News

Taxi owners block Maseru border

Published

8 years ago

January 9, 2017

’Makhotso Rakotsoane

MASERU – ANGRY Basotho taxi operators blockaded the Maseru Bridge border gate for six hours to protest the beating up a driver and passengers by South African taxi operators.
The taxi operators parked their taxis on the bridge thus blocking the road from 10am to 4pm so that vehicles from Lesotho and those from South Africa could not cross the river.
But what triggered the protest appeared to have been the decision by the South African police to impound a Lesotho taxi and their failure to prevent crime after Ladybrand taxi operators assaulted a Mosotho taxi driver and some passengers.

“It is infuriating that these South African police officers at the Maseru border gate just watched when our driver and passengers were being beaten up by those hooligans across the river,” Makama Monese, the spokesman for the Maseru Region Taxi Operators (MRTO), said.

“The duty of police worldwide is to prevent crime and when it has been committed their duty is to investigate it so that the perpetrators can be prosecuted in the courts of law.”
“We cannot tolerate the behaviour of the South African police and some of the drivers and taxi operators across this river,” Monese said. When thepost arrived at the border gate several taxis were dropping off passengers on the bridge because there was no way to pass.

The MRTO’s complaint was that the South African police, instead of protecting them so that they could cross without any threat from owners of Ladybrand taxis, blocked the road saying they did not have a right to ferry passengers to South Africa. Monese said the South African police did this despite that all taxis and buses from Lesotho had forms designed and prepared by the South African government that allowed them to take passengers from Lesotho to any destination in South Africa.

He also complained bitterly that last year the two governments met in Matatiele, which borders Qacha’s Nek, where they agreed that taxis from both countries could take passengers to any point across the border. “We don’t understand why the police in that country insist that we are holding documents that are not allowed in their country but the very same documents were designed and prepared by their government,” Monese said.

He said on Sunday they successfully carried passengers to South Africa without any hindrance but to their shock on Monday morning they were prevented from entering South Africa with passengers. “Some of our taxis were seized by the police but now only one of them remains with the police,” he said.

“We have hope that we will pass this because SADC has expressly told Lesotho and South Africa that if they could not provide security for passengers and drivers they will do it themselves,” he said. Monese said South Africa is violating the SADC Protocol on free movement of people and goods between member states. “They are violating the SADC Protocol,” he said. “SADC will solve this problem.”

Another MRTO top official, Lebohang Moea, said it was sad that they were losing business just because one country did not want to observe law.
“The SADC Protocol is binding on all member states,” he said.
The Ministry of Transport Principal Secretary, Majakathata Thakhisi Mokoena, said “what the South African authorities are doing against us is outrageous”.

“I don’t understand them. I don’t know what they want,” Thakhisi Mokoena said.
“The law is clear on this and our agreements are binding on both parties,” he said.
Thakhisi Mokoena said the government was planning to seek redress from the courts in South Africa to release the impounded Lesotho taxi “against the law”.
The taxi operators only removed their vehicles after Thakhisi Mokoena spoke to Free State province top officials at the border gate.

This is not the first time that Basotho taxi operators have resorted to blocking the border gate after their South African counterparts beat and smashed their taxis. During Easter Monday in 2015, at least two Basotho-owned taxis were damaged when Free State taxi operators went on the rampage stoning vehicles.

Free State taxi operators strongly objected to Lesotho taxis ferrying passengers to South Africa instead of offloading them at the border where they could be picked to various destinations in South Africa. This happened barely five days after the then Transport Minister Tšoeu Mokeretla promised to deal with the cross-border taxi violence.

This is the fifth incident in which Lesotho’s taxis have been damaged and in all incidents nobody has been arrested or charged with malicious damage to property.
In two of the incidents two Basotho passengers were injured.

In 2013, taxi men from South Africa burnt two taxis from Lesotho and injured passengers at the Maseru border gate and at Fourisburg in 2012. In all the violent incidents both the Lesotho and South African governments did not seem prepared to tackle the problem while the Free State provincial government turned a blind eye to the problem.

South Africans argue that the SADC protocol that allows free movement of people and goods between member countries is unfair to them because “all countries that surround South Africa are given an opportunity to take passengers to anywhere in the country despite that South Africa itself has taxis to do the job”. They say Lesotho taxis should drop the passengers at the border and South African taxis will take them from there to their different destinations.

In 2014 Lesotho taxis were pelted with stones and passengers injured in Fourisburg, a South African town bordering Lesotho’s Butha-Buthe. In September 2013 taxi men from Lesotho blocked the border gate, saying they were trying to force South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma and the then Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to solve their problems but in vain.

Both motorists and pedestrians were unable to cross to either country during the blockages.
Heavily armed police from both countries had to patrol the border to prevent the repeat of earlier incidents in which passengers were injured and taxis damaged when taxi men pelted them with stones.

It has been four years since transport ministers from both countries met to discuss the issue.
The then Lesotho’s Transport Minister, Lebesa Maloi, said negotiations between delegations from the governments of the two countries failed after taxi operators from Free State stormed out of the meeting complaining that their provincial department was not represented.

“We were startled when they stormed out of the meeting,” Maloi said, then.
Lesotho had invited South Africa’s national transport department from the capital, Pretoria.
The erstwhile chairman for RSA-Lesotho Cross-Border Route Corridor Committee, Molapo Mokoena, a South African citizen whose taxis also ferry passengers between Lesotho and South Africa, accused the Free State government of undermining the SACU and SADC protocols on free movement of peoples and goods. He said South African taxi operators, especially those in Ladybrand “always give us problems when we pass here”.

The Free State government took sides with South African taxi operators and revoked the SADC Protocol saying it was not binding on them.
Mokoena’s committee sued in the Free State High Court and obtained an order declaring “the decision made by or on behalf of the MEC for Police, Roads and Transport…unlawful, invalid and of no force and effect.”

The order also interdicted “the members of the Free State Traffic Officials from unlawfully preventing Taxi Operators or Drivers who holds (sic) a valid Cross Border Corridor [Permit] from crossing the border between RSA and Lesotho”.
The case was before Justice C Van Zyl on October 4, 2013.

Preventing Basotho from ferrying passengers to South Africa is in defiance of the court order.
Immediately after the transport ministers’ meeting of the two countries, Maloi issued a warning that Lesotho taxi operators should not ferry passengers to South Africa “because, as you see, it is still dangerous”. “Please exercise patience until this problem has been solved,” Maloi pleaded with them. The solution to the problem has not come even 44 months later.

News

Knives out for Molelle

Published

5 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

5 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

5 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