegate to the Water Commission, Mzamo Lephoma, a shared the same sentiments with Mr Ntsekele, insisting  that the definition of black people in the laws of South Africa includes Indians and Chinese originating from that country.

LHDA chief executive officer Refiloe Tlali said that it was important for everyone to understand that the LHWP was operating under the laws of the two nations and that the implementing agency was mandated to carry out its mandate under the two countries’ legal frameworks.

“As long as people are citizens of Lesotho and South Africa, they are considered as black people and qualify to be given jobs as per the agreement that black people must fully and economically benefit from this project. We did not come up with this definition, it is well defined under the laws of the two nations.

“Secondly, contractors are supervised on a daily basis and besides the supervising consultants, the LHDA has its own supervisors and as soon as anything unsatisfactory is picked, measures are put in place to address such queries. In some cases, contractors are forced to rework on the same projects or contracts are immediately terminated. We have done that in the past and we will not hesitate to do that in this incidence,” Ms Tlali said.

The LHWP is a multi-phased project to provide water to the Gauteng region of South Africa and to generate hydro-electricity for Lesotho. It was established by the 1986 Treaty signed by the governments of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa.

The project entails harnessing the waters of the Senqu/Orange River in the Lesotho highlands through the construction of a series of dams for the mutual benefit of the two countries. Phase I of the project was completed in 2003 and inaugurated in 2004 and Phase II is currently underway.

The post Nthane Brothers awarded M235 LHDA tender appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Ntsebeng Motsoeli

DIAMOND miner, Storm Mountain Diamonds (SMD) has lashed out at the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for allegedly overstepping its mandate of gathering information on abuse of government funds by acting as a judge.

Senior management of the SMD yesterday described the PAC as “populist and sensationalist” in a statement to the media at a local hotel in Maseru.

The SMD chairperson, Milford Mundel, said the PAC was acting beyond its mandate and was misleading the public.

Mr Mundel said that allegations that PAC and the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) have levelled against the mine were false and misleading.

“The TRC alleges that the PAC “discovered” that SMD owes royalties and taxes to the government which is not true,” Mr Mundel said.

“SMD is fully compliant with all of its tax obligations. SMD has also paid all the royalties that are due to the government, as per its mining agreement read with the Mines and Minerals Act of 2005. SMD reports on sales and marketing process. SMD’s books are open to the regulators who can at any time investigate and audit this issue.

“Unfortunately, the activities of the PAC are also populist and sensationalist in nature. The PAC is operating way beyond its mandate as a Parliamentary Committee. It has a legislative mandate but is assuming the role of both the executive (acting as a regulator) and the judiciary (issuing directives) and then without being properly informed and without understanding the correct facts. The PAC’s view on royalties and tax owing by the operating mines is misguided.”

Mr Mundel said that the allegations were creating many false perceptions about the mining industry in Lesotho and the public opinion was being pervaded.

He said the perceptions were reinforced by statements such as the recent “baseless allegations made by the TRC in their press release”.

“It is disheartening to see important institutions and lobby groups such as the PAC and the TRC peddle cheap sensationalism. These organisations have a duty to act in good faith and not to mislead the public.

“By spreading false news…the TRC is provoking conflict, pitting stakeholders against each other and jeopardising social cohesion and important stakeholder relationships.

“SMD rather urges stakeholder to confront issues through fact-based dialogue and discussions. Any stakeholder is invited to contact the mine to engage with it. In doing so and by dealing with facts, we believe that many negative perceptions can be eradicated, stakeholder relationships will improve, with improved sustainability and value creation for all.”

Speaking at the press briefing, the SMD head of legal and corporate and the company secretary, Morné Maree said that PAC had no right to make unconfirmed claims about the operations of the mine.

“PAC has its narrow mandate. It should gather information on misspending and should report to the relevant departments for further investigations. Their claims are biased. They got evidence from one side of the story and never invited us to hear our side of the story. Their actions jeopardise Lesotho and the mine,” Mr Maree said.

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Pascalinah Kabi

FORMER ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Principal Secretary, Makalo Theko, this week appeared before the Maseru Magistrate Court to face corruption charges in relation to the awarding of a 2015 fertiliser supply tender in 2015.

Mr Theko, who served as the ministry’s chief accounting officer until July 2016 when the then government of former premier Pakalitha Mosisili reshuffled Principal Secretaries, stands accused of being involved in corrupt deals.

He was hauled before the courts by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) on Monday.

Mr Theko was charged alongside Hippo Transport director Isaac Monokoane and the company, cited respectively as accused one to three. Both Messers Theko and Monokoane were released on M1000 bail each with a further M10 000 surety. They are due in court again on the 18^th of this month.

The DCEO accused Mr Theko of abusing his functions or the position of his office, as PS and chairperson of the tender panel, by assisting Hippo Transport in violating the Public Procurement Regulations as well as the Treasury Regulations 2014 for the purpose of obtaining an undue advantage for the latter.

The charge sheet says that Mr Theko “is guilty of contravening section 21 (3) (b) of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act of 1999” during the months of August and September 2015.

“The accused being the Principal Secretary and Chief Accounting Officer of the ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and as such chairperson of the tender panel and a public officer intentionally abused the functions or position of his office in the performance or failure to perform to act; to wit; by assisting third accused in violation of the Public Procurement Regulations 2007 as well as Treasury Regulations 2014 for the purpose of obtaining an undue advantage for 3^rd accused. Thus, committing the crime of corruption,” the charge sheet reads.

The DCEO also accuses Hippo Transport, Messers Theko and Monokoane of committing fraud in that they allegedly acted jointly, sharing a common goal, to pursue an unlawful purpose of deliberately making a false representation to the ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

The anti-graft body further accuses the three of working in cahoots to conceal from the ministry’s tender panel that the tender documents were used for a tender of supply of fertilisers “were correct and in order with intention that the ministry should act upon such representation to its detriment and thereby causing the ministry to so act”.

The accusations come hardly three months after Mr Monokoane hauled the DCEO to court, demanding a M11 million compensation for defamation and financial losses suffered by his company after the DCEO allegedly leaked a letter it wrote to him in July this year.

Mr Monokoane wants M11 million in damages which has been broken down as M10 million for loss of business and M1 million for the public ridicule he suffered as a result of the DCEO’s “unlawful and wrongful” leakage of the confidential letter.

The letter in question was written by the DCEO to Mr Monokoane requesting that he makes submissions in relation to a 2015 tender that Hippo Transport was awarded by the ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

The DCEO said it needed the information as part of its investigations into the same case that was brought against Messers Theko and Monokoane on Monday.

Hippo Transport’s core business is the provision of transport solutions and according to its website, it is one of the largest transport companies in Lesotho with a fleet of 92 heavy duty trucks and 21 small trucks. It also has interests in plant hire, property, tourism and brick manufacturing.

On the 10^th of July this year, the DCEO wrote to Mr Monokoane requesting him to make a full disclosure of all his assets in and outside Lesotho as well as his sources of income within 21 days.

Among other things, the DCEO demanded his bank account details including the name of the bank, the year in which the account was opened, the opening balance, the current balance and any offshore accounts.

In terms of motor vehicles and other movable properties, Mr Monokoa was requested to furnish the DCEO with the registration numbers, engine and vehicle identification numbers. The DCEO also wanted information relating to when the vehicles and movable properties were acquired and how much Hippo Transport paid for them.

Mr Monokoane submitted a handwritten response on 16 July this year informing the DCEO that he did not understand English and asked the anti-corruption body to write to him in Sesotho.

A week later, Mr Monokoane’s response was leaked on social media and he alleges that the leakage resulted in him being subjected to public ridicule. He further alleges that the leakage cost him at least M10 million in lost earnings.

“The second plaintiff further pleads that the leakage of the confidential letter was and remains a malicious endeavour aimed at lowering him in esteem and for that reason he is compromised in the business circles and seen as a person who does not abide by the laws of the land in spite of the fact that no criminal charges have been laid against him.

“The said wrongful, unlawful and or utter breach of the law by the defendant and or its authorised agents occasioned substantial commercial damages to the first plaintiff and that adversely affected the company’s reputation and business dealings which attracted loss of business and prospective contracts to the tune of M10 million. The mentioned monies could have been secured through the business dealings of first plaintiff if it was not for the wrongful and or unlawful acts of the defendant through its agents.

“On the same note, the said wrongful, unlawful and or utter breach of the law by the defendant and or its authorised necessitated and attracted damages to the tune of M1 million owing to the damage caused to the personal reputation of the second plaintiff. The damage could have been avoided if it was not for the wrongful and or unlawful acts of the defendant through its agents,” Mr Monokoane said.

He said he was forced to approach the courts after the DCEO refused to pay the damages as communicated in a letter of demand to the anti-graft body on 27 July this year.

The post Former Agric PS up for corruption appeared first on Lesotho Times.

…as national dialogue is postponed indefinitely

’Marafaele Mohloboli

THE country’s troubled reforms process is in limbo again after the national dialogue event scheduled for the 9^th to the 12^th of this month was this week postponed indefinitely.

The postponement comes in the wake of the opposition’s withdrawal from the all multi-sector reforms process in protest at the government’s decision to suspend Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara.

Opposition parties constitute a key segment to the national dialogue expected to culminate in the formulation and implementation of the multi-sectoral reforms recommended by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2016.

Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s press attaché, Thabo Thakalekoala, this week confirmed that the dialogue process had been postponed.

He said the postponement came after the facilitation team, led by retired South African Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke held closed door meetings with the government, the opposition and Justice Majara.

“I am not in the light of what really transpired behind the closed-door meetings but I can safely confirm that the facilitation team left for South Africa immediately after the meetings that took place in Maseru on Monday,” Mr Thakalekoala said.

“There is yet another meeting which is scheduled to take place sometime next week, either on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

However, according to the opposition, the national dialogue, which is aimed at creating a clear roadmap for the reforms process could not go on following grievances raised by the opposition.

Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) deputy spokesperson Apesi Ratšele said: “Though I may not know for sure the main reason why the national dialogue didn’t go on as planned, we brought it to the attention of Justice Moseneke that we are unhappy about the way the government is meddling with the judiciary, especially Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara”.

Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) leader Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, said he was unsure why the dialogue was postponed “as the government always held that it would commence with the reforms without the opposition.”

He nonetheless said the opposition had registered its displeasure over a number of issues to the facilitation team.

“I don’t think it will be fair to say the postponement was on account of our pulling out of the reforms because even the committee responsible for the logistics for the dialogue is not ready.

“There is nothing tangible on the ground in as far as the preparations are concerned, so I may not even be right to say that the opposition’s grievances are the main reason for the postponement,” said Adv Rakuoane.

Democratic Congress (DC) deputy leader and leader of the opposition in Parliament Mathibeli Mokhothu told the Lesotho Times that Justice Moseneke came to Lesotho ahead of the national dialogue on their invitation as the opposition.

“We wrote to him and invited him to come for an urgent intervention as we felt that the government was not adhering to the rule of law and therefore we were forced to pull out of the reforms process,” Mr Mokhothu said.

He said they suggested that there be a joint meeting between the government and the opposition to iron out some of the outstanding issues.

“Justice Moseneke has agreed to our suggestion that the joint meeting be convened, except that this time it should be smaller than that of the NLF (national leader’s Forum),” Mr Mokhothu said.

Part of the opposition’s letter dated 19 September 2018 reads: “We write this letter to you Justice (Moseneke) as a matter of extreme urgency as we see a situation escalating in the Kingdom where the current government’s impunity and persistent gross violations of the laws of the land and violations of court orders has become the order of the day, thus dashing our hopes that any processes agreed to in relation to the national dialogue and the reforms will be respected”.

The letter calls for Justice Moseneke to ensure that the government upholds the rule of law and in particular “reverses its decision (to suspend Justice Majara) and desist from attacking the office of the Chief Justice”.

However, the government’s spokesperson, Nthakeng Selinyane, rubbished the assertions that Justice Moseneke flew into the country in response to the opposition’s invitation.

“Justice Moseneke and his team jetted in the country on Sunday… They were due last week but couldn’t make it as the PM had just landed from New York and already had a scheduled engagement with His Majesty King Letsie III at the nutrition summit held at Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village.

“They (facilitation team) did not come here to investigate the opposition’s assertions and that is no reason why the national dialogue has been postponed. The National Dialogue Planning Committee (NDPC) is finishing off its programme even though it has delayed a bit,” Mr Selinyane said.

The reforms were recommended in the aftermath of the report by the Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi-led 10-member commission of inquiry appointed by SADC in July 2015 to investigate, among other things, the assassination of former army commander, Maaparankoe Mahao, by his army colleagues.

The postponement comes against Justice Moseneke’s prior expression of confidence that the National Leaders’ Forum (NLF) would end up in a successful national dialogue to resolve some of the challenges faced by the kingdom.

“We have had long and cordial discussions with the heads of government and members of the cabinet and the discussions were thorough and indeed very cordial and fruitful,” Justice Moseneke had said.

The government was in April ordered by SADC to fully implement the constitutional and security sector reforms by May next year. However, the reforms process has stalled largely as a result of the constant bickering between the government and the opposition over the latter’s preconditions for its participation in the reforms.

Among other things, the opposition has demanded assurances that exiled leaders such as LCD leader Mothetjoa Metsing, will not be prosecuted upon their return to participate in the reforms. Besides Mr Metsing, other opposition leaders currently in exile are LCD deputy leader, Tšeliso Mokhosi and Teboho Mojapela of the Socialist Revolutionaries party.

The opposition also wants murder-accused former army commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli, to be released on bail or his case be speedily heard.

They also want a truth and reconciliation commission which they say will help turn a new chapter for the country and put behind all difficulties experienced in the past 52 years of Lesotho’s independence.

Efforts to get a comment from Justice Moseneke were fruitless yesterday as his phone went unanswered.

The post National reforms process stall again appeared first on Lesotho Times.

• accuses facilitator of meddling in governance issues

’Marafaele Mohloboli

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Lesego Makgothi has come out guns blazing against the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s proxy facilitator in Lesotho, Justice Dikgang Moseneke, accusing him of meddling in the governance issues of Lesotho. This after Justice Moseneke is said to have asked Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s coalition to lift its controversial suspension of Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara.

Mr Makgothi rebuked Justice Moseneke for subtly questioning the government’s decisions “as if we are co-governing with his facilitation team”.

Justice Moseneke, who is a former deputy chief justice of South Africa, was appointed by the neighboring country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to represent him in his mediation of the Lesotho crisis at a 24 April 2018 SADC Double Troika Summit in Angola.

It was decided at that Troika Summit that President Ramaphosa continue to act as the regional body’s facilitator in Lesotho but appoint high level personalities to support him in June this year. Mr Ramaphosa then appointed Justice Moseneke, an internationally renowned and respected jurist, who served time with Nelson Mandela at Robben Ireland during South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. Mr Moseneke’s team also comprises of three deputy ministers, namely the Basic Education’s Enver Surty, the International Relations and Cooperation’s Makgabo Regina Mhaule and State Security’s Ellen Molekane.

Mr Makgothi’s acerbic remarks against Justice Moseneke come in the wake of the collapse of the national dialogue event, slated to have run from 9 to 12 October 2018. Although various reasons have been given for the collapse of the national dialogue event, the opposition has vowed that it will not be part of the reforms process over the government’s “meddling in the judiciary and failure to uphold the rule of law as evidenced by the recent suspension of Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara.”

Mr Makgothi had no kind words for Justice Moseneke whom he accused of fighting in the opposition’s corner by calling for the reinstatement of Justice Majara.

“He (Moseneke) is subtly questioning our governance decisions as if we are co-governing with the Facilitation Team,” Mr Makgothi said in an interview with theLesotho Times.

He said the issue of the suspension of Chief Justice Majara had nothing to do with the reforms agenda.

“If there is an impasse regarding anything in relation to the national dialogue, the National Leaders Forum (NLF) will have to sit immediately to resolve that.

“I don’t see why NLF was not called (to deal with any issues) instead of (Judge Moseneke) coming to request the government to reinstate Majara. She was never on the agenda of reforms and she will never be.

“The Chief Justice’s issue and the governance of Lesotho are not part of the facilitation team’s work. There is a government in place at the end of the day with its own independent decisions that do not concern anybody, not even SADC itself.

“We need to draw a line between the reforms and the daily business of government.

“It doesn’t make sense at all that every time we make executive decisions, they come around and want us to change them.

“The issue of the Chief Justice was well thought out. His Majesty was well advised and it took a long time to actually make sure that there are enough independent legal opinions to advice His Majesty accordingly, that way it was a simple way of vying for transparency and eliminating bias.”

He further accused Justice Moseneke of inconsistency when discharging his mandate as facilitator.

“This time around the team did not meet with the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN), Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL) and College of Chiefs. Why? Where is consistency?” asked Mr Makgothi.

Mr Makgothi said if only the facilitation team had its terms of reference, “this would help it to work within the confines of their mandate”.

“Justice Moseneke was supposed to have furnished us with his terms of reference and clear schedule of his work as directed by the communique of the Windhoek summit. It’s almost two months down the line and he has not done that to date.

“The Moseneke team does not regard itself as proxy to facilitator but the facilitator himself by the look of things,” charged Mr Makgothi.

Mr Makgothi further accused Justice Moseneke of delaying the preparations for the dialogue in his capacity as chairperson of the National Dialogue Planning Committee (NDPC).

The foreign minister said the nation was ready to go on with the reforms even though the facilitation team is “not so engaging”.

“As a country we are pushing ahead preparing for the national dialogue although the facilitation team is not so engaging on preparations except that it is evidently seeing itself as the mediation team that is brokering for the opposition in all aspects,” Mr Makgothi said.

“The terms of reference of the NDPC are clear on what number constitutes a quorum, among other things, and if three people pull out of the committee, the country cannot be held at ransom”.

Mr Makgothi said instead of focusing on the issues of Lesotho’s governance, Justice Moseneke should be working on bringing the leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) Mothetjoa Metsing back to the country.

“Why is Mr Metsing still in South Africa not back in the country as directed by SADC? That is something he should be working on than what government has decided to do as part of its mandate,” charged Mr Makgothi.

He also accused the opposition of having never been keen to be part of the reforms process.

“The opposition was never keen to engage in reforms in the first place. They failed in their time to deliver on the promise of reforming Lesotho.  When they see that it is actually picking momentum and we are committed to our promise, they instead clamor to have a government of national unity so that their incompetence will be shadowed by reforming together with us.”

Efforts to get a comment from Justice Moseneke were fruitless as his phone went unanswered yesterday while a message sent to him was not replied until the time of going to print.

DC chairperson Motlalentoa Letsosa said: “This (Makgothi) is the guy who should be very diplomatic instead of just talking the way he is doing and derailing his government by just talking like a party fan”.

“They have not succeeded in a thing concerning the reforms process. They were too arrogant and hence a committee comprising of all stakeholders was established after we suggested it… Therefore, we are the ones who have won in this regard and not them.

“(Mr) Makgothi is just trying to soothe his bruised ego because we have whisked the power away from their hands. They have nothing to gloat about. They have no power left on their hands nor do they have a voice,” Mr Letsosa said.

Mr Makgothi’s remarks and the opposition’s stance effectively buttress the viewpoint that Basotho may never achieve common ground in working on the constitutional and security reforms recommended by SADC to finally end perennial instability in the country. SADC has given Lesotho until May 2019 to have formulated and implemented the reforms. The specter of that happening now appears increasingly remote by each passing day.

The post Makgothi blasts Moseneke appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Ntsebeng Motsoeli

THE US Embassy has injected M750 000 to sponsor the implementation of a bachelor’s degree programme in journalism at the University of Lesotho (NUL).

The journalism degree will be offered at the NUL’s Maseru campus, the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies (IEMS) in the next academic year.

The degree will be an upgrade from the three-year Mass Communication Diploma that the university has been offering at IEMS.

The US Ambassador to Lesotho, Rebecca Gonzales, recently said the US Embassy would also equip the programme with state-of-the art media resource lab to ensure adequate training. Ms Gonzales said the embassy would also help the university build a viable curriculum.

“Through a grant of more than M750 000, we will equip this programme with a state-of-the art media resource lab to ensure that journalism students at NUL have the practical training needed to succeed in today’s media environment,” Ms Gonzales said.

“Furthermore, we are walking side-by-side with the team from IEMS and the Faculty of Humanities as they endeavor to create a comprehensive degree programme and build a curriculum that fully utilises these technical resources.  As is our usual practice, we are not interested merely in providing equipment.  The US is focused on building capacity and creating opportunity for young Basotho.  We are committed to partnering with Basotho at all levels to achieve the best, most sustainable outcomes.”

Ms Gonzales said the programme will go a long way in enhancing freedom of expression and freedom of information which are enshrined as a basic human right in African Charter of Human and People’s Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and many other such conventions.

“In my own country, it is a prominent component of the Bill of Rights, which forms part of our Constitution.  The US values freedom of the press as a key component of democratic governance. By fostering a free press, citizens are more informed, active and engaged in political decision-making and can better hold their governments accountable and enhance our shared principles of a functional and democratic society.

“Journalists and media actors dedicate their lives, often at great risk, to promote transparency and accountability throughout the world.  To do so, we must train good journalists.  Every country needs those good journalists; the United States, Lesotho, we all need them,” Ms Gonzales said.

Ms Gonzales said that Basotho needed good journalism now more than ever with the ongoing process of national reforms.

“This is especially true here as the country navigates the ongoing process of reforms.  Regardless whether they consume news from the newspaper, the radio, or on their smartphones, Basotho will continue to rely on journalists to investigate and interpret the stories and issues that affect their lives.”

Ms Gonzales said the introduction of the degree in journalism was a mile stone since its conception over a year ago.

“More than a year ago, the US Embassy stepped back to look at the work we do to support press freedom and to provide journalism training through our various public diplomacy exchanges and trainings.  We spoke with many of you at the time about what was needed to elevate the role of journalists and the media in Lesotho.   Together we determined that Lesotho needed a degree program in Journalism.  We are very pleased that the National University of Lesotho saw fit to make this shared vision into reality.

“We can all agree that up and coming journalists need proper training and a solid foundation in ethical journalism.  On the job training when they enter the workforce is important but they need to emerge from school with the critical thinking skills to research, investigate, analyse and distill information.  That way, whatever medium they choose to work in, they are advancing those ideals of transparency, accountability and journalistic integrity,” Ms Gonzales said.

The post Shot in the arm for NUL appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Nthatuoa Koeshe

LESOTHO women and girls are faced with a myriad of challenges which require strong leadership and advocacy.

This was said by the chairperson of the Regional Women’s Caucus, Matsepo Ramakoae, who also chairs the National Women’s Parliamentary Caucus.

Ms Ramakoae said this at a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organised capacity building workshop for women parliamentarians on leadership and advocacy this week.

The workshop was held under the theme “Leadership, public speaking and advocacy by women parliamentarians”. The workshop’s objectives included strengthening their leadership capabilities, enhancing skills on public speaking, the use of the media and boosting participation and impact in parliamentary discussions

Ms Ramakoae said the issues of high maternal mortality, unsafe abortions, child marriages, high prevalence of HIV particularly among young people including high prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence were some of the challenges which had to be urgently dealt with.

“The issues require strong leadership and advocacy and the time is now for all of us to demonstrate that we are indeed executing our mandated functions of representation, law making, oversight and budget allocation,” Ms Ramakoae said.

Ms Ramakoae said they could only execute their mandates if they are fully capacitated, the reason for which they are grateful for the partnership with the UNFPA to ensure that they are fully equipped to deliver on their work.

“Through the support of the UNFPA, we have undertaken activities such as oversight visits to health facilities, correctional services institutions, sex worker homes, dialogues with key populations and a visit to Rothe on the murders of women in that area among others.”

She said all of their activities were meant for them as law makers to visit their constituents and to learn about their challenges.

She said the national women’s parliamentary caucus was fully supportive of the work of the UNFPA.

“I am aware that the UNFPA is part of the parliamentary working group on sexual and reproductive health rights, HIV and AIDS and governance so I have committed to ensuring that this group is sustained through better coordination and organisation. Further, we have full confidence that parliamentary efforts on issues affecting women and girls in particular, will remain high on the agenda of parliament.”

UNFPA country representative Nuzhat Ehsan, said they were proud of the work done since the launch of the caucus in May this year.

She said their voice is now being heard and their presence was now noticeable although more work still needs to be done.

Ms Ehsan said in the women’s caucus, they see a like-minded companion that will partner with them to address challenges facing the Lesotho particularly in relation to women and girls.

“These challenges include but are not limited to the high rate of maternal deaths and gender-based violence,” Ms Ehsan said.

She said the meeting was a critical step in ensuring that women parliamentarians gain the confidence they need to articulate issues, address the public and communicate through media, with eloquence.

Ms Ehsan said the crucial role played by women parliamentarians in advancing social development in the country and bringing different, critical perspectives to politics cannot be overemphasised.

She however, said due to fear of speaking in public, women are not visible in the media hence they miss out on the powerful role that media can play in advancing their agenda.

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Ntsebeng Motsoeli

THE police in Ha Thetsane have declared war on drug peddling syndicates which they say have significantly contributed to the increase in criminal activities in the community.

The officer commanding Thetsane Police Station, Senior Inspector Matlotlo Mphōhla, told this publication this week that they are on the hunt for groups and individuals who are peddling drugs in the area.

Snr Inspector Mphōhla said illegal drug use was rampant in the Thetsane area and this has resulted into an increase in criminal activities.

“There is serious abuse of drugs ranging from dagga, mandrax (methaqualone) and cocaine among young people in the Thetsane area,” Snr Inspector Mphōhla said.

“There is also an increase in the abuse of alcohol. Just this morning (Tuesday) we had an operation and we recovered a bagful of dagga in an abandoned house in the area.”

He said drug peddlers and users have devised a communication code where they use colours of shoes to deliver certain messages.

“We have learnt that the drug dealers have devised a communication strategy where they hang different colours of worn-out tennis shoes to signal the availability of certain drugs. We however, are not yet familiar with what colour of shoes represents which drug.”

Snr Inspector Mphōhla said the widespread drug use has resulted in an upsurge of other criminal activities that involve armed robberies, house breaking, rape and murder.

“Under the influence of these drugs, the users now get into other criminal activities like armed robbery, house breaking and rape. There have also been incidences of murder which were linked to excessive use of alcohol and other drugs, especially dagga. There is no doubt that these crimes are committed under the influence of drugs,” Snr Inspector Mphōhla said.

Snr Inspector Mphōhla said the alcohol abuse has also resulted in the increase in road traffic accidents.

“Young people are consuming alcohol at an alarming rate. They drink all night in their so-called sit-ins (social gatherings) and in clubs and then drive around in their intoxicated, fatigued state which results into avoidable accidents and deaths,” he said.

Snr Inspector Mphōhla said that there have been unconfirmed reports that foreigners from other African countries were the suppliers of some of the drugs.

“We have heard that some of the suppliers of these drugs are foreigners from other African countries,” Senior Inspector Mphōhla said.

He said the police have now lined up operations to search for illegal drugs and to also drive out criminals from their hideouts, among them-abandoned houses.

“There are a lot of abandoned houses in the Thetsena area which the criminals use as their hideouts and we are conducting operations to drive them out. We have even engaged the chiefs from surrounding villages to call on owners of the abandoned houses to rehabilitated them and upgrade their security. We want to implement sound control measures to try all means possible to eliminate criminal activities.

“We have even asked the chiefs to request that people who wish to rent houses in the Thetsane area produce proof of residence from their places of origin and to also produce police clearance that proves that they have never engaged in criminal activities.

“We want to use all possible means to eradicate crime in this area. Ha Thetsane is a very challenging area because it has a high concentration of people due to the textile industries. It is important therefore that we fight crime as best as we can,” Snr Inspector Mphōhla said.

He said that the police have also enrolled several young people from the area into recreational activities that include choir and sports to keep them away from idling on the streets. He however, could not immediately provide the statistics of the youths whom they have worked with.

Snr Inspector Mphōhla also expressed gratitude to the business community in the Thetsane area for their support in providing resources for the police.

“We appreciate the support from the local businesses. We have received a seven-roomed extension on our station from a local businessman which makes the police more efficient. We have also received a hall from another local businessman which is now ready for use,” Senior Inspector Mphōhla said.

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Mohalenyane Phakela

THE Indian government has set aside about M67 million for the construction of a vocational school in Lesotho which is expected to commence next year.

The Indian High Commissioner to South Africa and Lesotho, Ruchira Kamboj, told the media at a Maseru hotel that the vocational school was one of the major projects which her country would assist the country with from 2019 onwards.

Ms Kamboj her country is committed to assisting Lesotho in various development projects as demonstrated by the vocational school which is coming after the launch of the Lerotholi Polytechnic technology centre last year.

“India is committed to assisting Lesotho in various development ways and the vocational school for women and youth will be another huge project following the information technology centre at Lerotholi Polytechnic we launched last year in November,” Ms Kamboj said.

“It is going to be a very significant project worth USD4, 7 million (about M67 million) and since the construction equipment is already in the country, we are hopeful the construction will start next year.

“However, it is not yet clear as to which location will be used for the construction of the new vocational institution.”

Ms Kamboj, who is based in Pretoria, further indicated that her visit to the country was to also to discuss with different government sectors other possible ways of development.

“Since my arrival two days ago I have met with officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education, Health and Agriculture to discuss ways in which we could further strengthen the ties between the two countries.

“India is already exporting pharmaceuticals to Lesotho but I also learnt that the health sector was in serious need of specialists and we also talked about the shortage of ambulances. These and other projects in agriculture are some of the things we will look into in 2019 which means it is going to be a big year for both India and Lesotho.

“Each year India also offers scholarships to Basotho in various sectors of technology, defence, medicine and agriculture among others and we are hopeful that Basotho will continue to utilise the scholarships effectively,” she said.

Ms Kamboj’s first visit to Lesotho was in November 2017 when she officially handed over the information technology facility at Lerotholi Polytechnic and further donated 500 metric tonnes of rice to Lesotho.

Ms Kamboj also indicated that India would continue to invest in other developments upon the request by Lesotho’s government.

She applauded the community work which was been done by the Indian Association of Lesotho (IAL) among the vulnerable communities around the country.

For his part, the IAL President, Biju Abraham Korah, said as part of the community in Lesotho, they strive to help the vulnerable in any way possible.

“We do a lot of charity work, mostly in rural areas where there are large numbers of vulnerable people. There are no medical facilities in most rural areas therefore we have started with free medical camps which we host quarterly but then we are hopeful that with the support of the government, we will get to construct clinics.

“From last year only we have given out 25 scholarships to students in high schools and we also have 150 children in Kolonyama whom we assist with basic needs. We also visit different orphanages across the country to make donations.

“Apart from that, we try to integrate with Basotho through initiatives such as the annual International Food, Trade and Fun Fair Festival, cultural performances during the India Day and also the National Cricket Tournament which is currently ongoing,” Mr Korah said.

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Mohalenyane Phakela 

THE Minister of Health, Nkaku Kabi, has pleaded with the Chinese government to double the number of doctors they send to Lesotho each year.

Mr Kabi made the plea during the farewell of the 12^th Chinese Medical Team which was deployed in Lesotho from October last year. The reception which was held at the Chinese Embassy in Maseru on Monday also served as the welcome ceremony for the 13^th medical team which will also spend a year of service in Lesotho.

Each year, China sends eight medical specialists to assist local doctors. The Chinese doctors are deployed at Motebang Hospital in Leribe from where they visit remote areas in the northern parts of the country such as Mokhotlong. They also donate groceries to the needy during their visits.

Since 1996, more than 150 Chinese doctors have been deployed to Lesotho to help in different hospitals.

The health minister commended the Chinese doctors for “a marvelous job” in bridging the human resource shortage in the health sector and further pleaded for more doctors to increase the reach in the rural areas effectively.

“We have worked closely with the outgoing team and they have noted that there are some places which are hard to reach where the sick sometime take long to travel to medical centers on horseback,” Mr Kabi said.

“The medical teams are doing a sterling job at Motebang Hospital by even bringing forth new healing techniques from the Chinese traditional medicine. However, life is not that hard in the urban areas like Hlotse as patients are able to get medical attention easily.

“Lesotho’s doctor-patient ratio is so bad that I am even ashamed to say it publicly hence I am pleading with the Chinese government through this embassy to boost the number of doctors It would be quite helpful if the team could be boosted by at least doubling the number of doctors sent each year.”

Mr Kabi also lobbied for the extension for each team’s stay saying Chinese doctors take time to adapt to the Basotho lifestyle due to cultural differences and by the time they are used to it and excel in their job, their stay period would soon lapse.

The outgoing medical team’s leader, Xu Xunhua applauded the dedication of his team which he said was able to treat over 20 000 patients during their one year stay in the Leribe district.

He said they also successfully performed 1178 operations, treated 8348 outpatients, treated 86 emergencies, performed 4618 acupunctures, 513 anesthesia, 2400 ultra-sound scans, 3600 x-ray scans and 137 electrocardiograms.

“The 12^th Chinese Medical Team has diagnosed and treated over 20 000 patients throughout the year and for the first time in Motebang, a perineal IV-degree laceration repair was conducted. Huang Huan and Yin Xianqin co-operated and successfully performed the first vulva malformation correction and the first cervical cerclage in the second trimester of pregnancy.

“The medical team has effectively treated patients at every task, leading to improvement of diagnosis and treatment of the hospital. The team has further carried out one-week medical services tour for four times in the rural areas of Lesotho, treating more than 1 500 patients, bringing the leading expertise, giving local medical workers lectures based on topics, skills training, surgery demonstrations and teaching local doctors to improve their competence.

“The team was further conducted several healings using traditional Chinese medical methods such as using pins in acupuncture treatments,” Dr Xunhua said.

The leader of the incoming 13^th Chinese Medical Team, Li Jin, said that his team was ready and dedicated to save as many lives as possible.

“The 13^th Chinese Medical Team brings forth specialists in Chinese traditional medicine, surgeons, gaenacologists and radiologists. We will not be afraid of any hardships as the aim of flying down here for more than hours is to ensure that we save lives. Our mandate is to contribute towards the health of Basotho and further strengthen the ties between China and Lesotho,” he said.

For his part, the Charge d’Affaires ad interim and Political Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, Song Changqing, said that the Chinese Medical teams have for more than 20 years not only brought services but skills share as well.

“China sent the first medical team in 1996 as a friendly gesture to their Basotho friends. A year is not a long time but the 12^th medical team has done a lot as indicated by its leader. They worked in cooperation with Motebang Hospital doctors to treat patients while also hosting skills transfer workshops in remote areas.

“They have dedicated their time here in Lesotho leaving their families for a 12-months period and others even endured the pain of losing their loved ones back at home while they were on duty.

“Their contribution has added to a legacy of China-Lesotho friendship. China fully understands challenges faced by Lesotho in helping its people as a developing country hence its commitment to help. To date, more than 60 doctors and nurses have undergone training in China while the Chinese government has further pledged M400 million towards the construction of Maseru Hospital and Eye Centre. China seeks and will continue to be a mutual development friend to Lesotho,” Mr Changqing said.

Lesotho has a serious lack of medical practitioners and spends millions annually to send patients to South Africa and recently, India for specialist treatment.

A team of doctors from Apollo Hospital, in India visited the country in April this to assist the government in its fight against non-communicable diseases like cancer and kidney ailments.

Apollo Hospital is India’s leading specialist hospital with more than 5000 doctors that offer the best modern healthcare.

The team focused on the improvement of cancer and renal services whose unavailability has compromised the health of Basotho.

The Ministry of Health’s Director General, Nyane Letsie, told the Lesotho Times that the doctors will now periodically help Lesotho with cancer and renal services which are not available at the national referral hospital, the Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH).

“The doctors visited our government hospitals where they looked into our structures and identified patients that will need to be flown to India for cancer and renal treatment,” Dr Letsie said in April.

The Ministry of Health has also in recent months engaged South Africa-based Basotho specialist doctors on a part time basis as part of efforts of reducing the referral of patients to the neighbouring country and to improve the overall health delivery system in the country.

Talks on the proposed engagement of the South Africa-based doctors commenced between the two parties during their joint tour of Mafeteng Hospital in July.

The post Kabi pleads for more Chinese doctors appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Herbert Moyo

LETŠENG Diamonds continued with its impressive run of recovering high quality diamonds, with the latest find being a 357-carat light brown diamond from its mine in Mokhotlong.

Gem Diamonds, which owns 70 percent of Letšeng Diamonds with the remainder held by the government, recently released a statement announcing the latest find.

“A 357-carat light brown high-quality diamond has been recovered from Letšeng, which is the 13th diamond of over 100 carats to be recovered in 2018,” the company reported this week.

The latest diamond discovery comes after another huge find of a 138-carat top white colour Type IIa diamond in August this year.

Before that the company had also recovered a 115-carat stone in May this year.

The finds are the latest in the long line of impressive performances by the Letšeng Mine which also saw the recovery of a 910-carat diamond in January this year.

The 910-carat diamond, which was christened the ‘Lesotho Legend,’ was sold for a staggering US$40 million (M520 million) at an auction in Antwerp in Belgium in March this year.

Letšeng has also recovered a high-value 117 carat diamond and a 110 carat Type IIa diamond this year.

The robust trend continues from that of last year when a 115-carat diamond was recovered in September.

In June 2017, the mine recovered two large diamonds one a high-quality 104.73 carat, D-colour Type IIa diamond and the other a 151.52 carat Type I yellow diamond.

Before that in May 2017, the mine recovered a high-quality 80 carat, D colour Type II diamond, while in April it recovered a 114 carat, D colour Type II diamond of exceptional quality.

There have however, been concerns that despite the huge finds, Lesotho does not realise significant revenue inflows from the sales of its diamonds.

For instance, the government only realised US$3, 2 million (about M46 million) for the sale of the 910-carat diamond that was recovered at the Letšeng Mine in January this year.

This is despite the fact that the diamond, which has been dubbed ‘The Lesotho Legend’, is the fifth largest ever recovered in the world and it went on to fetch a whooping US$40 million (about half a billion maloti) at an auction in Antwerp in Belgium.

Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro told this publication in May this year that although Lesotho would occasionally make massive diamond finds including the ‘Lesotho Legend’, unfavourable contracts that the successive governments negotiated with the mining companies negatively impacted on the earnings that accrued to the state.

He said although the government had negotiated for 10 percent royalties from the sale of diamonds, the state was often forced to settle for as low as eight percent as was the case with the ‘Lesotho Legend’. He said this was because mining companies often pleaded with government to accept a lower percentage in royalties, citing operational costs which reduced their profit margins.

The post Another massive gem recovered at Letšeng appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Pascalinah Kabi

THE High Court yesterday released prominent Mokhotlong wool and mohair farmer Khotsang Moshoeshoe, who was recently arrested for allegedly contravening Sections 23, 74 and 84 of the Penal Code Act of 2010 which criminalise behaviour that breaches the public peace.

Three weeks ago, Mr Moshoeshoe barred Minister Mapesela for closing some shearing plants as part of the government’s crusade to force wool and mohair farmers to adhere to the Agricultural Marketing (Wool and Mohair Licensing) Regulations of 2018 which have roundly criticised and resisted by the farmers.

The regulations forbid anyone to trade in wool and mohair without a licence obtained from the Ministry of Small Business, Cooperatives and Marketing.

Mr Moshoeshoe was filmed having an altercation with Trade and Industry Tefo Mapesela and was arrested a fortnight ago.

Mr Moshoeshoe was released on bail a day after the High Court declared that his detention at the Mokhotlong Police Station was unlawful.

“Ntate Moshoeshoe appeared before the Mokhotlong Magistrate Court today (yesterday) and was released on M2000 bail. However, he stills remains at the hospital,” a close family member told this publication yesterday.

Mr Moshoeshoe spent most of his detention at the hospital after he fell ill following his arrest. He was released yesterday falling a High Court order that he be released from the police detention.

“A rule nisi be and it is hereby issued and returnable on the 22^nd October 2018 court calling upon the respondents to show cause why an order in these terms shall not be made absolute; that the applicant be allowed to more freely to South Africa to seek medical treatment at his own personal expense,” read the interdict issued by High Court judge ‘Maseshophe Hlajoane.

Alternatively, Justice Hlajoane ordered that the applicant be taken to South Africa to seek medical treatment at the expense of the state if his detection is continued.

She also declared Mr Moshoeshoe’s police detention from 2 to 8 October 2018 unlawful and that “subsequent upon granting of prayer c) the applicant be released from police detention”.

Mr Moshoeshoe, who was arrested and detained at the police station on 2 October, stands accused of contravening Sections 23, 74 and 84 of the Penal Code Act of 2010 which criminalise behaviour that breaches the public peace.

Section 23, subsection of the Penal Code states that “a person who counsels, procures or incites another to do any act or make any such omission of such a nature that if the act were done or the omis­sion were made, an offence would thereby be committed, commits an offence”.

Section 76 (1) stipulates that “a person who, with a number of other people, come together in an unlawful gathering with the intention of defying or subverting the authority of the government of Lesotho… commits an offence of sedition.

Section 84 states that “a person who, in a public place, uses obscene, abusive, threatening or insulting words or behaviour or otherwise conducts himself with intent to pro­voke a breach of the peace or in such a manner that a breach of the peace is com­mitted or likely to be committed, commits an offence”.

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Mohalenyane Phakela

THE government will soon act on ghost workers that are burdening the civil service wage bill, the Ministry of Public Service has said.

However, the government only know the number of ghost workers burdening its already strained finances after an analysis of the information that is being collated through the ongoing biometric and Public Service payroll census.

The biometric and payroll census, which is being conducted by the ministry of Public Service, started in Maseru, Berea, Mafeteng, Leribe and Mohale’s Hoek in July this year. It is currently ongoing in the remaining districts of Mokhotlong, Thaba Tseka, Quthing, Qacha’s Nek and Butha Buthe.

By the 9^th of this month, 38 302 civil servants out of the 50 237 on the government’s payroll had been counted along with 2071 of the 3126 pensioners.

Ministry of Public Service assistant public relations officer, Mamakhoa Molapo, recently told the Lesotho Times that it was still early to tell how many of the already counted civil servants are ghost workers.

“Currently we are just counting those who bring forth the national identification documents (IDs) and qualifications as requested and those without IDs have been excluded,” Ms Molapo said.

“Other groups of civil servants who have not been counted in the areas we have already been to include those that are on different forms of leave. When the process ends this month-end, we will further give those who were not counted an opportunity to bring forth their documents for verification. Failure to do so, we will stop their salary payments and if one still does not appear, we will consider such a person a ghost worker.

“Furthermore, we will also sit down with the relevant ministries to analyse the collected data, mostly verifying if the unfound persons are really ghost workers. It is only after that when we can tell how many ghost workers we discovered.”

Ms Molapo said after the analysis of the information, they will then engage the police and hand over the information about the ghost workers to them.

“We will then hand over the information to the police to follow up on those unaccounted for. It will be an easy process to find people who have been receiving salaries illegally through their bank accounts and then they will face prosecutions,” she said.

Earlier this year, the government contracted a United Kingdom human resource company, Charlie Goldsmith Associates to engage in a four months programme to verify the public service wage bill and further assess the qualifications of the civil servants.

The census is being undertaken under the Public Sector Modernization Project funded by the World Bank to the tune of USD 1, 5 million (about M20.8 million).

Charlie Goldsmith Associates has since July this year been head counting all public officers and civil pensioners as well as identifying anomalies on the payroll. Preparatory work started in 2016 from which the census framework and communication strategies were developed.

While launching the process in July, the minister of Public Service, Joang Molapo, said the cabinet decided to engage in the study due to the worrying rate of “ghosts” who were being paid illegally by the government hence the high wage bill.

“The government has for a long time lamented the high rate of non-existent workers who are being paid.

“Some are either dead and still getting paid while some are registered multiple times under different identities. The objective is to extract a reputable image of the public service therefore, every person on the government payroll, including pensioners and chiefs, will be head-counted.

“Those who are found guilty of this fraud will face criminal charges. The United Kingdom company was contracted through an open tender and it won based on its merits. World Bank funded projects do not consider the origin of one as long as they are assured that they will deliver. Lesotho companies have worked in other countries as well under World Bank.

“The government also rests assured that the company which will be working with two local consultants, will deliver a sterling job. They also said that four months will be enough as they have done this kind of job before in other countries and already have an estimate of the number of people they expect to be on the government payroll,” Mr Molapo said in July.

The government has since June this year been in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a financial bailout to boost its foreign currency reserves, a request which the Bretton Woods Institution turned down owing to Lesotho’s huge civil service wage bill.

After the IMF’s engagement with the Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro and other government representatives from 23 August to 5 September this year, the institution predicated the granting of a bailout package on the government’s ability to craft and implement prudent policy measures.

“Significant progress was made during the visit and discussions will continue in the coming weeks. If agreement is reached on policy measures…an arrangement to support Lesotho’s economic programme could be proposed for the IMF Executive Board’s consideration,” the IMF said last month.

The IMF-prescribed policy measures are expected to result in among other things, the reduction of Lesotho’s huge public wage bill, described by the IMF as “one of the largest in the world compared to the size of the economy”.

The IMF has also demanded that the government embarks on cost-cutting initiatives that will enable savings from the reduction on trips by government officials as well as reforms to ensure efficient public finance management.

In 2014, the government’s wage bill was said to be 23 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, the highest in the region.

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Mohalenyane Phakela

HUMAN rights body, Development for Peace Education (DPE), has chided Prime Minister Thomas Thabane for his recent comments supporting the torture of criminal suspects.

The body said it also wants the government to denounce the police over rampant brutality and take extreme measures on the perpetrators.

The DPE’s peace education researcher, Thaabe ‘Moso, told the Lesotho Times this week that they were concerned over the escalating cases of civilians being tortured — others to death — while in police custody or rather shooting to kill civilians during the police’s operations.

Dr Thabane recently told supporters of his All Basotho Convention (ABC) at a Masianokeng rally that criminal should be “pinched”.

“I urge them (thieves) to stop stealing forth-with,” Dr Thabane said at the rally.

“I am going to make it a point that anyone who steals from others faces the repercussions. Any Mosotho man who steals from another shall be pinched with tongs in his most sensitive areas and that shall not be done by me but by those who know how to do that. I declare curfew against any form of theft.”

And this week Mr ‘Moso said that Dr Thabane was wrong to have supported the torture of suspects.

“Police brutality has always been in existence but the problem now is having our Prime Minister who is aware of such brutality but continues to publicly make statements to perpetuate such behaviour,” Mr ‘Muso said.

“He cannot make such statements in this fragile environment. The government needs to stand up and address the issue.”

Mr ‘Muso said that they are worried by the government’s reluctance to act against police officers who have been implicated in the torture and deaths of civilians in the hands of the police.

“We have noted with great concern the ongoing police brutality and sadly the government, especially the minister of police and the commissioner of police, whom we greatly expect to act on the concerned officers.

“As much as we try to follow up on some cases to ensure that they are taken to court, some remain unattended to because they would be out of our scope. The other reason for which these brutalities continue to escalate is because the police officers protect each other. One would rather be transferred to another area and continue to work as if nothing has happened rather than face the consequences of his actions.

“The police complaints unit only makes recommendations on cases regarding police officers which means they are not binding.

“It is time we see less talk but action to strengthen the police complaints unit to have powers to take matters to court. We do not have to wait for reforms to stop brutality but action by government. The army has shown the way so we are expecting the commissioner of police to follow suit,” Mr ‘Moso said.

Contacted for comment, Commissioner of Police, Holomo Molibeli, rubbished the allegations saying the police take brutality issues seriously up to prosecution.

“It is my sole responsibility to ensure that we keep a clean image of the police force. Our duty is to protect the people and not hurt them. We investigate cases where people are tortured while in police custody and take legal action on officers who are found on the wrong side of the law. There are several cases where officers have been before the caught.

“Officers who are being investigated are transferred to other areas to move them from where they offended people while their cases are being addressed. It is not to protect such officers but to allow smooth processes.

“We are not quiet about this issue and last week I was on radio to talk about police brutality which is a great concern to us. There is no law that gives us power to judge but to protect the basic human rights,” Compol Molibeli said.

Government spokesperson Nthakeng Selinyane also rubbished Mr ‘Muso assertions and said Dr Thabane was referring to violent criminals in his Masianokeng speech and had also not issued an official directive for suspects to be tortured.

“That is nonsensical because the PM was explicitly speaking about suspects of violent crimes and his was never a formal directive but political rhetoric…everyone knows that,” Mr Selinyane said.

The police have been under fire for torturing suspects to extract confessions, a practice that has led to deaths and litigations for the force.

Earlier this year, the Minister of Police, retired Senior Superintendent ‘Mampho Mokhele, admitted publicly that the police uses illegal methods including torture to extract confessions from suspects.

The Minister of Police, retired Senior Superintendent ‘Mampho Mokhele, made the revelation at a ceremony where the LMPS was presented with forensic equipment which was donated by the Algerian government.

Speaking at the same occasion, Ms Mokhele who served as a police officer for 37 years, admitted that the police sometimes resorted to torture in order to extract information from suspects.

She however, said she hoped the donation would go a long way in removing the need for torture as the police could now use it to determine whether or not a suspect had been involved in the commission of a crime.

“We as the police are often forced to use violence to get information out of people because at times we would be sure that the suspect committed the crime but due to lack of tangible evidence we have to use force,” Ms Mokhele said.

Two months ago, a Government Printers employee was allegedly tortured by the police after his arrest in connection with the leaking of a government gazette which announced the appointment of South African judge Justice Yvonne Mokgoro as acting president of the Court of Appeal.

The suspect, Mohau Lebajoa, yesterday appeared before the Magistrate court over the leaking of the government gazette. Senior Resident Magistrate Phethise Motanyane released Lebajoa on bail. He advised Lebajoa to adhere to the bail conditions which include appearing in court for remands and refraining from interfering with witnesses.

Lebajoa is accused of contravening Section 4 subsection 1 (a) of official Secrets Act No. 36 of 1967 in that he prematurely leaked a government gazette which was due for publication. He is accused of leaking the gazette to Assistant Superintendent Ramahetlane Percy Bereng, an officer at the Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS).

The leaked government gazette was used by three prominent lawyers as the basis for their successful March 2018 lawsuit against the appointment of Justice ‘Maseshophe Hlajoane as the acting Court of Appeal President.

Asst-Supt Bereng subsequently fled from the police headquarters while awaiting his turn to be questioned. He alleged that he had fled in fear of being tortured after seeing that Mr Lebajoa had been tortured by police during his interrogation.

At the time, Mr Lebajoa was detained by the police for questioning. He was released on the next day after his lawyer, Advocate Qhalehang Letsika, filed an urgent application for his release.

According to the court papers filed for Lebajoa’s release, his brother Retšelisitsoe Lebajoa said that he (Mohau Lebajoa) was tortured by the police during his interrogation.

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Pascalinah Kabi

BUTHA-BUTHE — Outspoken All Basotho Convention (ABC) legislator, Nyapane Kaya, has refuted allegations that he is on the verge of joining the Movement for Economic Change (MEC).

The Mechachane Constituency legislator spoke to the Lesotho Times on the sidelines of an ABC rally in the Butha-Buthe constituency on Sunday after he was spotted standing in the crowd with ordinary party members wearing ABC regalia and a blue and white cap bearing a Ministry of Home Affairs logo.

Mr Kaya’s comments come on the back of speculation that he was on the verge of deserting the ABC for the MEC.

Mr Kaya was in February this year relieved of his Health Minister post by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane having served from the inception of the ruling coalition in June last year.

Four months ago, Mr Kaya attacked the ABC-led coalition government for reneging on its promises to uproot corruption.

He told this publication that he was “frustrated that the government which was elected into power for its promises to uproot corruption is no longer practicing what it preached”.

He said that it would not be easy to eliminate corruption because of what he described as the many hypocrites in the government. Mr Kaya said he was not afraid of any consequences or disciplinary action from his party.

He vowed he would continue speaking out against the failures of his party and the government. He rejected any suggestions that he was sulking after he was fired from his post in a cabinet reshuffle in February 2018. He said his firing from his ministerial post had in fact freed him to serve his country more.  Mr Kaya said he was speaking because he genuinely believed that his party and its coalition partners had reneged on their promises to rid Lesotho of corruption.

And on Sunday, Mr Kaya said that he was in the ABC to stay and he was working hard to ensure that the party retraces its steps to its founding principles of fighting corruption and delivering services.

“It has never come to my mind to leave ABC,” Mr Kaya said.

“I have never thought of leaving ABC. People should not confuse the understanding that seems to be there between me and the MEC leader (Selibe Mochoboroane) as an indication that I am defecting to MEC.

“I have to say that he (Mr Mochoboroane) has never even hinted that he would want me to join him and the best I know is that every time we talk, we talk about the country and not so much about the party politics. I am not going to MEC.”

Mr Kaya also spoke about the ongoing fights in the ABC and said says he has previously seen similar situations obtaining in his former party, the Basotho Congress Party (BCP).

“I was in the BCP and I watched with pain when things derailed from the necessary path in the BCP and I see similar signs today in the ABC,” Mr Kaya said.

He said he was not going to sit down and watch with folded arms as his party derails from its founding principles. Mr Kaya said he would work with the electorate to help the ABC find its path by ensuring the party retains Mechachane constituency in the next elections.

“My mission right now is to work hard within the ABC to ensure that ABC does not meet the similar fate as the BCP because that is the party (BCP) that introduced me to the politics. The BCP that talked about people coming together, (establishing) self-help (programmes) and all that and ABC came with almost the same concept when it comes to meeting our livelihoods and I now wouldn’t want to see the ABC facing the similar fate that BCP faced,” Mr Kaya said.

He said he was working hard in his constituency to grow the following of the ABC.

“I am working very hard. I would not probably make noise that I am working very hard but if anyone wants to understand how much I am working, they should go to my constituency to see for themselves. I am working very hard to ensure that ABC grows and also to ensure that the party keeps its line of political philosophy and that is exactly what I am doing in my constituency right now because as I said I would not want ABC facing the similar face as the BCP.”

Asked why he was not seating with his fellow peers at the Very Important People (VIP) section, Mr Kaya said that he recently found himself identifying with the ordinary, saying it was the only way he would fully understand problems on the ground.

“Of late I find myself identifying with the ordinary people and at the same time, I don’t want to give an impression that on that particular day at Quthing (ABC sabbatical conference on 25 August 2018) I was among the people simply because I wanted to insinuate something. I sat with the ordinary members on that day because I wanted to be with my people and it has happened even today and no matter the situation, I will still be with my people and I think basically those are the two reasons you spotted me amongst the crowd,” Mr Kaya said.

Asked if he sat with the crowd because he was unhappy within the ABC, the former Minister of Health said his resolve to sit and stand with the ordinary members at the party functions was inspired by a quest to fully appreciate problems facing the country.

He said that legislators and other leaders could only be in a position to fully comprehend problems on the ground if they identified with the people. He said he would work hard to ensure that he does not fall prey to the syndrome of leaders who only identify with their followers during election time.

“It is not really that (I am not happy within the ABC) but that more and more, even in the constituency, I want to be with the people and among the ordinary people. With the problems that are facing the ABC and the country, I think when a leader is among the people that is when he or she really appreciates the real depth and breadth of their problems.

“I am aware that time is fast moving and the promises we made during the elections have not been fulfilled and as such I don’t want to identify with the elite who to a large extent, some of them, do not seem to be close to understanding and caring about the problems that are facing the people,” Mr Kaya said.

He said that they were faced with serious incidences of corruption and complaints of poor service delivery.

“Individually I felt that I needed to identify more with my people and where possible, come up with my own programmes to assist my people to ensure that they are happy that they voted me into parliament,” he said.

Mr Kaya served as Minister of Health at the inception of the Thomas Thabane-led four party coalition government in June 2017 until he was axed in a cabinet reshuffle in February 2018.

He is the second senior ABC member to suggest the ABC had deviated from its electoral promises after the suspended party’s chairperson, Motlohi Maliehe, launched a blistering attack on First Lady Maesaiah Thabane accusing her of exerting undue interference in party and government affairs.

Mr Maliehe accused Ms Thabane of violating the constitution and “abetting corruption” by instigating the removal of ministers who refused to comply with her demands.

Incidentally, Mr Kaya was named by Mr Maliehe as the minister who was removed from his post at the First Lady’s instigation after he (Mr Kaya) refused to unlawfully award the ministry’s laundry and catering tenders to Ms Thabane’s preferred candidates.

Mr Maliehe, who has since been suspended as party chairperson for his attacks on Ms Thabane, has indicated that he has nothing to fear and insisted that he stands by all his comments.

Similarly, Mr Kaya told this publication that he was “not scared at all” and he would continue to speak out and fight corruption regardless of the status of the person committing or condoning it. Mr Kaya was first linked to joining the Democratic Congress (DC), allegations he said were “just a smear campaign orchestrated by those who think that people like me should not speak up against corruption”.

The post I am not leaving ABC-Kaya appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Pascalinah Kabi

STAFFERS and clients at the Consulate of Lesotho in Welkom, South Africa were on Tuesday allegedly locked out of the consulate office as a result of the government’s failure to pay rentals over several months.

This publication further heard that the consulate’s financial woes stem from the fact it does not have a budget allocation of its own from government and it is entirely dependent on the Consulate General of Lesotho in Johannesburg.

The failure to pay rent is just one of the several challenges facing the consulate which is also struggling to pay staff salaries and fund its operations.

Although the Consular at the Welkom consulate, Kutloano Lerothe denied they had been thrown out of the premises, some staffers as well as employees of Barbour & Thorne Property Professionals who own the property confirmed the developments.

The real estate company’s employees however, refused to say how much they were owed and for how long.

“I can also confirm that we are in negotiations with the staff at the Johannesburg office to see how they can settle the rental arears,” said one Barbour & Thorne employee who identified himself as Murray.

“They (the Consulate General of Lesotho in Johannesburg) need to come up with a payment plan.”

In a separate interview, Mr Lerothe denied that they were locked out of office over their failure to pay rentals. He also denied that there were ongoing negotiations over the arrears.

However, sources within the consulate insisted that they were locked out of the Welkom offices over the failure to pay rentals that had accumulated over several months.

“We started work at 830 am as we normally do and shortly after opening our offices, officials from the property company came and locked us out. They demanded that we settle the arrears or be locked out of the office.

“We are in this situation because we don’t have budget of our own. We are entirely dependent on what we get from (the Consulate General in) Johannesburg and it is never enough to cover all of our costs. Sometimes our salaries are not paid due to lack of funds,” one source said.

Deferred Pay Lesotho Consulate Welkom chairperson Ramahlokoane Tlali yesterday corroborated the source’s story, telling this publication that he learnt of the closure of the offices shortly after he had left the consulate.

“Mr Lerothe and I had scheduled meeting with an important guest at the consulate for Monday morning but when that meeting was cancelled, I left the consulate. Shortly afterwards, at about 9am, I received a phone call that Barbour & Thorne had locked the consulate office over the failure to pay rentals.

“I immediately called the consular (Mr Lerothe) who confirmed that the offices had been locked and that they were making arrangements to resolve the matter.

“He (Mr Lerothe) said that he was negotiating with the estate company but it was difficult for him because there was nothing he was bringing to the table. He is entirely dependent on Consulate General of Lesotho in Johannesburg for funds,” Mr Tlali said.

Mr Tlali said that Mr Lerothe was operating under a challenging financial situation. He said the consulate’s financial situation was so dire that it sometimes failed to pay staff salaries.

He further said the consulate had a fuel debt and it had been forced to park its vehicles because it had run out of fuel. The consulate also owed unpaid water bills, Mr Tlali added.

He said that the temporary closure of the consulate had left thousands of Basotho living in Welkom stranded because they could not access services such as assistance in repatriating the bodies of the deceased relatives.

The consulate also assists Basotho in Welkom and nearby areas in instances of wrongful arrest and detention in South African prisons.

When pressed on Mr Tlali, assertions, Mr Lerothe admitted owing rent but stuck to his story that the consulate had not been closed over the arrears.

“It is true that I was with him (Mr Tlali) yesterday morning and it is true that he later called me. I told him that I locked the (consular) office because I was in a meeting with the owners of the building to discuss rentals. I didn’t say we were locked out of the office, we were never locked out of the office.

“What happened is that when people saw the padlock and all of us leaving the office, they assumed that the office was locked by the landlord to prevent staffers from entering the building,” Mr Lerothe said, adding the consulate had only failed to pay the October 2018 rent on time.

“We pay the rent on the first day of every month but it was not paid this month. We have our own budget but our money is handled by the (Consulate General in) Johannesburg because we don’t have our own bank account.

“We operate as a sub-branch to Johannesburg and they had not transferred the money for rental but they didn’t because they were busy. On Tuesday, they transferred money to us and we immediately paid the rent,” Mr Lerothe said.

He said the allegations that they had been locked out persisted because even he later locked the office after being called to St Helena where there had been gunfight between two groups of Basotho allegedly working at the illegal mines.

He said one person believed to be a Mosotho died in the shootout while other gang members fled the scene of crime.

Mr Lerothe also refuted allegations that the consulate had failed to pay staff salaries, water and communication bills.

The post Welkom consulate locked out over rentals appeared first on Lesotho Times.

Limpho Sello

HEALTH Minister Nkaku Kabi yesterday launched a blistering attack on the country’s only referral hospital, Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital, accusing its management of working to tarnish government’s image.

Mr Kabi said government would not hesitate to take the war to the doorstep of the referral hospital, commonly referred to Tšepong, to ensure that the lives of Basotho were protected.

His remarks came barely a week after the hospital announced that it would only admit patients with life threatening conditions or attend to emergencies until further notice.

Tšepong further stated that it will no longer facilitate non-emergency referrals to Bloemfontein, South Africa and that patients who need treatment in Bloemfontein will be referred directly by the Ministry of Health.

However, Mr Kabi accused Tšepong of being “attention seekers” who only released the statement to divert the negative publicity it had been receiving to the Ministry of Health when in actual fact, the hospital had failed in its mandate of delivering quality services to Basotho.

“Our suspicion is that they are closing these (hospital) wards to cause mayhem and divert the attention to the Ministry of Health,” Mr Kabi said.

“We have a contract with Tšepong which they have been failing to comply with.

“As per our agreement with Tšepong, we have public wards which are subsidised by the government and the private wards which are supposed to be run by Tšepong who should incur all the risks and finances.

“They (Tšepong) have been avoiding to run the private wards at their own expense and only opened them to the public so that government can pay them. They then kept reminding us that the opening of the private wards to the public would result in costs to the government yet they were never supposed to be opened to the public in the first place.”

Mr Kabi said although there were ongoing talks aimed at finding long-lasting solutions to the challenges at the hospital, it was wrong for Tšepong to announce that they closed the private wards to comply with the original agreement with the government.

He said the hospital authorities erred when they said that the Ministry of Health had called for the closure of the private wards when they knew very well that they should have operated such wards at their own expense.

“We are simply referring to the contract which was supposed to be followed. Tšepong need to be clear about the private wards.

“Tšepong is also expected to perform other special health services or operations but it fails to perform such services and refer patients to Bloemfontein.

“Tšepong is supposed to refer patients at its own expense because the expectation is that if they fail or lack the expertise they are supposed to have, they should not bill us for the costs of such referrals. The contract clearly states that it is their responsibility to source those services.

“Besides this we had a gentleman’s agreement with them to assist us with logistical arrangements for the referrals of cancer renal and plastic surgery patients while we bore the costs. If they are abandoning that arrangement, we are ready to take over as the responsibility has always been ours but only used them for convenience. We will use our ambulance or we will outsource to a private ambulance company and pay them to carry out the work.”

He said the ministry was still waiting to take delivery of the equipment it had ordered so that they can attend patients at chosen regional hospitals such as the Motebang Hospital and Mafeteng Hospitals. He said when that happens Tšepong would be used only in emergencies.

“Ours is to wait for the medical equipment to arrive, they should close their private wards and we should close Tšepong. We should beef up our system and see how they will survive without any referrals because they have failed to do what they are supposed to do.”

He accused Tšepong of acting the way it did out of the knowledge that it took a long time to resolve disputes in the courts of law.

For her part, the Director General in the Ministry of Health, Nyane Letsie, said they were not fighting Tšepong but wanted it to remain a tertiary hospital.

“We are working towards a point where there will be three hospitals that are going to be used as regional hospitals,” she said.

The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mole Khumalo, said they met with doctors and nurses from hospitals around the country on Tuesday who pledged to assist the government to ensure that patients were not adversely affected by the developments at Tšepong.

Contacted for comment, Tšepong Public Relations Officer Mothepane Thahane said they would be grateful if the government took over the provision of health services at some of the regional hospitals.

Ms Thahane said they are ready to share any information and render any assistance that would be required to ensure the ministry succeeded in the provision of services.

She further said she was in no position to engage in a spat with Mr Kabi as she had so much respect for him as the Minister of Health.

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Staff Writer

LUCAPA Diamond Company says it is commencing full scale diamond mining at its Mothae Mine in Mokhotlong and expects to make its first commercial diamond recoveries early next month.

Mothae Mine is located close to the high dollar-per carat gem producer, Letšeng Diamonds in Mokhotlong. It was put up for sale by the government in February 2016 after prospective buyer, Paragon Diamonds Limited, failed to secure the requisite funding within the given time frame.

In April 2017, the government awarded mining rights to the Australia-based Lucapa Diamond Company to develop the mine which had been idle since 2015. It cost Lucapa US$9 million to acquire a 70 percent stake in the Mothae Mine. The government owns the remaining 30 percent share in the mine.

In a statement to the Lesotho Times this week, Lucapa Diamonds said it was “pleased to announce that the commissioning of the 1.1Mtpa treatment plant has commenced at the high-quality Mothae Mine in Lesotho”.

“The first commercial diamond recoveries are expected from the Mothae Mine in early November 2018, complementing production from the high-quality Lulo Mine operated by Lucapa in Angola. Production from the 1.1Mtpa Mothae treatment plant, which incorporates two diamond recovery circuits, will be ramped up …throughout December.

“The commencement of production from the new 1.1Mtpa diamond treatment plant will see bulk sampling operations concluded and the staff transitioning to the commercial diamond plant. More than 4100 carats of diamonds have been recovered from the bulk sampling of areas within the Mothae kimberlite pipe which had not previously been tested or had been inadequately tested during the previous trial mining phase. These recoveries included specials (large diamonds greater than 10, 8 carats).”

Company documents seen by the Lesotho Times indicate that the trial mining at Mothae, since Lucapa took over, had produced more than 23 000 carats of diamonds with sales exceeding US$17 million.

This led Lucapa to draw up a development plan in October 2017, which outlines proposals to move into phased commercial production in the second half of this year.

Lucapa had budgeted US$17 million to commence Phase 1 of full-scale mining in 2018. Phase 1 of mining will run from 2018 to 2021.

The company documents further show that Lucapa secured an additional US$15 million (M195 million) financing loan to develop Phase 1 of the Mothae kimberlite diamond mining project.

Phase 1 is expected to generate gross revenue earnings of US$79, 6 million while Phase 2 which will run from 2022 to 2031 will generate gross revenue earnings of US$697 million.

Lucapa is expected to incur royalties and marketing costs of US$5, 6 million for Phase 1 and US$48, 8 million for Phase 2.

Operating costs for Phase 1 have been pegged at US34, 1 million while those for Phase 2 have been pegged at US$307, 8 million.

In a report published on 29 January 2018, Lucapa states that the company has a development plan for the mine which will “deliver significant increases in kimberlite extraction, targeted diamond revenues and mine life”.

“The US$15m financing facility was secured to advance Phase 1 development of the mine, which is on schedule for commissioning in the second half of 2018,” the company states in the report titled ‘Quarterly Activities Report for the period ended 31 December 2017.

This week, Lucapa said the diamond recoveries during the trial mining period had since risen to 23 400 carats including specials of up to 254 carats.

The company also revealed that the first parcel of the Mothae bulk sampling diamonds has already been exported to Antwerp, Belgium and “Lucapa plans to export the remainder of the bulk sampling diamonds to Antwerp, ahead of the first scheduled sale soon.”

“The recovery of these large diamonds from the bulk sampling program conducted by Lucapa at Mothae is consistent with the recoveries made during trial mining operations conducted between 2008 and 2012. Approximately 23 400 carats of diamonds were recovered during the trial mining phase, including specials of up to 254 carats (boart) and 96 individual stones weighing more than 10 carats. Some of these trial mining diamonds achieved sale prices of up to US$57 000 per carat,” Lucapa said.

The term ‘boart’ refers to small, granular, opaque diamonds, used as an abrasive in cutting tools.

The post Mothae begins commercial diamond mining appeared first on Lesotho Times.