Ombudsman fights from victims’ corner, looks to parly for enforcement NICOLE TAU Barely a kilometre from the nearest village to the Maluba-lube dumpsite in Teyateyaneng, Berea, are hoards of sealed containers of medical waste dumped in a not-fully-fenced dumpsite by the hospitals based in Berea district. It has been almost three years since
Author: LESCIJ LESCIJ
TRC Board member resigns…as Peshoane is cleared
BILLY NTAOTE Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) Board member, Tankiso Sephoso, has resigned after the rights group’s Board cleared the organisation's executive director, Tsikoane Peshoane, off all corruption accusations levelled against him by employees last month. Peshoane returned to work following the Board decisions which came at the height of fresh accusations of
Credibility of TRC chairperson questioned
Accused of protecting Peshoane as corruption investigation lingers BILLY NTAOTE and NTHATUOA KOESHE An ongoing Transformation Resource Centre (TRC)’s inquiry into alleged corruption and abuse of power by the rights group Executive Director Tsikoane Peshoane has allegedly lost its credibility. TRC staffers are accusing the Chairperson of the Board, ‘Mamolefe Petlane, of protecting
NGO boss accused of diverting projects funds to form a party
NICOLE TAU Mabusetsa Lenka Thamae, National Coordinator for a non-profit organisation, Survivors of Lesotho Dams (SOLD), has found himself in hot water after claims of him exploiting the organisation's funds to form a political party emerged. Thamae has been accused of using the organisation’s resources to fund the formation of a newly
Working for Chinese: where sexual harassment is part of the job
SECHABA MOKHETHI, PASCALINAH KABI and BILLY NTAOTE A Chinese construction company delivering a M1.3-billion Mpiti to Sehlabathebe road project accused of massive human rights violations has gone unpunished by authorities as it sweeps complaints under the carpet. These violations include Basotho women working as flag ladies, cleaners or cooks being subjected to sexual harassment by
TRC boss sent home pending corruption probe
BILLY NTAOTE Tsikoane Peshoane, an Executive Director for Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) was sent on forced leave with immediate effect following a damning petition by the organisation’s staff to the Board, accusing him of alleged negligence, corruption, violation of labour rights and tax laws. Hape Moshabesha and fifteen other disgruntled employees penned
Illegal award of mining licences on LHDA sites blocked
MATIISETSO MOSALA Former Minister of Mining, Keketso Sello, illegally instructed his subordinates to award mining leases to a local joint venture company on 14 sites located on land that had been earmarked for the state to develop Polihali Dam related infrastructure. The land had been “set aside for public purposes” in Legal
How corruption, politics threw Lesotho into jumping China debt
Text by Sechaba Mokhethi, Pascalinah Kabi and Billy Ntaote Photos by Sechaba Mokhethi Data visualisations by Han Mu In a desperate bid to win the 2017 elections, former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili ordered the Ministry of Finance to disregard due procedure and swiftly take M1.3-billion Chinese loan that would see a 91-km road
Former minister uncomfortably close to illegal resale of kangaroo meat
MATHATISI SEBUSI Former Minister of Small Business Chalane Phori appears to have been in cahoots with the owners of a local butchery who allegedly resold 2.3-tonnes of kangaroo meat disguised as beef to unsuspecting customers last year. The sale of the meat was also in contravention of a directive from the suppliers
Conflicted PS acts on “corrupt” counterpart
Accuse each other of politicising rural electrification project MNNCIJ Team The Principal Secretaries in two key government ministries are using a $52.9-million (M761-million) World Bank funded electrification project as a political football in their power games as Lesotho heads full tilt into election campaign season. The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Development
