Customers should brace themselves for more pain next week. Lesotho Flour Mills has announced a 15 percent price hike on all maize products with effect from Monday.

The hike comes less than a month after the country’s biggest milling company announced a seven percent price increase on mealie-meal and Samp, which are all basic commodities.

Chief executive Fourie Du Plessis told customers in his latest statement that the adjustment is due to a further surge in the price of raw white maize.

Du Plessis said there had been a 39 percent increase in the price of raw white maize between January 31 and March 31.

He said the spike is “attributed to the adverse effects of the drought caused by low rainfall and hotter than usual weather during the past season”.

Du Plessis said when they announced the seven percent increase in April they were “hopeful” that “raw white maize prices would stabilise during April following rainfall late in the season”.

“Unfortunately, the rainfall was too late to impact the crop yields and prices surged further up to levels of M5.500 per metric ton during the past week,” Du Plessis said.

In his March statement, Du Plessis warned customers to expect “further price increases in early May, with wholesale prices projected to reach up to M8, 800 per metric ton.”

The increase in the price of raw white maize is likely to have a knock-on effect on many other products in its value chain.

Because Maize is the anchor raw for animal feed, there is likely to be an increase in the prices of all protein.

The drought, which has devastated crops in the entire Southern Africa, has also triggered steep increases in the prices of other basic commodities.

The increases are a continuation of a trend that started during the Covid-19 pandemic when bottlenecks in the global value chain stifled production.

The Russia-Ukraine war made the situation worse. So has the power crisis that has hit productivity in South Africa.

The trouble has been unrelenting for customers, most of whom have squirmed as their meagre earnings have been eroded by inflation and continue to lag behind the galloping prices of basic commodities. Just this week the Petroleum Fund announced an increase in fuel prices.

A few weeks ago it was the Lesotho Electricity Company announcing a 9.6 percent increase in power tariffs. Other producers of basic products have quietly reviewed their prices to keep up with the increase in production costs.

Alarmed, the opposition has called on the government to subsidise basic commodities.

The government is yet to respond but pressure is mounting on it to intervene.

Nkheli Liphoto

An Ethiopian man who paid M40 000 to a woman who had accused him of rape has been blocked from leaving Lesotho on Sunday.

The police intercepted Langano Meleselambedo just as he was about to board the plane at Moshoeshoe I International Airport.

Meleselambedo’s troubles started two weeks ago when a woman who works as a cleaner at a camp in Polihali accused him of rape.

Meleselambedo, who is a senior expatriate at a company working on the Polihali project, was arrested but didn’t appear in court.

Instead, he offered to pay his victim M40 000 to drop the case.

Negotiations were before the area chief and Meleselambedo paid his alleged victim M40 000.

Meleselambedo thought the matter had been closed but the police stopped him at the airport.

Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala said they have taken Meleselambedo back to Mokhotlong.

“We want the prosecutor to give this matter a considerate thought,” Senior Superintendent Halahala said.

“This case could land in the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)’s office if need be.”

He said alleged victims should not receive incentives to drop cases against a suspect.

“The victim has to drop the case unconditionally”.

Advocate Motiea Teele KC said although the rape is a crime against the state it is “possible to settle out of court.”

He however said such arrangements don’t apply to minors and people living with disability because they can not give consent.

Adv Teele KC argued that much as the state has interest in such a matter to protect the victim, rape is a personal matter where the victim can forgive the suspect.

He said some victims can accept out of court settlement to avoid court processes which are generally not victim- friendly.

Majara Molupe

LESOTHO’S ambassador to Canada, Molise Tšeole, has been fired over a Facebook post criticising the government.

Tšeole was fired on Wednesday, the same day he was found guilty after a virtual disciplinary hearing held last Friday.

Tšeole was informed of his termination by Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Thabang Lekhela. Lekhela said the Tšeole’s termination and recall from the embassy in Canada was with immediate effect.

The letter instructs Tšeole to wrap up his affairs and “report to the Headquarters on or before” May 7.

Tšeole got himself in hot water after he made a Facebook post, on April 13, disparaging the government.

“This is the government of the rich. They see the poor as nothing,” Tšeole’s post reads.

“Now they take all the funds meant to help the people and share them among themselves.”

“There is no buying power, there is no money in circulation.”

The reaction from his bosses in Maseru was as instant as it was thundering.

Six days after that post Tšeole was before a disciplinary panel chaired by the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Kanono Ramashamole.

He was accused of “failure to have absolute and undivided loyalty to the constitution and lawfully constituted government”.

Other charges were that he failed “to support and maintain the government of Lesotho according to the constitution and other laws of Lesotho”, “caused damage that brought public service into disrepute” and “wrote and circulated a vexatious statement with malicious intent”.

All charges emanated from Tšeole’s Facebook post.

The disciplinary panel found Tšeole guilty and ruled that he is not fit for office.

“The accused is not fit to continue to represent Lesotho internationally, therefore he must be recalled from the embassy,” Ramashamole said in the judgement.

During the virtual disciplinary hearing, parts of which were heard by thepost , Tšeole is heard questioning the credibility of the panel that tried him.

Tšeole kept having a back-and-forth with Ramashamole throughout the intense hearing
Tšeole told the committee that the proceedings should not be high-jacked, insisting that it should be held in a way that will make him feel satisfied.

“I want to know the reasons you are made the chairman of this committee,” Tšeole asked Ramashamole.

Ramashamole kept telling him that he should allow him as the chairman to speak but Tšeole kept talking.

“Do not interrupt me so that I read the charges for you. Let me work using the proper procedure,” Ramashamole said. But Tšeole kept interjecting.

Tšeole later kept quiet and Ramashamole read the charges.

He however argued that the case should be before the courts rather than the disciplinary committee.

Before Ramashamole could respond, Tšeole said he first had to be sure if the committee would bring justice to him.

“I want to be sure that your court is fairly constituted before anything else.”

Ramashamole tried to respond saying they were following the law but Tšeole said that was not true.

Tšeole said he wanted to be represented by a lawyer.

Ramashamole told him that if he did not allow the hearing to continue he would be denying himself a chance to defend himself.

Tšeole insisted that he wanted a legal representative.

Ramashamole told Tšeole that he would continue with the case despite his objections.

Tšeole’s lawyers, Astute Chambers, demanded that another hearing should be held within 48 hours from yesterday or else they would have “no other option but to approach the courts of law”.

Tšeole has written a separate letter appealing against the judgement, saying Ramashamole ignored him when he made it clear that he was not guilty.

“I was present at the hearing, I was willing to have a fair hearing,” he said.

“Your panel cannot make the decision as if I was absent.”

Nkheli Liphoto