News

When Ramphalla’s tractor was burnt

Published

1 year ago

January 9, 2024

WHEN the only tractor in a village breaks down in the middle of the summer, the community’s main worry is how they will plough their fields. But for the people of Tebellong, a village in the backwaters of Qacha’s Nek, Tsietsi Ramphalla’s tractor meant much more.

As the tractor was engulfed in flames last week, the villagers knew what that disaster meant. The tractor, which the 66-year-old Ramphalla bought with nearly all of his terminal benefits payout in 2014 after working in a South African mine for decades, was much more than just a farming implement for the villagers.

It was the ambulance that ferried their sick to the clinic miles away.

Many mothers have the tractor to thank for making it to the hospital just in time for their delivery.

Nearly every family in the village had a neighbour, friend or relative who knocked on Ramphalla’s door for help to get themselves or their loved one to the clinic.

The tractor was also a hearse that carried the dead from the morgue to the village or the cemetery. Sometimes local churches would hire the tractor to travel to meetings in nearby villages. When it was not on the roads it was in the fields.

It only rested when Ramphalla had his nose in the bonnets to fix something. Ramphalla’s tractor was theirs too.

That explains why the villagers were left distressed when the tractor was burned last week.

“I suspect it was burnt by someone,” Ramphalla says.

“What breaks my heart is that this tractor was the only hope for me because I am no longer employed”.

“I am old and cannot be employed again. There is nothing left for me that can bring in money,” Ramphalla says, his voice laden with anguish. He says it was around midnight when he was awakened by frantic voices calling out his name.

“Immediately I saw something that was engulfed by flames and I noticed that it was where I parked my tractor.”

Still half-sleep, he stumbled out of the house to be greeted by a blazing flame. His neighbours were trying to put out the fire with anything they could find. Some scrambled for soil but others used tree branches.

Others brought buckets of water from their houses. Ramphalla joined in the frenzy but it was too late.

“We tried all we could to fight the fire but failed. My tractor was burnt beyond repair. I cannot see where to start if I were to repair it.”

Ramphalla and his neighbours also believe that someone torched the tractor.

“I am staying with one boy who is helping me, and my wife died two years ago while my other children have grown up and are living their lives in different places,” he says.

“I am trying to be strong … I can even die because it feels like I have lost all I had.”

He has since reported a case of arson to the Qacha’s Nek police.

The village chief of Tebellong, Chief Sebatli Phatela, says much as the tractor belonged to Ramphalla “the fact is it belonged to all of us”.

Although Tebellong is fairly close to Qacha’s Nek town it is in one of the most mountainous and hard-to-reach areas in the district.

The area is separated from Qacha’s Nek town by the Senqu River, which does not have a bridge and people use boats.

There are no cars on their side of the river and Ramphalla’s tractor was the only vehicle used by residents in several villages alongside the Senqu River.

It picked them and their goods on the river bank after the boat trip across the river.

People from other villages used it to go to Tebellong Hospital, the only one in the area, and it was also their taxi to the river bank which is their ‘bus station’.

Chief Phatela said this is why the villagers are struggling to understand why someone would be so evil to burn the tractor.

“We are very poor on this side of the river and other people are trying to bring us to a good level of living but others are just destroying everything,” he says.

Tšokolo Phaloane, the local councillor, is equally disappointed.

“The tractor was helping us deliver sick people to the hospital, it was delivering our dead loved ones to their resting places and also the furniture from the river,” Phaloane says.

“I am wondering who decided to do this,” he says.

“We are trying to make Tebellong a better place but other people are still stopping that from happening.”

Tebellong is one of the most underdeveloped areas in the district.

The residents have since 2021 expressed their dissatisfaction with the way the government has ignored their plight.

In July 2021 residents told thepost that they did not feel that they had a caring government.

One of them, ’Mamontši Liaho, said “it is a disgrace that politicians spend so much money on their salaries yet they forget that people living in rural areas suffer a lot”.

“Every day we spend the last cents we have and go to Qacha’s Nek to do small things like certifying our documents,” Liaho said.

“That transport we use for travelling to Qacha’s Nek would have been used for other basic needs,” she said.

“A big place like this one without a police station means we can have many criminals.”

Many who talked to thepost said the government should do something to bring services near them.

Now, with their tractor burnt down, the situation is even dire.

Thooe Ramolibeli

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