Nthatuoa Koeshe

THE Ministry of Education and Training is battling to mobilise M54 million to pay gratuities it owes to 172 school principals that it engaged under the controversial Performance Contract in 2011.

This money was supposed to have been paid to the principals at the end of their five-year contracts in 2016. However, since then, the principals have been sent from pillar to post in an effort to get their gratuities which they expected as per the terms of their Performance Contract.

This type of contract was suspended in 2014 after the former seven parties’ coalition government realised that it would be costly to implement.

However, the Lesotho Principal Association (LEPSA), appealed for assistance from the Government Secretary, Moahloli Mphaka to push the Education ministry to honour their contractual obligations.

This comes after the principals withdrew their court case in 2017, when the new government came to power, in an effort to give them a chance to resolve the matter amicably.

LEPSA Public Relations Officer, Mathafeng Moteuli, said the decision to seek Mr Mphaka’s assistance was made after several meetings with the senior officials at the Ministry of Education as well as the Minister, Mokhele Moletsane, failed to yield results.

“The principals want to be paid their money, in line with their contracts. Apparently, it has become clear that the ministry is having challenges honouring its obligations. The principals submitted their proposal to the minister as per his request during one of the meetings. Minister Moletsane also promised to present the matter before Cabinet,” Mr Moteuli said.

He further explained that the once promising discussions went sour after the principals received information that the cabinet was not willing to pay the principals.

“The principals are not asking for pensions but the gratuities. We have sought the assistance of the Government Secretary,” he said.

Mr Mphaka referred the matter back to the Ministry of Education, saying the ministry was working on the issue after his communication with the Principal Secretary, Dr Thabiso Lebese.

“The principals are being impatient because there is no way they will not be given their money,” Mr Mphaka said, adding that, the Ministry of Education was working on raising the money.

“It is a lot of money but we need time to fix the turmoil left by the previous government, hence the need for them to exercise patience,” Mr Mphaka said.

Repeated efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Education, his deputy and the PS yesterday were fruitless.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

THE Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) has called for the establishment of a government of national unity and the release of detained former army Commander, Tlali Kamoli, as part of its pre-conditions for its participation in the multi-sectoral reforms.

The demands are contained in a letter written by the exiled LCD leader, Mothetjoa Metsing, on behalf of opposition party members in exile. The letter was written to South Africa President, Jacob Zuma, who is also the Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Also copied in the letter, dated 22 January 2018, are Prime Minister Thomas Thabane; the Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr Stergomena Tax; the Chairperson of the SADC Oversight Committee, Ambassador Matias Matondo; the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Christian Council of Lesotho.

The letter states conditions for the exiled opposition leaders’ return and participation in the constitutional, security, judicial and public sector reform process under SADC support.

In his letter, Mr Metsing also called on SADC to institute a forensic audit of the 2017 election outcome.

“We have approached the matter on the basic understanding that solutions to the problem of the Kingdom require appreciation of the unique historical, social and political context of the country,” read part of the letter.

He explained that the submissions culminated in the preconditions, which they have considered relevant for a fair play and their involvement in the reform exercise.

“We have thus, in the last part of the submission, made proposals on the way forward and preconditions that we consider will pave a way to our participation in the reforms in an atmosphere of fair play,” he said.

Mr Metsing wants the establishment of an interim political authority along the lines of the one established in 1998 to oversee the process of the reforms and a commission of inquiry into the death of former slain army commander, Khoantle Motšomotšo, Brigadier Bulane Sechele, Colonel Hashatsi and the estranged wife of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, Lipolelo Thabane.

He also demands the reinstatement “of all public servants who were unlawfully discharged and demoted; moratorium on removal and filling of constitutional positions where vacancies exist until the completion of the reform programme.”

In addition, the LCD wants both the Principal Secretary of Police, Khothatso Tšooana and the Commissioner of Police Holomo Molibeli to be redeployed. They also want the Director of National Security Services, Pheello Ralenkoane, removed from his position.

The LCD also demands the establishment of a Government of National Unity be established and Mr Metsing and the deputy leader of Democratic Congress be granted their benefits.

Mr Metsing also called for all politically motivated charges against opposition leaders and others. He also wants former army commander, Tlali Kamoli and other detainees to be released. The letter also called on the disbandment of a police investigations team, which he accused of torturing suspects.

Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (LCN’s) Director Seabata Motsamai yesterday confirmed receipt of the LCD letter.

“We have received the letter and are yet to deliberate on it,” said Motsamai.

Keiso Mohloboli

THE newly-appointed deputy leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC), Maliehe Prince Maliehe, says he was a compromise choice for the position to prevent potential instability in the ruling party which could arise from intense jostling for the post.

Mr Maliehe said this in an exclusive interview with the Lesotho Times this week.

His remarks follow reports that factions had emerged in the party with some followers baiting for Finance Minister, Moeketsi Majoro, while others wanted prominent academic and NUL vice chancellor, Professor Nqosa Mahao, to be invited to assume the post seen as a critical stepping stone for succeeding party leader Thomas Thabane when he eventually bows out.

According to party sources, heavy lobbying had taken root in the party with rival factions holding surreptitious meetings to lay the groundwork of canvassing for their preferred candidates to be appointed to the top post.

Mr Maliehe, the legislator for the Teyateyaneng constituency, told this publication that ABC leader and Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) settled on him as “unifying figure” after realising that jockeying for the post had the potential to create instability in the party.

An ABC circular dated 29 January 2018 announced Mr Maliehe as the ABC’s interim deputy leader from January 2018 until the party’s elective conference scheduled for early next year.

The deputy leader’s position became vacant after the former deputy leader, Tlali Khasu, left the ABC in the wake of his 17 September 2016 suspension from the party for allegedly castigating Dr Thabane during a radio programme.

Mr Khasu’s spirited attempts to challenge the suspension in the courts proved futile as the High Court upheld the decision.

Mr Khasu subsequently formed the Truth Reconciliation Unity (TRU) party which fared dismally in the June 3 elections, failing to garner votes enough for even a single proportional representation seat.

Mr Maliehe alluded to the existence of factionalism emerging in the ABC over the deputy leader’s post telling this publication that, “I am aware of groups of ABC members who have been holding secret meetings but because I never took part in the meetings, I am not in a position to say what they discussed”.

“I can only assume that they might have discussed the much anticipated elective conference of 2019.

“The party leader, Dr Thabane, proposed my name to the NEC during its meeting two weeks ago. No name was brought up to oppose the leader’s proposal and the NEC approved his submission,” he said.

He said believed he was appointed because he was a “senior member who could act as a unifying figure to save the party from going through unnecessary instability”.

He said it was common for political parties to experience infighting which sometimes caused splits, adding the decision to appoint him was therefore a “smart move to spare the ABC from infighting when party’s elective conference is held in a year’s time”.

“I have previously served in the NEC as treasurer-general and I am a legislator. Therefore, I could not refuse the appointment because I know that the ABC needed to fill up that position.”

Asked if his appointment was an indication that the party was grooming him to take over from Dr Thabane when he eventually decided to retire from active politics, Mr Maliehe maintained that his appointment was “purely about filling up a vacancy that had been there in the party for a long time”.

“I think we should not be impatient and speculate on the reasons behind my appointment. I am just an interim deputy leader to facilitate the smooth and efficient running of the ABC in preparation for the 2019 elective conference. Let us all wait for the elections and let the masses decide.”

Asked why his appointment did not follow the norm of elections, Mr Maliehe, said the ABC constitution empowers the NEC to appoint a deputy leader.

“I do not have a copy of the party’s constitution right now but there is a clause that gives the party leader and the NEC the power to make appointments in the governing body.”

On why it had taken more than a year to make the appointment, Mr Maliehe said the delay was necessitated by the fact that the party had to focus its energies on organising for the 3 June 2017 snap elections which it won but without the majority needed to form government on its own.

He said after winning the elections, the ABC was immediately seized with negotiating a coalition with the Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho National Party (ABC) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL).

“Government business could not be put on hold because there was a vacancy for the deputy leader in my party. The appointment which has finally been made was done at the convenient and right time,” he added.

Mr Maliehe also shot down speculation that his appointment was also done with a view to pacifying restive ABC legislators from the Berea district who were reportedly miffed by the fact that only one of their number was appointed to a ministerial position last June.

This was despite the fact that the district had given the ABC its second biggest area electoral win with nine seats out of the 11 contested in last year’s national polls.

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, Mr Maliehe said the claims that his appointment had something to do with alleged discontentment of Berea MPs “was baseless”.

 Tefo Tefo

THE Law Society of Lesotho has turned down a request by four prominent lawyers for it to take legal action against the Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs, Lebohang Hlaele, for allegedly verbally attacking Chief Justice, Nthomeng Majara, in December 2017.

The four lawyers – King’s Counsel Motiea Teele, Zwelakhe Mda, Karabo Mohau and Attorney Qhalehang Letsika – on 2 January 2018, wrote a letter to the law society demanding the council of the society to take legal action against Mr Hlaele for what they referred to as harassment of the Chief Justice by the executive.

They allege Mr Hlaele attacked the chief justice when he addressed scores of Basotho who had staged a protest march to demand the swearing-in of Justice Kananelo Mosito as Court of Appeal President on 9 December 2017.

Addressing the protestors, Mr Hlaele took a swipe at Chief Justice Majara saying she had to either Justice Majara had to resign or face an impeachment tribunal for corruption over a controversial M27 000 per month rental deal.

“The only advice that I have for her is to go,” Mr Hlaele said.

“She should resign. Otherwise, she will be put before a tribunal to face harsh punishment for stealing people’s money. It is a punishment befitting her actions because she has called it upon herself.”

Mr Hlaele’s statements did not go down well with the four lawyers who subsequently wrote to the Law Society, saying among other things, that, “It is unprecedented, in this country, for a minister of government to single-out a judge for such virulent attack as that recently mounted by the Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs against the Chief Justice”.

“The minister has not only been very personal with the Chief Justice, but has been very low, unfair, cheap and lacking in civility in that, he knows very well that he is insulting an official who, by virtue of her office, cannot go on public media to defend herself.

“What is sad is that many uninformed members of the public will be misled into thinking that the Chief Justice’s silence means she has nothing to say in her defence.

“It is against this background that we call upon the Law Society Council to take the necessary legal action in defence of the judiciary,” part of the quartet’s letter states.

But the law society gave a brief reply to the letter by four top lawyers through its letter dated 16 January 2018.

The brief and dismissive letter by the law society reads: “You will hopefully agree that these are serious conclusions you make against the minister.

“We note, however, your letter does not give any factual background to support these serious conclusions. In particular, you have not given us details of the alleged virulent attack by the Minister.

“In the circumstances, and in the absence of the relevant material facts, the Law Society is not in a position to so take legal action in defence of the judiciary as you demand.”

The letter was signed by the President of the Law Society of Lesotho Attorney, Tumisang Mosotho.

However, the four lawyers are not ready to give up the fight after receiving a letter from the Law Society.

Attorney Qhalehang Letsika told the Lesotho Times yesterday that they were going to take action, although he said they were still considering what kind of action to take.

“We are going to take action, but still considering what kind of action to take; now that they are saying they are not prepared to protect the courts,” he said.

On the other hand, the Constitutional Court has since reserved judgment in a case in which the said four top lawyers are challenging the legality of the re-appointment of Justice Mosito as Court of Appeal President.

Prime Minister Thomas Thabane re-appointed Justice Mosito as Court of Appeal President on 1 August 2017, almost a year after he had been forced to resign to avoid impeachment over tax evasion charges by the then Pakalitha Mosisili-led  coalition government.

Two weeks after his re-appointment, four lawyers lodged a High Court application challenging the validity of his appointment.

The quartet argue in their constitutional application that Dr Thabane did not follow due process when he advised His Majesty to re-appoint Justice Mosito. They essentially argue that Justice Mosito is unfit to head the top court. Judgment on the case will be made sometime in February.

Keiso Mohloboli

THE government is re-hiring most of the soldiers who fled the country at the height of the turmoil in the Kingdom during the year 2015 and others who were detained over trumped up charges of plotting a mutiny.

Dozens of soldiers fled into exile while others were detained at the Maseru Maximum Prison during the reign of terror unleashed on Lesotho by former army commander Tlali Kennedy Kamoli in the wake of his re-appointment to the LDF after former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili won the February 2015 snap elections.

Under Lt-Gen Kamoli’s renewed mandate at the helm of the LDF, Maaparankoe Mahao, who had been appointed army commander by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane was brutally murdered in June 2015. Other soldiers accused of having plotted a mutiny alongside Lt-Gen Mahao were arrested, brutally tortured and detained. Others fled into exile.

The mutiny story was dismissed as a hoax by the Mphaphi Phumaphi commission of inquiry established by SADC to, among other things, probe the killing of Lt-Gen Mahao.

The government is now rehiring the soldiers, who suffered immensely under Lt-Gen Kamoli’s reign of terror. Their re-hiring, according to the government, is part of a wider initiative to rehabilitate the LDF and return it to normalcy after the turbulence that characterised the army during Lt-Gen Kamoli’s tenure.

Lt-Gen Kamoli was forcibly retired on 1 December 2016 after widespread international disapproval of his continued command of the LDF and the recommendations of the SADC commission of inquiry.  He is now in prison for atrocities he committed during his tenure.

At least six soldiers, of the more than 30 who were either in exile or in army detention, will start work on Monday while more are expected to return to work in the coming weeks.

The six are Major Mojalefa Mosakeng, Lieutenant Colonels Lekhooa Matlali and Nkhetheleng Mohale, Major General Poqa Motoa and Colonels Kolisang and Stemmere.   Major General Matela Matobakele, who was hounded into exile by Kamoli, has already been appointed deputy commander of the LDF and will also start work next week.

The Lesotho Times has it on good authority that all the soldiers who were in exile as well as those who were in detention met with the army’s Human Resource manager at Ratjomose Barracks yesterday at 11am to discuss the modalities of their return to work. Some don’t want to return to work nevertheless and prefer to get compensated.

Defence and National Security minister, Sentje Lebona, last night confirmed the impending return of the six LDF members, saying, “The government is busy with the modalities of ensuring that all the soldiers start their work as soon as possible”.

Major Mosakeng fled into exile in February 2015 after being shot by his colleagues.

Lt-Col Matlali and Lt-Col Mohale fled after being fingered in the alleged mutiny plot of 2015 which was allegedly aimed at toppling the command of Lt-Gen Kamoli but was dismissed by the SADC inquiry as a hoax.

Maj-Gen Motoa (previously a Brigadier) as well as Colonels Kolisang and Stemmere were detained at the Maseru Maximum prison.

Mr Lebona however, refused to shed light on yesterday’s meeting at Ratjomose Barracks, saying “security issues are sensitive matters that should be handled with the uttermost care”.

In addition to the six, Mr Lebona said other soldiers of lower ranks would also be returning to work in the coming weeks.

“The seven soldiers (including Matobakele) will start work on Monday and all the other soldiers who were either in exile or in the maximum prison will resume their duties very soon”.

He however, said only those soldiers who were willing to return to work would be reemployed while the government would compensate those who did not want to return to work.

“The government will work on the exit packages for those who do not want to return to work,” Mr Lebona added.

He said that the government had completed paying salaries owed to all the formerly exiled soldiers. Their salaries had been cut by Lt-Gen Kamoli in April 2015.

He said the payments were necessitated by the fact that their exile did not take away their employment status within the LDF.

“The soldiers who were in exile and those who were detained in the maximum prison still bore their employment status and for that reason, the government made sure to pay the salaries of those who were in exile from 2015 until their return in 2017.

“Those who were in detention were still earning their salaries despite the detention,” Mr Lebona said.

He however, refused to disclose how much the government had spent on the salary arrears, saying salaries were not only private but also a sensitive issue.

In another development, Mr Lebona revealed that a ceremony will held “sometime next week” where the newly appointed army commander, Lt-Gen Mojalefa Letsoela, will be officially installed in his new position.

“The Prime Minister, Dr Thomas Thabane, only arrived today (yesterday) from a  government trip (to Ethiopia) and he is the one who will determine the actual date which I believe will be next week”.

Lt-Gen Letsoela takes over from Maj-Gen Lineo Poopa who has been Acting Commander of the LDF since the 5 September, 2017 assassination of Lt-Gen Khoantle Motšomotšo by his subordinates, Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel Tefo Hashatsi.

In the aftermath of Lt-Gen Motšomotšo’s assassination, the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) resolved to deploy a standby force to help the LDF manage the ensuing security crisis.

The SADC standby force was deployed to Lesotho on 2 December, 2017. It is made up of 217 soldiers, 15 intelligence personnel, 24 police officers and 13 civilian experts.

One of its stated objectives is to support Lesotho in retraining its army personnel, especially in the area of civil-military relations while working towards security sector and other institutional reforms.

Herbert Moyo

LUCAPA Diamond Company says it is on course to begin full scale diamond mining at its Mothae Mine in Mokhotlong in the second half of the year, amid indications that the company secured US$ 15 million funding and board approval for the refurbishment of its plant at the mine.

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.

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 show that Lucapa have 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 its latest 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 Board also approved the refurbishment of the existing plant,” the company states in the report titled ‘Quarterly Activities Report for the period ended 31 December 2017.

The report also states that the company also generated revenue amounting to US$7.3 million at its Lulo Diamond Mine in Angola “contributing to total 2017 gross revenues of US$31.6 million at US$1,669 per carat – the world’s highest US$ per carat alluvial production”.

Further information obtained from Lucapa shows that the company has also benefitted from a decision by the government to allow the company to defer payment of the outstanding balance for the 70 percent stake it acquired in the Mothae Mine.

Lucapa has so far paid US$4, 5 million out of the US$9 million it owes the government of Lesotho for the 70 percent shareholding.

It was initially scheduled to pay the outstanding US$4, 5 million balance in eight monthly instalments starting in October 2017.

However, the government resolved to allow Lucapa to defer payment of the outstanding balance to June 2018 to enable Lucapa to channel the resources into ensuring that all is in place full scale mining operations to commence in the second half of 2018.

The US$15 million loan funding was secured from Equigold- a company associated with prominent Singaporean-based resources investor, Simon Lee AO.

The loan is repayable in eight quarterly payments commencing in December 2018, by which time Lucapa Diamonds expects Mothae to be in steady state production.

The Equigold facility carries an annual interest rate of 13% and other fees.

Equigold has also converted the last two scheduled quarterly payments (totaling US$3.75 million) into ordinary shares in Lucapa Diamonds.

…Minister seeks PM Thabane’s intervention

…PS accused of leaking confidential cabinet memo

Pascalinah Kabi

HEALTH Minister Nyapane Kaya has sought the intervention of Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, to help resolve intense feuds with his principal secretary, Monaphathi Maraka, whom he accuses of serious insubordination.

Authoritative sources said Minister Kaya was so miffed with his PS over differences on various administrative issues. Minister Kaya accuses Mr Maraka of refusing to take instructions from him. The Minister had gone to the extent of accusing his PS  of leaking confidential cabinet discussions, allegations Mr Maraka vehemently denied in an interview with the Lesotho Times this week.

Such was the intensity of the animosity between Mr Kaya and Mr Maraka that their working relationship was no longer viable, the sources said.

The sources said that Mr Kaya was up in arms with his PS for allegedly leaking a confidential cabinet memo proposing that the government must terminate its contract with the Tšepong Consortium to operate Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Service Hospital (QMMH) in Maseru.

The confidential cabinet memo was reportedly leaked to the World Bank which was instrumental in the signing of the 18-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement which the government inked with Tšepong Consortium (formed by Netcare Group and local companies) in 2008.

The institution was opened in October 2011 and it replaced Queen Elizabeth II Hospital as the country’s major referral health facility in a deal that was originally hailed as a viable private public sector partnership (PPP) operation.

However, the deal has had many critics who accuse the Tsepong Consortium of depleting government coffers and gobbling a third of the entire health budget.

Last year, Mr Kaya stated that the government wanted out of what he described as a lopsided contract, saying the hospital could not justify its allocation of M549 444 million from the M2.5 billion meant for the entire health sector while it did not have the capacity to treat cancer patients or providing dialysis services for kidney patients.

According to the sources, Mr Kaya believes that Mr Maraka leaked a cabinet memo in which the minister advised government to cut ties with Tšepong Consortium.

“The cabinet tasked ministers Kaya, Moeketsi Majoro (Finance) and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Nthabiseng Ramakoae, to work together to find a lasting solution to the QMMH problem,” one source said.

“Ntate Kaya presented a memo to the cabinet meeting, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki, proposing that the only possible and lasting solution to QMMH problems was for government to disengage itself from this partnership.”

The source said the cabinet then advised the ministerial committee to further examine the matter and Energy minister, Mokoto Hloaele, was also added to the committee to ensure that it would come up with the best recommendations on the QMMH issue.

“Ntate Kaya was however, surprised when he received a phone call from a (World) Bank requesting a meeting over the same confidential cabinet memo.

“The bank said they were ready to mediate between the government and Tšepong to renegotiate the contract as disengaging from the contract would not be in the best interests of both parties. The Minister is adamant that  the PS is the one who leaked the information to that bank,” the source said.

Another source alleged Mr Kaya and Mr Maraka were also at loggerheads after the latter refused to take certain orders from the minister.

The source said the PS disobeyed the minister’s directive to write to the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offenses (DCEO), requesting it to investigate the Health ministry’s Director General, Nyane Letsie, over a case in which her private expenses were allegedly paid by the government.

“The PS also requested M340 million from the government contingency fund without involving the minister. This and many other issues are continuing to put a strain on their already poor working relationship,” the source said.

Another government source said Mr Kaya has since asked Dr Thabane to intervene in the matter.

“The minister reported the PS to the Prime Minister who promised him to look into the matter and it seems the relationship between the two is deteriorating even further,” the source said.

Attempts to get Mr Kaya’s comments were fruitless as his mobile phone was unavailable as he is said to be on an official trip to India.

Mr Maraka said in an interview this week that he previously enjoyed a warm working relationship with the minister and deputy minister, ‘Manthabiseng Phohleli, but “some of our junior staff and senior management are working hard to come between us”.

“There has never been an incident where I prevented the minister from doing his job. I do my job under his leadership. He has his role and I have mine. Both our roles are simply to work hard to serve this nation,” Mr Maraka said.

He added: “I am not sure what he (the minister) means when he says I am preventing him from working but I have since realised that junior staff at times sow divisions between us.”

“I am prepared to work with my honourable minister at all times and in a situation where our working relationship has deteriorated, I don’t want to escalate that situation but rather work hard to restore the warm working relationship we once enjoyed.”

Asked if it was true that he leaked the cabinet memo to the said bank, Mr Maraka said, “There was no leakage at all because before we were appointed, the bank was already facilitating a relationship between the government and the Tšepong Consortium”.

He also dismissed as unfounded, claims that he disobeyed the minister by refusing to write to the DCEO over Dr Letsie.

“I wrote to the DCEO and the DCEO came to the Ministry of Health to carry out its investigations and I also wrote to the Director General asking her to explain some issues but she hasn’t explained herself up to now,” Mr Maraka said.

Bereng Mpaki

THABA TSEKA- ‘MAKATLEHO Mputsoe is one of several villagers that have been deprived of their source of livelihood after they were forced to give up their ancestral farming lands to pave way for mining operations in the Mohlanapeng village in the Thaba Tseka district.

Like most other villagers, the elderly widow has survived on subsistence farming and fended for her grandchildren but this is no longer possible after she had to give up her corn fields which fall within the area where the Pure Lesotho Resources Company has been given the nod by government to prospect for alluvial diamonds.

The prospecting licence, which was issued by the former seven parties’ government, expires this year but it could be extended as the company has plans to open the first diamond mine in Thaba Tseka district should the prospecting yield significant finds.

And while the mining project would certainly be a boon for the country’s economy which continues to struggle to attract foreign direct investment, the same cannot be said at a local level for Ms Mputsoe and other villagers whose livelihoods have been affected.

Ms Mputsoe told the Lesotho Times that despite the fact that she has already lost out on the opportunity to plant crops this farming season, she has not even compensated by Pure Lesotho Resources.

Those who have received compensation say there is cold comfort in the paltry M12 000 each which is woefully inadequate to make up for the permanent loss of their fields.

The villagers further say the company added salt to their injuries by failing to consult them before commencing their operations in the area.

“There are procedures to be followed when a miner wishes to mine in a certain area which include consultations with the locals but this never happened and my people know nothing about the proposed mining operations going on in the area,” the area chief, ‘Masebopeho Lerotholi told the Lesotho Times.

Maile Maile, a community member and area councilor echoed Ms Lerotholi’s sentiments, saying rather than consult the Mohlanapeng villagers, the company instead made a deal with the Ha Makunyapane community.

Mr Maile said this deal was struck despite the fact that Ha Makunyapane is a villager on the opposite side of Senqu River and not in Mohlanapeng which is where the prospecting is taking place.

As if losing their fields was not enough, Ms Lerotholi said they had also been deprived access to the sand from the nearby Senqu River which they would quarry for sale to companies and individuals who use it to make concrete for construction purposes.

“The (Senqu) river is also a source of natural resources which the people depend on for a living. The commencement of mining operations will take away some of those resources such as the sand,” Ms Lerotholi said.

For his part, Pure Lesotho Resources representative, Lefa Monaheng, said they followed the correct procedures as they had also got approval from district administrator’s office in Thaba Tseka in addition to the government approval to begin prospecting.

Mr Monaheng also said they were committed to fully compensating the villagers, adding, the M12 000 paid out to each villager was not the full amount.

He however, lamented the lack of a clear compensation policy by the government which should guide the process and make it smoother.

Mr Monaheng disputed Ms Lerotholi’s version of events and instead blamed her for turning down requests for public gatherings ahead of his company’s operations.

He said the gatherings would have enabled the company to iron out any critical issues pertaining to their operations with the local community.

He however, said despite this, his company remained committed to working with the community to ensure a win-win situation for everyone.

For his part, the Minister of Mining, Keketso Sello appealed to all parties to engage in dialogue and find a lasting solution to the impasse, saying this was “only a minor misunderstanding between the parties involved”.

He said mining operations were important as they contributed tax to the country’s fiscus as well as job creation.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

POLICE this week arrested and grilled Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Thato Phaila, over his possible involvement in a series of crimes that were committed by members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the 2015 and 2017 assassinations of army commanders, Maaparankoe Mahao and Khoantle Motšomotšo.

The crimes were committed before Lt-Col Phaila’s retirement in December 2016.

Rtd Lt-Col Phaila was summoned to the police headquarters on Monday and he remains in custody as police continue with their investigations.

Police Spokesperson, Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli yesterday confirmed a team of investigators quizzed the retired senior army officer; but would not be drawn into divulging the full details of the issues that led to his detention.

“Lt-Colonel Phaila remains in police custody, helping the police with their investigations,” Supt Mopeli said.

“It is premature for me to give full details of the cases he is assisting the police with save to say that we believe that he will shed more light into some of the crimes perpetrated within the LDF before his retirement.”

However, well-placed sources told the Lesotho Times that Lt-Col Phaila was assisting police in their investigations into the assassinations of Lt-Gen Mahao and Lt-Gen Motšomotšo.

He was also quizzed on the murders of Police Sub Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko and the three men whose remains were retrieved from Mohale Dam in December last year.

A source privy to the investigations said Lt-Col Phaila had a “wealth of information that could help the police to understand circumstances surrounding the crimes perpetrated by some LDF soldiers, in particular the murder of the two army commanders, Sub Inspector Ramahloko and the three men whose bodies were thrown in Mohale Dam”.

Lt-Gen Mahao was ambushed and shot by his peers near his farm in Mokema on 25 June 2015.

The LDF claimed that Lt-Gen Mahao had been shot while resisting arrest over an alleged mutiny plot.  However, the army’s version was dismissed by both the soldier’s family and the SADC commission of inquiry headed by retired judge Mphaphi Phumaphi.

Lt-Gen Mahao’s family accused the army of killing him in cold blood, basing on the account of his nephews who were with him during the incident.

Justice Phumaphi’s 10-member commission carried out its investigations between 31 August and 23 October 2015 and recommended, among other things, that the government should investigate the killing of Lt-Gen Mahao and prosecute those found to be responsible. So far, eight soldiers have appeared in court charged with his murder.

Sub-Inspector Ramahloko was killed on 30 August, 2014 during an attempted coup against the first government of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. Four soldiers have since been arrested over his murder.

Lt-Gen Motšomotšo was shot dead on 5 September 2017 in Ratjomose Barracks office by his subordinates, Brigadier Bulane Sechele and Colonel Tefo Hashatsi. The two were subsequently shot dead by Lt-Gen Motšomotšo’s body guards.

’Marafaele Mohloboli

WOMEN lawyers have called for the inclusion of female representatives in the proposed National Reforms Commission as well as the establishment of a tribunal to settle disputes that may arise from the work of the same commission.

Since its advent to power in June 2017, the Thomas Thabane-led four party coalition government has been consulting various stakeholders including political parties, business organisations and non-governmental organisations as part of efforts to build consensus on the multi-sectoral reforms the country needs to implement.

The constitutional, security sector, public service, governance and media reforms were part of the recommendations made by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2016 to ensure lasting peace and stability which is crucial to the country’s socio-economic development.

International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) representative, Mabela Lehloenya, said that “fair representation” of women in the proposed commission was necessary to achieve inclusivity, credibility as well as justice for women whose concerns were not given adequate consideration in policy formulation and legislation.

She said this during her recent presentation before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Law and Public Safety.

She said women should therefore be included among the commissioners in the commission to be established to steer the reforms as proposed in the National Reforms Commission Bill of 2018.

The National Reforms Commission Bill was tabled before parliament on 17 January 2017.

The bill seeks to provide for the establishment of the National Reforms Commission whose mandate is to facilitate national dialogue on the reforms recommended by SADC to achieve lasting peace and stability in Lesotho.

The envisaged commission shall be composed of six commissioners and led by a retired judge or any other eminent person. It will operate for an initial period of 18 months with a provision for another 12 month extension to enable it to complete its mandate.

Ms Lehloenya however said the wording of the bill was too general and should be specific about female representation in the commission.

“The composition of the commission leaves out the bulk of the society’s representatives as it also does not include those with other forms of expertise, other than purely legal or civil service expertise,” Ms Lehloenya said.

For its part, the Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) recommended an increase in the number of commissioners to seven from the envisaged six.

WLSA Coordinator, Libakiso Matlho, said the seventh commissioner should be a prominent individual who was knowledgeable and experienced in gender issues to ensure that gender issues were mainstreamed into the reforms process.

Ms Matlho said it was imperative for women to have at least 30 percent representation in the proposed commission to enable them to influence the decision-making.

Back in 1997, Lesotho joined other SADC countries in committing to ensuring the equal representation of women and men in the decision-making positions of member states and SADC structures at all levels by 2015. The SADC countries also committed themselves to the achievement of at least 30 percent representation of women in political and decision making structures by the year 2005 including parliament.

But 13 years down the line, Lesotho is nowhere near meeting the 30 percent benchmark on women’s representation in parliament and other decision-making structures. Hence the call by the women lawyers.

Ms Matlho called for the establishment of a tribunal to resolve any disputes that may arise when people were subpoenaed by the proposed Reforms Commission.

Section 3 (b) of the Reforms Bill states that the Commission shall have powers to “subpoena any person to provide oral or written information to the Commission where it considers such information necessary for achieving its objectives”.

The women lawyers’ demand for representation in the proposed commission follows a similar call by the Lesotho National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled (LNFOD) for one of the commissioners to be a representative of   people with disabilities.

LNFOD Executive Director, Nkhasi Sefuthi, last week told the Lesotho Times that his organisation wanted at least one commissioner “who is a representative of persons with disability and knowledgeable and experienced in disability rights, to support other commissioners on the mainstreaming of disability rights in the reforms”.

“We have important issues that we would like to be incorporated because we have realised that we are always left behind whenever government is working on enhancing democracy and human rights simply because no one understands our concerns very well,” Adv Sefuthi said.

Keiso Mohloboli

BORN on 3 August, 1967 in Bela–Bela in the Berea district, army commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela, never imagined himself being a soldier- let alone being in charge of the entire military institution.

The fifth child in a family of seven siblings attended ordinary schools like any other ordinary child, beginning with Pelele Primary School before proceeding to Holy Names High school where he completed his Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) in 1985.

He said his dream had been to become a commercial pilot but politics changed his career path even though he never took an active part in them.

“After completing my COSC, I always wanted to become a qualified commercial pilot but was denied a scholarship to go to university because of my parents’ congress politics. As a result, I was forced to stay at home for the whole of 1996,” he said.

“My parents left me in Lesotho to complete my high school while they went into exile in South Africa. I then found myself with no option but to apply for military recruitment because all my friends and peers were at the university”.

Despite the career change, Lt Gen Letsoela soon excelled in the military recruitment course and achieved the best performance in Law and Evidence.

He was given the rank of Private and worked in the LDF Military Band Unit from 1988 to 1991 until he was advised by his immediate supervisors to pursue further studies at the National University of Lesotho.

Preparations were made by the LDF for him to enroll with NUL in 1992 but things took another turn when LDF Air Wing reported a shortage of pilots.

“I was so reluctant to apply for military pilots’ recruitment but my bosses put me under a lot of pressure.

“With a heavy heart I took their advice and went to South Africa Airforce Flying School in 1992, the very year I had been looking forward to going to the NUL.”

Lt Gen Letsoela remembers clearly that the in-depth of the course was frustrating and hectic because it was at a time when apartheid was intense.

Racial discrimination topped the struggles of the course. Everything was taught in Afrikaans and he was forced to do private lessons to learn the language in his spare time.

“Against all odds, I passed with flying colours and only two Lesotho soldiers failed the course. I was the only one who was given an opportunity to go solo on the Harvard Fighter Aircraft as an indication that I was the best performer. This is a great achievement that I cannot forget”.

After completing the military air force course at the end of 1992, he was confirmed as a military cadet.

“I was still a Private because a cadet is not a rank but a position between the ranks of Warrant Officer II and Warrant Officer I.”

Following military air force procedure, Lt Gen Letsoela had to go back to South Africa for a three month Combat and Special Missions Operational Course in March 1993.

“By the end of 1993 I completed what is called multi-engine flying course,” he said.

In April 1994 he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant and by that time he was a vibrant and young pilot enjoying what he always dreamt of- flying.

Two years later he was moved up to the rank of Lieutenant and was commissioned as LDF Air Wing base Aviation Safety Officer responsible of controlling risks at the military aviation base.

In 1999 he was appointed Captain and was fully operational, available around the clock.

“I enrolled with Singapore Aviation Academy part-time, from 2001 to 2005 and completed a Degree in Aviation Safety.

“Nine years later I was appointed Major and the following year I enrolled at the Zimbabwe Military Staff College which is affiliated to University of Zimbabwe and obtained a Diploma in Defence, Security, Strategic Studies and International relations”.

In 2010 he was then appointed Lieutenant Colonel and continued flying while attending numerous courses and developments programmes.

In April 2012, he was appointed acting commander of the LDF Air Wing and in June 2013 he was confirmed LDF Air Wing commander and Colonel.

“The following year in 2014, I went to South Africa National Defence College in Pretoria to study for the Executive National Security course.

Before leaving for the course, he had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier.

“In January 2015 when I returned home there was a very bad political cloud in the country. It is that time when the mutiny allegations surfaced in the LDF.

“I was temporarily promoted to Major General just for the purpose of presiding over the court martial against the soldiers who were arrested between May and June 2015 on allegations that they were part of a foiled plot to topple the LDF command”.

Immediately after former commander, Lt-Gen Tlali Kamoli, left the LDF in December 2016, the command structure changed and Lt Gen Letsoela was appointed Acting Deputy Commander in administration responsible for staff administration and human resource affairs.

“I had to multi-task as Air Wing commander and acting Deputy Commander until 5 September 2017 when the former army commander, Lt Gen Khoantle Motšomotšo, was murdered.

Lt-Gen Letsoela then deputised the-then acting army commander, Retired Major General Lineo Poopa, until 23 January, 2018 when he was appointed substantive Lt-Gen and commander of the LDF.

Lt Gen Letsoela says that the LDF went off the rails during the period from 2014 and now needed to “speedily return to the right track”.

He says his vision is to re-align the LDF to become an institution that clearly understands democracy, civil and military relations where the army respectfully and willingly submitted to civilian authority without rebellion”.

“We were at a situation where one could say we were off track and we should speedily come back to the right track,” Lt Gen Letsoela said.

“We are facing challenges in our quest to see the establishment of a stable system of good governance based on the rule of law according to the precepts of Lesotho’s constitution.

“It is my vision to see the LDF respectfully submitting to civil authority without rebellion. We have to understand that there is civilian authority and that will help us understand the importance of rule of law, proper governance and development.”

Lt Gen Letsoela also emphasises the need for the LDF to be fully accountable and respectful in its behaviour towards civilians.

He said soldiers could not just one wake up one day and claim to have conducted an operation where they massacred civilians who looked to them for protection.

“We (soldiers) can’t just wake up, strangle people and throw them in dams and not account for our deeds,” he said in reference to the May 2017 incident where three men were killed by LDF officers and their bodies were thrown into the Mohale Dam.

“As a state security institution, we have to fully account for our actions, operations and programmes,” he said, adding, “The national assembly through their portfolio committees should be active and pressure us to adhere to democratic principles”.

“The soldiers should have transparent financial reports and never hide behind claims that security issues are sensitive. They must report and account for money spent.

“The civil society informed about activities of the army that attract public interest to avoid negative perceptions. When everything is in the right direction then every activity that is in the public interest should open for the public to know.”

Only time will tell whether or not his vision for the LDF will be fully realised.

Tefo Tefo

THREE prominent lawyers, King’s Counsel Zwelakhe Mda, Karabo Mohau and Attorney Qhalehang Letsika, on Tuesday lodged an urgent application before the Constitutional Court to block the possible removal of Chief Justice, Nthomeng Majara.

The three lawyers indicate in their court papers that they want the court to prevent the government from firing the Chief Justice on the basis of the 9 December 2017 utterances made by the Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs, Lebohang Hlaele, that Justice Majara should either resign or be impeached for corruption.

Mr Hlaele said the Chief Justice was corrupt and gave her an ultimatum to either resign or face an impeachment tribunal for allegedly engaging in a corrupt deal of renting a house for M27 000 per month from Justice Teboho Moiloa.

Mr Hlaele made the remarks soon after receiving a petition from the scores of Basotho who staged a protest march to demand the swearing-in of Justice Kananelo Mosito as the Court of Appeal President after his re-appointment in August last year.

The lawyers subsequently wrote to the Law Society of Lesotho on 2 January 2018, calling upon the lawyers’ body to take action against Mr Hlaele for verbally attacking the Chief Justice.

They accused the minister of being “very low, unfair, cheap and lacking in civility” when attacking the Chief Justice, adding that, the Law Society was mandated to protect the judiciary.

But, the Law Society refused to heed the lawyers’ demand.

The lawyers then decided to file the application before the Constitutional Court seeking an order preventing the government from dismissing the Chief Justice or any judge of the High Court on the basis of Mr Hlaele’s utterances.

In the application, Prime Minister Thomas Thabane; the Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs, Lebohang Hlaele; the Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Correctional Services, Mahali Phamotse; the Attorney General and the Law Society of Lesotho are cited as the respondents.

They are seeking an order that the respondents are “interdicted and prevented from taking any or whatever measures against any judge(s) of the High Court including but not limited to measures contemplated in annexure ‘QL1’ or the constitution,” read part of the notice of motion.

QL1 annexure is the copy of the utterances made by Mr Hlaele when addressing protesters at the High Court premises on 9 December 2017.

The three lawyers also want the court to declare that the utterances by Mr Hlaele were in violation of some provisions of the constitution.

The lawyers representing the government and those representing the three applicants will appear before court on Monday to propose how the case should proceed.

Attorney Letsika also prepared an affidavit to justify the importance of the case in protecting the independence of the judiciary.

“I aver that the applicants have legal standing to institute the current proceedings in their capacity as legal practitioners in the courts of law because there are chances the administration of justice will be brought into disrepute and the judiciary stands threatened by the executive.

“The present applicants also seek to vindicate the upholding of law, in which the applicants, as practicing lawyers, have an interest.

“There are, apparently, concerted efforts to embarrass, harass and ultimately undermine the judiciary by not only members of the executive but also by some senior lawyers and members of the public making common cause with such lawyers,” argues Attorney Letsika.

Tefo Tefo

MAGISTRATE ‘Mamorojele Qoo yesterday ordered five army officers facing an attempted murder charge stemming from the 2016 near-fatal shooting of the Lesotho Times editor, Lloyd Mutungamiri, to appear again before court next Wednesday on remand.

The order was made after the District Public Prosecutor, Qcinumuzi Tshabalala, told the court that the lawyers representing the five accused soldiers had applied to argue their case before the court.

Brigadier Rapele Mphaki (47), Khutlang Mochesane (57), Mahanyane Phasumane (37), Nyatso Tšoeunyane (41) and Maribe Nathane (35) allegedly shot Mr Mutungamiri at his home, Upper Thamae, in the late hours of 9 July 2016 after he had arrived home from work.

They first appeared before the Magistrate’s Court in December 2017 but their lawyers now want to argue the case for their release from detention at the Maseru Maximum Security Prison

Their lawyers want the magistrate to release them in terms of the Speedy Trial Act which stipulates that a person should not be kept in custody more than 60 days without their case being prosecuted.

The new date was set after Mr Tshabalala asked the court to remand them saying “their lawyers are intending to move a certain application.”

Meanwhile, other army officers facing three counts of murder and dumping the bodies of their victims in Mohale Dam were yesterday told to stop attending remands before the Magistrates’ Court as their case had been transferred to the High Court for trial.

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

The eight allegedly strangled Lekhoele Noko, Molise Pakela and Khothatso Makibinyane at Setibing in the rural Maseru on 16 May 2017 and dumped their bodies in the Mohale Dam.

The three men that were allegedly killed by the army officers had been arrested in connection with the killing of an army officer and a street vendor at Maseru Border Post in May last year.

The three men were released by police after investigations revealed that they were not linked to the incident.

However, the LDF members decided to take the law into their own hands and allegedly kidnapped them before strangling them.

Tokelo Rasephei

TEN villages consisting of 598 households from the Matsieng No. 45 Constituency will soon be connected to electricity as soon as the Lesehe Construction and Highlands Electrical Construction Companies complete the wiring exercise that is expected to commence on Monday.

This was revealed by the Minister of Energy and Meteorology, Mokoto Hloaele, at the sod turning ceremony for the rural electrification project that was held at Ha Moruthoane on Tuesday.

Mr Hloaele said that it was the government’s mandate to ensure that every family in Lesotho was connected to electricity and had access to clean water and sufficient food.

“We are gathered here today to carry out the government’s obligation of working to the betterment of every Mosotho and the government allocated the sum of M 11 336 319 to carry out the electrification project of villages in Ha Pita, Ha Leutsoa and Ha Moruthoane,” Mr Hloaele said.

Mr Hloaele further said that the electricity installation in this villages will cater for every household in the Matsieng No.45 Constituency regardless of whether or not they had joined the electrification schemes.

Mr Hloaele added that every member of the community had to pay M2000 for electricity to be connected in their homes. He said that for those who did not join the schemes will get the electricity, however, they will pay the outstanding balances in instalments every time they purchased electricity.

He said that every household will get electricity installed regardless of their political affiliation.

“The Lesotho Electricity Company will conduct a workshop for villagers on Wednesday 7 February to equip the villagers on safety precautions of how to use electricity in your homes once the wiring process is completed,” Mr Hloaele said.

Mr Hloaele said that the villager will benefit from the initiative since members of the communities will be hired to work in the wiring infrastructure of the project until its completion.

Speaking at the event, the Member of Parliament for the Matsieng No. 45 Constituency Mats’epo Ramakoae said that on behalf of the communities she was thankful to the Ministry of Energy and Meteorology for considering their villages.

She said that it had been 20 years since they had started the electricity schemes and applied for electricity to be installed in their villages but to no avail. However, she said they were grateful that finally they will have access to electricity.

Ms Ramakoae said that it was through the installation of electricity that theft and burglary in their villages will deteriorate.

She urged the communities of Ha Pita, Leutsoa and Moruthoane to work hand in hand with construction companies during the installation process. She said that they should take care of the electricity equipment since that was the development to the community as well as country.

For his part, the Education and Training Minister, Mokhele Moletsane said that schools within the area will get electrified and education level will upgrade.

Mr Moletsane said that with access to electricity in schools pupils will be exposed to new systems of learning that will elevate their grades.

“We are living in the era of advancements in technology, children must be literate enough to us computers since nowadays computers are used in more advanced schools and in the corporate world,” Mr Moletsane said.

He further pleaded to the Minister of Energy and Meteorology to attach the gesture to other villages within the constituency that were included in the installation of electricity in the coming 2018/19 fiscal year.

Tsitsi Matope

THE Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) is expecting to miss its revenue targets for the second year running by about M500 million. But LRA Commissioner-General, Thabo Khasipe, says the authority is pursuing robust strategies to reduce the deficit.

The decline could seriously undermine the government’s capacity to fund its operations, bankroll development initiatives, balance the national budget as well as access to multilateral financing which is tied to its ability to service loans.

Mr Khasipe this week told the Lesotho Times that while the LRA was pursuing vigorous strategies to enhance revenue collection, he was however, “not optimistic that we are going to meet the current target” because of an interplay of various factors, including the decline in revenues collected from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

He said the revenue target for the April 2017 to March 2018 financial year had been set at M 6.5 billion but could be missed by as much as M500 million. This will be the second year in a row that the revenue collecting body had failed to meet its target. In the previous financial year (April 2016 to March 2017) the authority missed its M6.4 billion target by M430.8 million.

It was against this backdrop that Mr Khasipe said that new strategies were needed to enable the LRA to fulfil its mandate of revenue collection.

“I am not optimistic that we are going to meet the current target but we are working hard to reduce the projected shortfall,” Mr Khasipe said, adding, “It is against this background that we are going all-out to set ourselves on a new path that will enable improved revenue collection”.

Mr Khasipe, who was first appointed to the top job in December 2016, bemoaned the negative effect of political instability on the country’s investment climate, saying it had ultimately impacted on revenue collection.

Lesotho has been plagued by chronic instability which has been characterised by among other things, the assassinations of two army commanders, Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao (June 2015) and Lt-Gen Khoantle Motšomotšo (September 2017).

The country has also witnessed the collapse of governments with three elections being held in the space of five years (2012, 2015 and 2017).

Mr Khasipe said while the political instability had affected the business climate, the situation was aggravated by external factors that included the slowdown of the South African economy and the consequent decline in Lesotho’s share of revenue from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

SACU is one of the world’s oldest customs union and it consists of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.

Speaking on SACU, Mr Khasipe said, “Our economy has not been so robust in recent years due to factors including a slow South African economy and a drop in revenue from SACU”.

“Last year, we saw an interesting feature where our domestic tax-collection exceeded SACU revenue.”

This, he added, reflected how SACU revenue was becoming “of less significance to Lesotho,” thereby placing a heavy responsibility on domestic tax collection.

“We only have one option, which is to increase local revenue, otherwise the government is going to encounter serious challenges, including significant underfunding of some sectors and challenges in accessing multilateral financing due to a drop in our capacity to service loans,”‎ he said.

He said as the country moved to achieving efficiency in domestic tax collection, the LRA’s biggest task would be that of engendering a new culture of tax compliance among stakeholders to ensure that Lesotho increased its revenue, particularly corporate tax.

At 15 percent of the tax revenues, the corporate tax collected in the country is below the 20 percent average registered in other SACU member countries.

Mr Khasipe said compliance was also a challenge in the retail and wholesale sectors where VAT collections were struggling.

Meanwhile, a strategic shift that will see the LRA turning to a “services and client approach” is expected to improve relations and cooperation between the authority and taxpayers, thereby boosting revenue-collection.

“It is my view that despite the economic challenges, as an authority, we did not focus on nurturing relations with our clients and educating them on the importance of paying tax. People need to know who should pay tax, how much and why,” Mr Khasipe said.

He said there was need to change the LRA’s approach to tax collection which had in the past been modelled on the enforcement approach.

“I call it a cops-and-robbers approach. We have viewed taxpayers suspiciously – as people with a propensity to break tax laws while the LRA acted like cops. That approach did not only sour relations with our clients, it also did not help us meet our targets. It has actually reduced the levels of trust and compliance, whether in the form of new clients joining the tax net or those already in the tax net. Due to lack of trust and other factors, some of our old clients are not keen on revealing their new streams of income,” Mr Khasipe noted.

He further said the authority was now focusing on improving services through regular engagements with the clients to understand their needs and make it easy and less costly for them to comply with tax regulations.

This week, the LRA launched the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) that opened a window of opportunity for all errant businesses and individuals to visit the authority’s offices and amicably address their tax obligations. Those who comply voluntarily will be spared the 200 percent penalty charges.

“The VDP is one of our initiatives that reflects our strategic shift. It gives our clients an opportunity to work through all their tax issues with us. Whether they had overstated their expenses and understated their incomes strategically or by mistake, they can come to us to begin on a new path.”

He added that the initiatives aimed at fostering mutual relations with all clients also created a moral authority on the LRA to apply punitive measures such as penalties and prosecution of those who chose to remain outside the tax net.

The LRA will also introduce other initiatives aimed at improving clients’ compliance such as the E-Taxation system, which is funded to the tune of M85 million by the African Development Bank (AfDB), to ensure quicker, convenient and faster processes. It will also implement the Small Business Taxation regime, which will come with a number of flexible payment models, among other benefits.

Pascalinah Kabi

THE long-awaited construction of the Polihali Dam which is scheduled to begin next year faces new hurdles after the Ministry of Mining controversially awarded licences to three mining companies to prospect for diamonds at the dam site.

The Polihali Dam is due to be constructed in terms of the bi-national Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP Phase II) but the mining ministry went ahead and issued licences to three companies, namely, Poone Diamonds, Ledi Taemane and Thagalu-Data Matrix.

The Lesotho Times has also established that the two Ministries of Mining and Environment also gave the mining companies the greenlight t mine despite strong environmental reservations raised by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) and the local communities in Mokhotlong.

LHDA Public Relations Manager, Masilo Phakoe, said they raised objections to the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) which were sent to them last year by the Department of Environment on the grounds that the EMPs did not provide a “credible picture of the potential impacts of the proposed mining activities on the environment and their mitigation”.

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 Lesotho and 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 LHWP, consisting of the Katse and Mohale dams, the ‘Muela hydropower station and associated tunnels was completed in 2003 and inaugurated in 2004. Phase II of the LHWP is currently in progress. It consists of two separate but related components: water transfer and hydropower generation.

The bilateral project which is estimated to cost at least M23 billion, is expected to provide about 3 000 jobs at the peak of its operations.

The water transfer component of Phase II comprises an approximately 165m high concrete faced rock fill Dam at Polihali downstream of the confluence of the Khubelu and Senqu (Orange) Rivers and an approximately 38km long concrete-lined gravity tunnel connecting the Polihali reservoir to the Katse reservoir. Other Phase II activities include advance infrastructure (roads, accommodation, power lines and telecommunication) and the implementation of environmental and social mitigating measures.

Despite the impending construction of the Polihali Dam on the same site, the Mining Ministry still approved the prospecting licences to the three companies.

The companies have not completed the prospecting exercise and should it yield positive results, then full scale mining operations are supposed to be commenced.

Given the fact that less than 10 months remain before 2019, the year the dam construction is scheduled to begin, it has become increasingly clear that the mining operations cannot be undertaken without impacting on the construction work.

Moreover, the LHDA Public Relations Manager, Masilo Phakoe, this week  said that the LHDA was about to begin the construction of advance infrastructure for the dam in the areas targeted for proposed alluvial diamond mining.

Mr Phakoe said the alluvial mining would therefore interfere with the operations and negatively impact the construction programme of Phase II of the LHWP.

He confirmed that the LHDA received a letter from the Environment ministry introducing the three companies to the authority and that the three companies were introduced to the local Mokhotlong communities.

The letter was written last year in May.

He however, said the LHDA never received any Environmental Impact Assessment reports which were necessary to ensure that any activities that were conducted within the LHWP project areas were done in an environmentally and socially friendly manner and that the negative impacts were either avoided or mitigated.

He said “the granting of mining licenses in the LHWP Phase II area will impact the environment and communities in the area”.

“The ministry did not send us Environmental Impact Assessment reports but the Department of Environment did send Environmental Management Plans (EMPs).

“The Khubelu River is one of the priority rivers for the Polihali reservoir. Taking into account the sensitive location of the targeted exploration areas in relation to the Khubelu River, the information provided in the EMPs does not provide a credible picture of the potential impact of the proposed mining activities on the environment and their mitigation,” Mr Phakoe said.

“The project briefs did not provide sufficiently detailed descriptions of the project environments or the proposed project activities. Therefore, the nature of the potential impacts arising from the proposed mining projects cannot be assessed and managed accurately.”

He said the government risked a repeat of the Swissborough Case where it was taken to court by investors challenging the revocation of the prospecting licences they had been awarded on the site of the Katse Dam which was constructed during the LHWP Phase I.

South African businessman Josias Van Zyl and the Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Limited initiated several legal challenges before finally losing their case against the government in the High Court of Singapore in August 2017.

Asked if the Mining Ministry consulted the authority before awarding the licences, Mr Phakoe said the LHDA was only given an opportunity to comment on the environmental management plans (EMPs) submitted by the three companies. He said the LHDA expressed its reservations about the plans.

Former Mining Minister, Lebohang Thotanyana, who was at the helm at the time when the prospecting licenses were awarded in May 2017, denied issuing them.

He said although the three companies had been selected as the preferred bidders, they were not issued prospecting mining licenses because they had not yet conducted the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies to determine the effects of their operations on the environment and local communities before he left office.

Mr Thotanyana left his job after the 3 June 2017 snap elections which ushered in the Thomas Thabane administration.

“We did not give them licences. I left the office of Mining Minister at a time when the companies had been ordered to carry out the EIA study and at the time I left, no one had been given a licence to mine alluvial diamonds in Mokhotlong,” Mr Thotanyana said.

He however, said the decision to start processes towards the awarding of the licences was taken out of the need to prevent a repeat of a similar situation where the Katse Dam was built before alluvial diamonds had been recovered from its site.

For its part, the Environment Ministry confirmed that it cleared the companies to prospect for diamonds.

The ministry’s Principal Secretary, Motena Tšolo, on Tuesday told this publication that her ministry approved the three companies’ EMPs as their main concern was to ensure the diamonds were mined before the Polihali Dam construction begins.

Ms Tšolo said the clearance certificates were first issued in 2014 after the licences were initially awarded and the second clearance certificates were issued last year after the expiry of the first ones.

Ms Tšolo said it was important to understand that the prospecting licences were first issued in 2014 and that the companies were given two years to complete their work.

“We have a dam which will be constructed in an area that has diamonds and so we are saying, let us extract diamonds before the construction starts.

“Yes, it is true that we cleared the companies because these diamonds are going to benefit the entire nation and they need to be extracted before the construction begins.”

“These issues date back to 2014 and they were going to do it in two years but somehow that did not happen.

“Right now, the issue is not so much about the environmental issues but the fact that the dam will soon be constructed and the companies were awarded time-bound licences but they didn’t carry out their mining activities.

“Now the biggest question is what will happen when the construction of the dam starts? And in my discussions with the Water ministry which is responsible for LHDA, we agreed that the companies must dig out the sand in the river and sieve it at another place,” Ms Tšolo said.

She questioned why the LHDA was blaming her ministry when it was common cause that it was Mining Ministry that issued licences.

“It is very surprising that the LHDA finds it easier to blame the Ministry of Environment and not the Ministry of Mining which awarded the licence. They should start with the issuance of licence and ask why it was awarded for a place earmarked for the construction of the dam,” she said.

Efforts to contact the three companies were fruitless as their telephones went unanswered.

…deplores the LDF’s past role in causing instability

…vows to submit army to civilian authority

Keiso Mohloboli

NEWLY-APPOINTED army commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Exavery Letsoela, has outlined his vision to reform the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) and submit it to civilian authority.

The LDF, under its former commander Tlali Kennedy Kamoli, had gone rogue and plunged Lesotho into turmoil. But Lt-Gen said all that will now change and the LDF will now transform into a professional force that safeguards the interests of the nation.

In an exclusive interview with the Lesotho Times, his first since his appointment, at his Ratjomose Barracks offices this week, the new army commander strongly deplored the events of the past four years in which high ranking members of the LDF fomented instability through attacks on the police, assassinations as well as murders of civilians.

He said it was time the LDF turned a new leaf and submitted itself to civilian authority in line with the country’s constitution and norms of all democratic societies.

He condemned as an “illegal operation’’ the August 30, 2014 attempted coup on the first government of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane which saw the LDF raiding and seizing arms from several police stations.

Lt-Gen Letsoela was on 23 January, 2018 appointed army commander as the government intensified efforts to transform the security cluster in line with recommendations of an inquiry by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

Lt-Gen Kamoli was arrested last year and remains in custody over various murder and attempted murder charges.

His time at the helm of the LDF effectively saw the army converting into a rogue militia after attempting a coup on the first government of Dr Thabane in August 2014.

Under Kamoli, the LDF also gained international notoriety over assassinations and attempted assassinations of key political, military and civilian figures including the ghastly killing of former commander, Lt-Gen Maaparankoe Mahao, in June 2015.  Dr Thabane alongside two other opposition leaders in his current coalition, Basotho National Party Leader Thesele Maseribane and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL)’s Keketso Rantšo fled into exile leaving the country with no opposition leaders at that time as all the other parties in parliament were in Dr Mosisili’s coalition.

Lt-Gen Kamoli and several former LDF officers are now in detention over various atrocities including the attempted murder of the editor of this newspaper, Lloyd Mutungamiri, the bombings of the Moshoeshoe II homes of First Lady Maesaiah Thabane and the Ha Abia residence of former Police Commissioner, Khothatso Tšooana.

None of the soldiers involved in the atrocities had been prosecuted under the Pakalitha Mosisili-led seven party coalition regime which seemingly gave the greenlight for Lt-Gen Kamoli and his acolytes to persist on their murderous streak until it lost the June 3 snap elections to Dr Thabane. Lt-Gen Kamoli had been forcibly retired from the LDF in December 2016 as international outrage grew over his atrocities and America had threatened to expel Lesotho out of the AGOA trade pact unless a SADC recommendation to remove him from the LDF was implemented. After his removal, Lt-Gen Kamoli was allegedly given a back-hand role in the security cluster and continued to receive privileges including state bodyguards until Dr Thabane came to power and ended it all.

In the interview with this newspaper this week, Lt Gen Letsoela acknowledged that the LDF had gone off the rails during the period from 2014. It now needed to “speedily return to the right track”.

He said his vision was to re-align and reform the LDF so that it becomes an institution that clearly understands democracy, civil and military relations in which the army “respectfully and willingly submitted to civilian authority without rebellion”.

“We were at a situation where one could say we were off track and we should now speedily come back to the right track,” Lt Gen Letsoela said.

“We are facing challenges in our quest to see the establishment of a stable system of good governance based on the rule of law according to the precepts of Lesotho’s constitution.

“It is my vision to see the LDF respectfully submitting to civil authority without rebellion. We have to understand that there is civilian authority over any army and that will help us appreciate the importance of rule of law, proper governance and development.”

He said the conflict with the police which resulted in the August 2014 raids on police stations and the seizure of their weapons should be replaced by a new era of cooperation among the security forces.

“As the newly-appointed military command, we should improve efficiency in the LDF management of resources and enhance collaboration within the security cluster in the country. For example, we no longer want to see the police, soldiers, correctional service officers and national intelligence officers fighting each other.

“We need security institutions that plan, budget and strategise together for the purpose of transparency and accountability.”

He revealed that weapons seized from the police during the 30 August, 2014 raids would soon be officially handed back to the police.

He also said the allocation of arms and ammunition to different army units would be closely monitored through a tracking system for the purposes of control, audit and accountability.

In its recent report ahead of the 2 December 2017 deployment of its standby force to Lesotho, SADC had warned that there were missing arms of war that could be used by rogue soldiers to launch reprisal attacks to thwart efforts to hold them accountable for past transgressions.

SADC said there were arms of war and ammunition missing from the armory of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) as well as heavy AK47 rifles that had disappeared from the Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS).  Also missing were the arms confiscated by the LDF from the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) during the August 2014 coup attempt.

However, Lt-Gen Letsoela said in the aftermath of the 5 September, 2017 assassination of army commander, Lt-Gen Khoantle Motšomotšo, the LDF had conducted an independent audit and “90 percent of the arms and ammunition were accounted for although there were some discrepancies”.

He said the remaining weapons were either in the custody of police as exhibits in criminal cases while others could not be accounted for due to poor record keeping.

“The audit is ongoing because of failure to trace some of the arms but working together with police, we hope to find them”.

Lt Gen Letsoela emphasized the need for the LDF to be fully accountable and respectful in its behaviour towards civilians.

He said soldiers could not just wake up one day and claim to have conducted an operation in which they massacre civilians who looked up  to them for protection.

“We (soldiers) can’t just wake up, strangle people and throw them in dams and not account for our deeds,” he said in reference to the May 2017 incident wherein three men were killed by LDF officers and their bodies were thrown into the Mohale Dam. The bodies had since retrieved and the soldiers responsible arrested.

“As a state security institution, we have to fully account for our actions, operations and programmes,” he said, adding, “The national assembly through their portfolio committees should be active and pressure us to adhere to democratic principles”.

“The soldiers should have transparent financial reports and never hide behind claims that security issues are sensitive. They must report and account for money spent.

“The civil society must be informed about activities of the army that attract public interest to avoid negative perceptions. When everything is in the right direction then every activity that is in the public interest should be open for the public to know.”

He said the army should never be involved in shady dealings which then forces it to hide and become defensive. It should always act in the public interest.

Moorosi Tsiane

A COMPANY which the government recently awarded a lucrative M900 million road construction deal was once placed on the World Bank’s 2011 corruption and fraud blacklist.

This has raised fears that Ministry of Public Works and Transport is not conducting adequate due diligence checks on foreign companies before awarding them jobs.

The ministry recently awarded China Geo Engineering Corporation (CGEC) a deal for the construction of the Monontša-Marakabei Road without an open tender process. The decision has sparked strong protests from the Consortium of Lesotho Contractors (CLC) which has since threatened legal action to halt the deal.

The CLC has also raised concerns that the government does not conduct due diligence checks to establish the bonafides of foreign companies.

A report carried in the South China Morning Post on 13 December 2011 states that CGEC was among 152 companies placed on a corruption and fraud blacklist by the World Bank.

Of these, 49 were British companies, 38 were Bangladeshi, 37 from Indonesia, 17 from the United States and 11 from China.

“The bank has taken a major step towards greater transparency and accountability by authorising the publication of decisions in new sanctions cases,” former World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, said of the blacklist at the time.

Public Works and Transport Principal Secretary, Mothabathe Hlalele, said he was not aware of such information.

“What I only know is that they have worked on different projects in the country where they have been doing a very fantastic job. It is my first time to hear that they have been blacklisted by the World Bank…I want to believe that the Roads Directorate has done background checks on this company because they have massive experience in such matters.”

The CLC has furiously protested the government’s deal with CGEC.

Part of the CLC’s letter to the government reads: “The CLC and its members being very diligent in looking for construction tender opportunities in the press and media as a whole, do not recall seeing the advertisement of this project in any of the weekly newspapers”.

CLC Executive Director, Retšelisitsoe Motlojoa, told the Lesotho Times that they were still to receive a response from the ministry regarding the issue.

“We haven’t heard from the ministry and we hope they will respond to our inquiries before construction begins,” Mr Motlojoa said.

“Our stand point on this issue is very simple and clear. We just want to know which procedures were followed because the expectations were that this work will be tendered for and we were surprised to learn that there is a certain company that has been given the job without a tender process.

“Procurement guidelines need to be followed when jobs are given,” he said, adding that his organization was prepared to take legal action against the ministry to stop the construction.

Mr Hlalele has however defended the government’s decision to award the deal to CGEC, saying it was a collective cabinet decision which took several factors into account including his ministry’s past experiences with local contractors who performed shoddy jobs after being awarded tenders.

“Yes, I have that (CLC) letter in my office and I will soon meet them to explain everything. The decision to award the tender was made by cabinet.

“We are all aware of the procedures that must be followed when there are jobs but there are also exceptions like in this case. In fact it was the company (CGEC) that proposed to fund and build the road for us and cabinet liked their proposal.

“They will use their money to begin construction because the ministry does not have the money now and we will pay them over time,” Mr Hlalele told the Lesotho Times.

Mr Hlalele further said in addition to the Marakabei-Monontša Road, CGEC would also build another road from Taung in the Thaba-Tseka district to Mokhotlong.

“We actually have roads that were marked as our priorities in the five year period and these are tarred roads from Mafeteng to Mount Moorosi, Maqhaka to Hleoheng, Thaba-Tseka to Katse and Mositsaneng to Ha Tšepo. There will also be many gravel roads and we will also refurbish all the roads leading to Maseru town.

“We are open to proposals from different companies for all these roads and if a company proposes to use their own funds to begin construction on the understanding that we will pay them later, they will be awarded the job because the ministry currently does not have enough money to construct all these roads.”

Mr Hlalele said while they appreciated the CLC’s concerns, it was however, an indisputable fact that many local contractors performed substandard work which ultimately cost the government more in maintaining the roads.

“The other fact that we can’t run away from is that some of these local contractors perform substandard work and in the end this costs the government a lot more to maintain roads. So we needed to go for quality when awarding the tender. This was a direct directive from cabinet,” Mr Hlalele said.

Mr Hlalele’s stance on some local contractors seems to have merit however.  The Lesotho Times once carried a report on a local contractor who was awarded a major road construction job but did such a shoddy that a section of the tarred road that contractor built split into two parts before washing off.  The newspaper carried photographs of the shoddy work in graphic detail and the contractor threatened to sue notwithstanding his obvious unacceptable work.

Pascalinah Kabi

THE Journalists Union of Lesotho (JUL) has called for a revision of the National Reforms Commission Bill 2018 to explicitly provide for media reforms and the appointment of an experienced journalist as one of the commissioners.

Since its advent to power in June 2017, the Thomas Thabane-led four party coalition government has been consulting various stakeholders including political parties, business organisations and non-governmental organisations in efforts to build consensus on the multi-sectoral reforms the country needs to implement to end perennial instability.

The envisaged constitutional, security sector, public service, governance and media reforms are part of recommendations made by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2016 to ensure enduring peace and stability crucial to the country’s socio-economic development.

In his submissions to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Law and Public Safety this week, interim JUL Chairperson, Nkoale Tsooana, said that in its current state, the reforms bill did not specifically mention media reforms despite the recommendations of SADC.

The National Reforms Commission Bill was tabled before parliament on 17 January 2017.

The bill seeks to provide for the establishment of the National Reforms Commission whose mandate is to facilitate national dialogue on the envisaged reforms.

The envisaged commission shall be composed of six commissioners and led by a retired judge or any other eminent person. It will operate for an initial period of 18 months with a provision for another 12 month extension to enable it to complete its mandate.

Mr Tsooana said it was important that one of the commissioners be “an experienced media practitioner and expert who shall be recommended by the Journalists Union of Lesotho”.

He also said that the wording of the bill was too general and should be specific about the issue of media reforms in its introduction.

“There is no mention of the media reforms and yet the SADC recommendations emphasise the need for media and information reforms,” Mr Tsooana said.

The introduction of the bill states that it seeks to provide for the establishment of the commission for purposes of facilitating a national dialogue on the implementation of the various “constitutional, judiciary, parliamentary, security , public service reforms”.

It does not specifically mention the media which Mr Tsooana insists it must.

He said media reforms were of such importance that they could not be catered for under the vague phrase, “related matters” in the bill.

He also said the bill should further provide for the enactment of a law to establish media regulatory institutions like a media council and a media ombudsman that will operate independently to facilitate media freedom.

Nthatuoa Koeshe

MOTEBANG Hospital’s District Medical Officer, Malitaba Litaba, has appealed to government to help ease the shortage of doctors in the Leribe district, saying the current four doctors were overwhelmed and could not adequately serve the 300 000-strong population.

Ms Litaba said this in a recent interview with the Lesotho Times during a recent tour of the hospital.

She said the shortage of doctors and other medical personnel prevented them from meeting their targets in delivering health services.

“The hospital is operating with only four doctors for a population of 300000,” Ms Litaba said, adding, “there is no way the services provided will be satisfactory to the people”.

“The staff shortages have spawned a vicious circle of patients complaining and doctors feeling unappreciated for the hard work they do.”

She said they found it hard to understand that the neighbouring Berea district had been allocated seven doctors and yet its population was smaller than that of  the Leribe district whose numbers were swelled by thousands of factory workers in Maputsoe.

“Leribe is more complex than Berea because we have people working in the factories in Maputsoe and that means there is a huge population which requires more medical personnel.”

Ms Litaba further stated that the hospital also lacked adequate equipment to perform its functions.

“Our laboratory is not well-equipped and this makes it impossible for the hardworking doctors and nurses to deliver the correct diagnoses to patients.

She said it had been more than a year since they last examined patients for cervical cancer using Pap Smear because the laboratory lacked the right apparati to perform such procedures.

“Only when we have well-equipped laboratories and at least three specialist pathologists can we treat cervical cancer properly.”

She further said that the shortage of equipment also contributed to maternal and child mortalities in the district.

“We have a number of woman who die while giving birth and children who die after being born because there is no equipment to help in the care of prematurely born children. The other challenge is that of mothers who lose a lot of blood during childbirth woman lose a lot of blood and these cannot be helped because the hospital does not always have blood stocks,” Ms Litaba said.