News

Chasing a culinary dream

Published

3 years ago

June 21, 2022

MASERU – When she is not studying, Leetoane Sekokotoana, popularly known as Lilly, is making chilli sauces, yoghurt, and ice cream and recently ventured into mayonnaise production. She reckons her love for cooking and the desire to experience new things gave birth to her hustle, which started with just one bottle of sauce.

“I then started making some different sauces,” said the 23-year-old who grew up in Mafeteng, Tšakholo.

Conditions were “pretty bad” as she grew up without a father who died when she was only 11-months-old. Her mother died when she was nine.

“From there it became very difficult for me because I had to start fending for myself as my siblings were still very young at that time,” she recalled.

Lilly said her background shaped her thinking as a young woman because she learned to work hard to survive. At some point, she said she would sell peaches to her schoolmates.

“I had to make sure that I had something to eat and meet all my basic needs, including uniform when I was in high school. That is why I do a lot of things all at once because I have to survive on my own.”

Although her support system wasn’t that strong, she said she had people who helped her survive the difficult phase.

She thanked her then teacher, Mokoena Ramalohlanye, who would pay for her school trips and other things that required money.

“He helped me a lot and I think he is partly the reason I survived high school. I never missed a school trip because of him.

“I don’t know how he did it but every time when there was a school trip and he would offer to pay because he knew my situation at home.

“I stayed alone at the time but I had friends — Nthabeleng Maphatšoe, Puseletso Nteso, Konosoang Matabane and Tabile who also helped. I would eat at their place a lot of times. They would share what they had with me as I hardly had money for food,” said Lilly.

Currently studying Social Work at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), Lilly says it is difficult to balance work and studies.

“It’s not easy at all but I try.”

She says she always wanted to be an entrepreneur “and my mother is sorely the reason I wanted to be my own boss. I grew up around her hustle and she was my role model and I am honestly content with my choice.”

“So I am chasing both my dreams and hopefully one day I can look back and say it wasn’t easy but I managed.”

Her passion, she says, was learnt from her late mother who owned a shop that sold fast food and beer, including traditional brew.

“I would sit and watch her sometimes and I think those lessons were imprinted onto my mind. I learnt how to make chilli sauce from her. All I did was improve it and learned to make more things through experiments. My strength comes from her as she did a lot of things all at once.”

Lilly is also into event management, mainly organising girls’ trips to different places or meet-ups where women share life experiences.
She plans to expand her business dubbed Lillycious.

“Nothing makes me happier than being a business woman and creating employment. I just want to see the Lillycious sauces business grow bigger and better,” said Lilly, whose wish is to open her own place.

“I really want to own property for my business. This is important because customers should not struggle to locate me.”

She says her major challenge is “a continuous illness” that affects her business as sometimes she fails to deliver.

“My illness puts me straight into bed and worse, some of my customers don’t understand.”

She says being an entrepreneur is emotionally draining.

“Not being able to meet my targets sometimes . . . it doesn’t sit well with me as it affects the goals which I want to achieve,” said, adding that she works with Tebello Seliane.

“He is very helpful. Without him, I don’t know if I would survive because he makes sure that there are enough ingredients and he delivers my sauces.”

Her sister, Moliehi, has been helpful with errands and delivering some sauces to different customers too.

“I have a very strong support system now. My sisters, partner and friends are a big part of that system. Sometimes they help with deliveries, filling the bottles or chopping the vegetables I use.”

She said social media has been a very powerful tool as people share her work.

“They are very supportive as they even criticize my sauce, helping me to improve.”

“I used to produce 10 bottles without stickers but now I am doing over 70 bottles with stickers too. The business grew so rapidly that it shocked me. But, I failed to maintain its growth due to my illness,” said Lilly, expressing gratitude to three loyal customers that have stuck with her from the start.

“They understand me unlike others who mistake my illness for laziness. Some think when I am ill it’s because I don’t want to deliver and pretend to be sick.”
She said her desire to be successful motivates her to soldier on despite the challenges.

‘’All I want is to see myself as an established business woman supplying not only local customers but penetrating the international market. I strive to be that woman who made it regardless of the challenges life threw at me.”

She added that “hunger motivates me. I don’t want to go to bed on an empty stomach when I have hands.” She said competition “is tight”.

“But I do my best. Building and maintaining a healthy customer base helps even though it is not always easy.”

She says selling original recipes makes her business unique.

“One cannot find my sauces anywhere. I make my own from scratch and that will always be my weapon,” she said.

‘Mapule Motsopa

News

Knives out for Molelle

Published

6 days 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

News

Massive salary hike for chiefs

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

THE government has increased the salaries for traditional leaders by a massive 88.5 percent.

This means that a village chief not appointed by a gazette will now earn M3 001 a month, up from the previous salary of M1 592. That means village chiefs will now earn an extra M1 409 per month.

A village chief, or headman, appointed by a gazette has moved from M1 966 to M3 567 per month.

Above a village chief is one with jurisdiction over a small cluster of villages, a category three chief, who now moves from M3 768 to M5 181 per month.

A category four chief, known as ward chief, has moved from M4 455 per month to M7 993.

The category five chief, who reports directly to a principal chief, will now earn M10 674, up from M9 939 per month.

There is no increment for principal chiefs.

The government says the budget for chiefs’ salaries has moved from M129.4 million to M208.3 million annually.

The hike follows a series of discussions between the Lesotho Workers Association, representing the chiefs, and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship.

The revised salaries will be implemented with effect from April 1, 2025.

According to the settlement agreement, a discussion about raising the lowest salary of M6 000 for the lowest-ranking chiefs will be revisited in October 2025.

Chiefs who spoke to thepost have expressed satisfaction with the hike, saying it will significantly improve their lives.

Chief Mopeli Matsoso of Ha-Tikoe in Maseru said his previous salary of M1 500 per month would now be doubled, which would improve his life and help provide smoother services to the community.

He stressed that they used to close the offices while going out looking for jobs to compensate for their little salaries.

“Now the people will get smoother services,” Chief Matsoso said.

“The offices will forever be open,” he said.

Chief Matsoso said the salary hike will also serve as a motivation for other chiefs.

Chief Tumo Majara of Liboping, Mokhethoaneng, also expressed his gratitude.

Chief Majara acknowledge the positive impact the salary review would have, especially as a new officeholder.

“I guess we are all happy, that review will help a lot,” he said.

The Principal Chief of Thaba-Bosiu, Khoabane Theko, said the salary increase of chief is a welcome move by the government.

“I’m yet to study how the new salary structure looks like. But I welcome it as a good move by the government,”Chief Theko said.

Nkheli Liphoto

News

Maqelepo says suspension deeply flawed

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

Motlatsi Maqelepo, the embattled Basotho Action Party (BAP) deputy leader and Tello Kibane, who was the party chairman, have rejected their suspension from the party arguing it was legally flawed.

The BAP’s central executive committee on Tuesday suspended Maqelepo for seven years and Kibane for five years. The suspensions became effective on the same day.

The party’s disciplinary committee which met last Wednesday had recommended an expulsion for the two but that decision was rejected with the committee pushing for a lengthy suspension.

Maqelepo’s suspension will end on January 7, 2032 while Kibane’s will run 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.

“In effect, you are relieved of your responsibility as a CEC member and BAP deputy leader,” Maqelepo was told in the letter.

“You were found guilty by default on all charges and the committee recommended your immediate dismissal from the party,” the letter reads.

On Kibane, the verdict states that the committee decided to mitigate the recommended sanction by reducing his suspension to five years.

“In the gravity of the charges, the suspension affects your membership in the BAP parliamentary caucus from which you are removed as a chairman.”

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

In response to the suspension, Maqelepo wrote a letter addressing the BAP members in general, defying the committee’s decision to suspend them.

He has called for a special conference, appealing to party constituencies to push for it, citing the ongoing internal fight that includes the leadership’s decision to withdraw the BAP from the coalition government.

Maqelepo also said the central executive committee is illegally in a campaign to dissolve committees in the constituencies and replace them with stooges.

He reminded the members that there is a court case pending in the High Court seeking an interdiction to charge them in the party’s structures without approval of the special conference that 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.

The party leader, Professor Nqosa Mahao, is a distinguished professor of law.

Maqelepo said they would write the central executive committee rejecting its decision to suspend them, saying they will continue taking part in party activities.

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 demanding the special conference.

Both Maqelepo and Kibane received letters on November 28 last year inviting them to show cause why they should not be suspended pending their hearing.

They both responded on the following day refusing to attend.

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 the BAP members who asked Prime Minister Sam Matekane to fire Professor Mahao, who at the same time was pushing for the reshuffling 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 much to the fierce resistance of the party’s four MPs.

Maqelepo started touting members from constituencies to call for a 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 are supporting the withdrawal from the government.

Nkheli Liphoto