MASERU – PARLIAMENT this week heard how Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) lavished perks on board chairman, Thabo Khasiphe, at a time when the parastatal was in serious financial dire straits.
Former LEC corporate secretary, Attorney Khotso Nthontho, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that Khasipe was receiving preferential treatment, including travelling business class and upgraded double accommodation benefits not extended to other board members.
Attorney Nthontho said the payments were done at the instruction of then-board chairperson Ntsie Maphathe.
Maphathe is now the Acting Managing Director.
Khasipe is working in Namibia as the executive secretary for the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the LEC pays his travel and accommodation costs whenever he comes home to chair board meetings.
Khasipe however defended the expenses, stating that he sometimes travels to Lesotho for LEC-related meetings, adding that most of the meetings are held virtually.
“If I were to pay for my travel, it would be too expensive,” Khasipe told the committee.
“I was advised by the corporate secretary that the LEC would cover my travel and accommodation costs,” he said.
However, a PAC member, Machesetsa Mofomobe, challenged Khasipe, demanding a specific policy that allows for individual board members to receive travel benefits outside of group engagements.
“The policy only covers travel for the board as a collective, not individual members,” Mofomobe argued, adding that if Khasipe is entitled to such benefits, then another board member, Professor Sepiriti Tlali, should be compensated for fuel to travel from Lerotholi Polytechnic to the LEC offices.
Khasipe admitted there was no written policy but said the verbal guidance had come from Attorney Nthontho.
“The corporate secretary did everything without me having to insist,” Khasipe said.
Attorney Nthontho vehemently denied initiating or authorising the benefits.
“It is not true that I gave out these benefits,” he stated.
“The arrangements were made under instructions from Ntsie Maphathe.”
He clarified that only the LEC Board Charter, last updated in 2021, governs board entitlements.
“It includes allowances for sitting fees and group travel, but not individual benefits like business-class travel or luxury accommodation,” Attorney Nthontho said.
Attorney Nthontho told the PAC that he was specifically instructed to upgrade Khasipe’s airline tickets to business class and book accommodation for him at Avani Maseru, formerly called Maseru Sun, or Lancers Inn.
“I was told to book him into the Maseru Sun or Lancers Inn and upgrade his ticket from economy to business class,” he said.
“These were not decisions I made alone.”
He also revealed that other board members have not received such benefits, highlighting the disparity.
The Acting Managing Director, Ntsie Maphathe, denied giving any such instructions to Attorney Nthontho, contradicting the former corporate secretary’s statements.
That left the committee with conflicting accounts.
Nkheli Liphoto
