News

Keeping an eye on initiation schools

Published

6 years ago

August 10, 2018

THABA-BOSIU– A LAW meant to protect the secrets of initiation schools as well as curtail hooliganism associated with the practice is on the cards.
Leaders of initiation schools at an indaba held in Thaba-Bosiu last Saturday commended the move.
Speaking at the indaba, Tourism Minister Motlohi Maliehe said the government hopes that cases of criminality will decline after the initiation law is passed in parliament.

The idea of a law to regulate and institutionalise initiation schools was mooted in 2004, Maliehe said.
He said the challenge was that many MPs were uninitiated and too unfamiliar with the practice to initiate any meaningful discussion on the proposed law.

The practice is shrouded in secrecy. Customarily, it is viewed as a transgression to discuss initiation practices with uninitiated men.
He said when Parliament was supposed to make the law, initiated MPs refused to “discuss men’s issues with boys’.
“We were told that we did not even go to initiation school therefore we knew nothing,” he said.

Committees of initiated men from around the country were invited to the indaba to discuss the proposed legislation among them. The was meant to ensure that by the time the proposed law reaches parliament only issues that are not secrets can come to the fore.
The law will bar children below the age of 18 years from enrolling in initiation schools.

Maliehe said the absence of a solid law poses a serious challenge to children who are forced into initiation school at a young age.
Maliehe said children were leaving school in “great numbers” to join initiation schools.
“After the initiation the same children think they are men therefore they are capable of raising their own families,” he said.

Some unscrupulous school owners have turned the traditional practice into a money-making venture, which is against Basotho customs.
“This ends up making our culture lose meaning and credibility. We should stop it,” he said.
Maliehe said the law should be written in Sesotho “so that other races do not have a chance to read about our culture.”
He also said hospital circumcision does not count as initiation.

“Initiation is teaching people their cultural norms. Therefore after doing hospital circumcision people should go to initiation school,” he said.
Some women attended the indaba because there were no “hard core” issues discussed there.
’Maseisa Ntlama, Director of World Vision, a humanitarian ecumenical organisation was one of them.

Ntlama said their concern was children abandoning formal education to enrol at initiation schools.
She also said they made a pledge to have helped 550 000 children from 210 000 families to attend school and provided food parcels in 2020.
“We found out that many male students leave primary and secondary education to go to initiation schools before the age of 18. After that they refuse to go back to formal school,” she said.

A representative from the Ministry of Education, Cylia Malefe, said the introduction of free primary education has failed to stem initiation-induced drop-outs.
She said that last year 825 children dropped out of primary school to go to initiation schools.

“And here you should understand that they are below 13 years of age, just because there is no law,” she said.
She said 600 secondary schools students dropped out of schools to go to initiation school last year.
“Initiation places are placed at open spaces so that children are attracted or captured while passing so as a result they drop out of school,” she added.

Malefe also said children who go back to school after initiation “feel like men or bosses and they fail because they do not listen to their teachers”.
Ntlama said after initiation the boys marry females of their age on the understanding that they are men, fuelling child marriages.
She said last year UNICEF said 24 percent of all marriages were ‘child marriages’.

Most children who undergo initiation tend to marry early, as they believe they have attained manhood or womanhood.
Initiation School National Committee chairman, Poea Letsielo, acknowledged some criminal activities at initiation schools.
“One of major crimes is people who are beaten while passing through the initiation places,” he said.

A Ministry of Health representative, Baroana Phenethi, said the ministry’s challenge is of nurses who did not go to traditional schools.
“Only a few of them went there, including me,” he said, adding that some young boys struggled with conditions at the initiation schools.
“Their bodies cannot adapt easily to conditions and many of them are infected so they should get medication,” he said.
“Nutrition in some initiation schools is poor so children under the age of 18 suffer from malnutrition,” he added.

Police Senior Inspector ’Malebohang Nepo said law enforcement agents were hamstrung by the lack of a law regulating initiation schools.
At times, police fail to attend to crimes committed at initiation schools if they are not in the company of initiated people, said Nepo.
She said after initiation school some families disown their children because many of them would have rebelled and dropped out of school and opted to be initiated.

“They then become criminals and are taken to jail at a young age,” she said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Keketso Monaheng said the proposed law would empower the police.
“After the law is passed everything will be monitored,” said Monaheng, who took time off work as a senior cop to attend Monaheng initiation school four years ago.

The Principal Chief of Koeneng, Chief Lesaoana Peete, said he went to initiation school after graduating from university with a law degree.
“I went to initiation school because as a chief I have to protect our culture,” he said.
“The laws are going to help us a lot as people who love our culture,” he said.

Nkheli Liphoto

News

Knives out for Molelle

Published

2 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

2 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

2 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