News

Cash injection saves families

Published

5 years ago

June 23, 2020

MOHALE’S HOEK-HIT by the deadly combination of successive droughts and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘Malebusa Mofihli was giving up on being able to provide a square meal for her family in the near future.

Her fields barren and jobs hard to come by, Mofihli was distraught and sometimes even wondered whether she was cursed.
“I desperately needed help but none was coming my way,” she says.
Then, “a miracle” happened.

She was among those selected to benefit from support being provided to vulnerable people by the World Food Programme (WFP).
“I never thought that someday I would be among those who would receive food from donors,” says Mofihli, who was part of 150 people who received food and monetary aid from the WFP in Mohale’s Hoek last week.

Mofihli and other beneficiaries received a combination of cash through M-Pesa and a commodity voucher which she can use to get food items from local retailers.
Although the aid is meant for her family, Mofihli says she will make sure that some of her neighbours who are not part of the beneficiaries also “get a piece of the cake”.

After receiving her share, Mofihli sought out some of her neighbours and friends to make sure they don’t go to bed hungry.
So deep is the culture of togetherness in Mohale’s Hoek that even the poorest of the poor are sharing the little that they have received from donors with starving neighbours and relatives.

“People in this village have been so hard hit that we thought some would die from hunger,” Tšoeu Moteane, the local chief, says.
Villagers were unable to plant due to the drought and lack of money to buy agricultural inputs such as seed and fertilizer.

Those who did plant watched helplessly as the drought savaged their lands.
Hunger is one thing that villagers here have in common and that has brought people closer than before, says the Chief.

“Even though this food distribution did not benefit everyone, on our way home we will be meeting our neighbours asking for some of this,” he says.
He commended people in the village for sharing with those that didn’t make it to the beneficiary list.

“We can’t let them die when we can help. Sometimes, as men we ask our wives to share the little we have with families who have nothing,” he says.
He added: “At times our wives when seeing us with such people assume it is about bonyatsi and it leads to serious fights. If only I was paid as chief I would be in a good position to help them out but now I rely on part time jobs.”

“I wish donors would give more to those selected so that they will share with a larger number,” he says.
According to a 2019 report by the Lesotho Vulnerable Assessment Committee (LVAC), the majority of households in the country are struggling with a serious deficit of food and other basic items.

Most would not make it to the next harvest without help, according to LVAC, which is made up of the government, NGOs and UN agencies.
The WFP, in partnership with the European Union, is handing over M755 each per month to selected households in Lesotho.

Of this amount, M425 is for food (commodity voucher) and M330 comes in the form of cash that can be used for other non-food household requirements.
Beneficiaries in areas where connectivity and network for M-PESA agents and merchants is poor receive all of the M756 as a commodity voucher.

It is not just the poorest of the poor who are grateful for the WFP support.
Local businesspeople whose enterprises were facing collapse due to the biting economic conditions have also received a boost.
Many of them have been roped in to be partners in the project, cashing the vouchers for food and other items.

Sebisibe Korotsoane of Thaba-Tšoeu is one such businessperson. He has been in the retail business for the past 35 years but the past years have been “hell” and he was considering closing all his shops.
He blamed his woes on the influx of Chinese businesses who have put many local businesspeople out of business.

“Competition is growing every day and our government fails to monitor or support us so that we can also compete with the Chinese,” he says, who was forced to close one of his shops.
He says while still contemplating how to keep the remaining shop afloat, Covid-19 struck.

“I was on the verge of closing down (the remaining shop) when the World Food Programme and European Union came to my rescue,” he says.
“I was preparing to surrender this space to a foreigner,” says a relieved Korotsoane.

Another retailer, Rapelang Mabea of Maphutšeng, describes the partnership with the WFP and the EU as “heaven-sent”.
He said for years he has been trying to grow his business “but it was never easy and I closed down and even went as far as leasing the place to other people.”

“In 2010 I resumed my trading. Although business was still not that promising I never gave up this time,” he says.
Then he got a six-months contract with the WFP and his fortunes changed for the better.

“I am satisfied with the growth of my business and I will maintain it from here,” Mabea says.
Acting District Administrator of Mohale’s Hoek, Litšoeneng Thibeli, spoke highly of the WFP collaboration with the EU to assist the vulnerable people.
“This is a special occasion worth witnessing,” he says, describing the project as “a good initiative”.

He says the area has been ravaged by drought since 2015 and a study showed that over 40 000 people there are food insecure.
“The harvest has not been good and our people are suffering from hunger at district level,” he says.

Mpharane MP, Nkoane Lebakae, called on the government to introduce self-help projects to ensure people in the area do not continue relying on hand-outs from donors.
“Residents here don’t want to depend on donations as they are hands on people who plant. Mpharane has very rich soils,” he says, adding: “In future we don’t want food donations but seed.”

The July 2019 LVAC report revealed that 349 000 people were facing acute food insecurity between May and September 2019.
WFP Country Director Mary Njoroge said the UN food agency came to the help of the community following a request from the government.
“Our aim is to achieve Goal 2 of sustainable development – zero hunger,” she says.

She says since 2001, Lesotho has been affected by different shocks but drought was the most frequent one.
She says this is the third consecutive year in which Lesotho has experienced poor harvests, adding that “most importantly” people have to recognise that climate change is here to stay.

“If it is here affecting our livelihoods, we have to come with ways to adjust, adapt and adopt other ways of doing things so that we don’t get affected,” she says.
Njoroge says food is a basic human right.
“If one doesn’t eat, development will be affected.”
Hunger, she says, strips people of their dignity.
“Therefore, we need to look into how to address the root cause of hunger,” Njoroge says.

“We really want strong communities that are able to withstand shocks so as to reach the next level,” she adds.
She says in October last year former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane declared a national emergency due to severe drought.
In response, the WFP launched an emergency response from October until June 2020.

“Our response was aligned with the government’s response plan, with the WFP supporting the agriculture and food security sector,” she says.
She says beneficiaries were identified through the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA) in the Social Development Ministry.
“As much as it is from a drought perspective, we also know that the poorest people in the community are the ones also affected by the shocks. If we have more resources we would cater for more people,” Njoroge says.
She urged other donors to assist the country in these critical times.
EU Ambassador to Lesotho, Christian Manahl, said they are aware of the difficulties facing many people in Lesotho.
“We are happy that through our contribution, we are able to help the government,” he says.

He says their priority is to help people to get over the crisis.
“We can see that this place is a rich agricultural area but rains have failed so our first priority is to help them get over this.”
However, “the objective should not be to create situations where humanitarian assessments and assistance have to be repeated over and over again. We have to help these people to find ways of coping with this new situation.”

He says that they are already in the final stages of approving social grants as part of the broader support to help Basotho survive the crisis.
“This is to specifically help people cope with the effects of the Covid-19 threat, economic and social impact,” he says.
Political stability is vital for Lesotho to achieve its development goals.
“We hope this new government has stability to do what it intends to do and achieve what can be achieved,” he says.

’Mapule Motsopa

News

BAP appeals judge’s ruling

Published

3 hours ago

January 20, 2025

The Post

MASERU

THE Basotho Action Party (BAP)’s Central Executive Committee has appealed against Justice Molefi Makara’s ruling that it has no powers to suspend Motlatsi Maqelepo and Tello Kibane.

Maqelepo is the BAP deputy leader while Kibane is the chairman of the caucus in parliament.

In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, Justice Makara said the party’s disciplinary committee did not have the powers to discipline the duo when there is a pending High Court case.

The judge also said the executive committee cannot suspend the two when there is a court case seeking to interdict it from doing so.

“The matter is sub judice and it has to be so treated,” Justice Makara said on Tuesday.

The BAP’s central executive committee suspended Maqelepo for seven years and Kibane for five years beginning last Tuesday.

Maqelepo’s suspension will end on January 7, 2032 while Kibane’s will be until January 7, 2030.

Their suspension letters from the BAP deputy secretary general Victoria Qheku, say they should not participate in any of the party’s activities.

They were suspended in absentia after they refused to attend the disciplinary hearing, which they said was illegal.

Yesterday, the BAP leader, Professor Nqosa Mahao, filed an appeal against the High Court ruling.

Professor Mahao, as the first applicant along with the BAP and the disciplinary committee, argued that Justice Makara had erred and misdirected himself when he said he had jurisdiction to interfere with the internal matters of the party.

He reasoned that the High Court ignored the prayers that are purely constitutional under the 1993 Lesotho Constitution.

He said the court erred and misdirected itself “in granting the interim prayers in the face of a jurisdictional objection where no exceptional circumstances existed, especially where the applicants would have remedies in due cause”.

“The Court a quo erred and misdirected itself in granting the interim reliefs retrospectively,” the court papers read.

Maqelepo had earlier argued that there is a court case that is pending in the High Court seeking to interdict the party from charging them in its structures without approval of the special conference he is calling.

He said the party leadership should have awaited the outcome of the case before proceeding with any disciplinary action.

“The party that is led by a professor of law continues to do dismissals despite the issue being taken to the courts,” Maqelepo said.

He said their fate in the party is in the hands of the special conference.

He appealed to all the party constituencies to continue writing letters proposing the special conference.

Maqelepo, Kibane, Hilda Van Rooyen, and ’Mamoipone Senauoane are accused of supporting a move to remove Professor Mahao from his ministerial position last year.

They were part of BAP members who asked Prime Minister Sam Matekane to fire Professor Mahao, who at the same time was pushing for the reshuffle of Tankiso Phapano, the principal secretary for the Ministry of Energy.

When Matekane ignored Professor Mahao’s demands, the latter withdrew the BAP from the coalition government. That decision was fiercely opposed by the party’s four MPs.

Maqelepo started touting members from constituencies to call for the special conference to reverse Professor Mahao and the central executive committee’s decision.

The central executive committee issued a circular stopping Maqelepo’s rallies but he continued, with the support of the other MPs.

In the BAP caucus of six MPs, it is only Professor Mahao and ’Manyaneso Taole who support the withdrawal from the government.

Majara Molupe

News

Widow fights stepchildren

Published

7 hours ago

January 20, 2025

The Post

LERIBE

A Butha-Buthe widow is fighting her stepchildren in court after she accused them of making illegal withdrawals of cash from her bank account.

’Maletšela Letšela told the High Court in Tšifa-li-Mali that her four stepchildren had taken advantage of her age and gained access to her money through her late husband’s death certificate which they used to withdraw some cash.

She did not reveal how much had been withdrawn from the account.

Letšela pleaded with the court to order the children to return her late husband’s death certificate.

Maletšela was the second wife to the late Mohlabakobo Letšela.

Mohlabakobo’s first wife died in 1991.

Letšela told the court in an urgent application that she married Mohlabakobo through customary rites in 1999 and they subsequently solemnised their union by civil rights in November 2003.

“I should state that I married my husband as a widower, his wife having passed away leaving behind four children who are respondents in the matter,” Letšela said.

Letšela has two children with Mohlabakobo.

She said at the time of the first wife’s death, they had already amassed property in the form of a residential house in Mokhotlong and rental flats in Butha-Buthe.

“I have always considered this property as belonging to the children of my husband’s first marriage and continue to hold that view,” Letšela said.

“During my marriage and before my husband’s death, we built a residential property at Makopo, Ha-Letšolo, in the district of Butha-Buthe,” she said.

“I had helped my husband to raise his children as my own and we have been living together as a family at my matrimonial home located at Makopo, Ha-Letšolo, until he passed away in October 2024, after a long illness.”

Letšela said after the death of her husband, they worked peacefully with his children without any sense of animosity and they appreciated her role as the widow and joint owner of her husband’s estate.

“This feeling is aided by a written deposition signed by Refiloe and Lietsietsi Letšela (Mohlabakobo’s children from the first marriage) nominating me as the heir in respect of monies held in my husband’s name at both the First National Bank and Standard Bank of Lesotho,” she said.

She said Mohlabakobo, with the aid of the family, wrote letters to appoint her heir to his estate in the event of his death.

She said even the children rightfully appointed her as the beneficiary in respect of these monies with a clear understanding that as a spouse to their late father, she was the rightful person to claim for benefits deriving out of his estate.

She said with the aid of the letter, she was able to withdraw funds from the banks to cover the funeral costs.

“Shortly after my husband’s burial, I was approached by Refiloe, who requested an original copy of my husband’s death certificate claiming she wanted to trace funds in my husband’s bank account held at Post Bank in South Africa,” she said.

“Sensing no harm, I released the copy to her and she left in the company of her brother and sister.”

She said she had no sense at that point whatsoever that Refiloe’s intentions were malicious.

“By that time Refiloe had already assumed possession of my husband’s phone and vehicle, and I did not complain owing to my old age and my understanding that

I did not know how to operate a smart phone, and my lack of skills to drive a car,” she said.

The siblings, she said, never brought any report regarding the funds they were to trace.

“I got suspicious of their actions and immediately sought intervention from the Butha-Buthe police.”

The police called Refiloe instructing her to return the death certificate, but she informed the officer that the copy was now in the custody of her sibling Litsietsi in South Africa.

Litsietsi later responded that she would “return the certificate on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 but that did not happen rather they are now claiming they never took it”.

“Sensing that the situation had gone out of hand, I decided to go to Post Bank with the aim of tracing the movement of these children,” she said.

Letšela said the bank manager told her that the children had instituted a claim as beneficiaries of the funds using the same death certificate.

The manager, she said, advised her to secure a letter of authority from the Master of the High Court for them to handle her case.

The Master of the High Court, she said, could not help her because she did not have the original copy of the certificate.

“I have no other alternative but to seek the court’s intervention as I was advised no actions could be taken without the court’s order.”

’Malimpho Majoro

News

Knives out for Molelle

Published

1 week ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

KNORX Molelle’s appointment as the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) in February 2023 could have been illegal.

The Law Society of Lesotho has told Prime Minister Sam Matekane that Molelle was appointed without being admitted as a legal practitioner in Lesotho, as required by law.

The society claims the information came from a whistleblower on January 2 and was corroborated by its roll of legal practitioners in Lesotho.

The society says the appointment violates section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act 1999 which states that a person shall not be appointed as the DCEO director general unless they have been admitted as a legal practitioner in terms of the Legal Practitioners Act.

In the letter, Advocate Ithabeleng Phamotse, the society’s secretary, tells Matekane that this requirement “is not a mere procedural formality but a substantive qualification essential to the lawful appointment of the Director General”.

“The absence of such qualification fatally impairs the appointment ab initio, rendering it null and void from the outset,” Advocate Phamotse says in the letter written on Tuesday.

The society argues that if left unaddressed the illegality undermines the credibility, effectiveness and legality of the DCEO’s operations and exposes the kingdom to serious risks, including challenges to the lawfulness of decisions and actions made by Molelle.

“Should it be confirmed that the appointment was made in contravention of the mandatory legal requirements,” Advocate Phamotse said, “we respectfully urge you to take immediate corrective action to rectify this glaring irregularity”.

Advocate Phamotse tells the prime minister that if the appointment is not corrected, the society would be “left with no alternative but to institute legal proceedings to protect the interests of justice and uphold the rule of law in Lesotho”.

“We trust that you will accord this matter your highest priority and act decisively to avert further damage to the integrity of our governance structures.”

The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Thapelo Mabote, said they received the letter but Matekane had not yet read it yesterday.

Matekane is on leave and is expected back in the office on January 14.

Questions over the validity of his appointment come as Molelle is being haunted by the damaging audio clips that were leaked last week.

The clips were clandestinely recorded by Basotho National Party leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe.

In some of the clips, Molelle appears to be describing Matekane and his deputy Justice Nthomeng Majara as idiots. He also appears to be calling Law Minister Richard Ramoeletsi a devil.

In other clips, he seems to be discussing cases. thepost has not independently verified the authenticity of the audio clips.

Staff Reporter