…leaving communities crime-ridden KEISO MOHLOBOLI It certainly doesn’t look like a police station but a crumbling mining compound whose very right to exist literally ended the moment management decided it no longer made economic sense to continue with the mining operation. But this is not a deteriorating, once-thriving mine now dying a very slow and painful death

’MAJIRATA LATELA MOKHOTLONG - It has become a well-known fact Mokhotlong is Lesotho’s richest district in minerals, mainly diamonds and water. But could recent allegations of gold discovery along the Senqu River banks in the district be true? Well, the village chief and his subjects in Sekoka believe they are settled on a land rich with

BILLY NTAOTE & THUSO MOSABALA European Union (EU) has expressed its confidence over the ambitious implementation of a project funded to the tune of M621 million for protection of water sources and wetlands that ensure continued supply of water to Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) dams. Protection and survival of the wetlands in the highlands of Lesotho

’MAJIRATA LATELA MAPUTSOE - Hundreds of villagers in Maputsoe have been grappling in water shortage crisis for almost a year now, the MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism has learnt. Not even after the desperate residents wrote a grievance letter to the Water and Sewage Company (WASCO) last November has the situation changed. In fact, the Centre discovered

NKOALE TŠOANA Judicial Officers Association of Lesotho has schooled Justice Minister Mokhele Moletsane about the essence of their job for allegedly taking their grievances lightly against those of prison wardens. Moletsane, whose portfolio also includes correctional service, is accused of focusing all his attention on correctional services more than demands of key judicial officers dealing

LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE & THUSO MOSABALA Chief Magistrate ’Matankiso Nthunya has recused herself from a case in which former law and constitutional affairs minister, Mootsi Lehata, is accused of raping a minor. Lehata, 49, is currently on a M500 bail after he first appeared before the Maseru Magistrate’s Court on July 10, 2018, on a

BILLY NTAOTE Lesotho Wool Centre’s failure to secure a veterinary transit (export) permit has caused its 1248 bales of wool worth M21 million and destined for China to be barred from passing through South Africa. The wool, ferried in 12 trucks from Thaba-Bosiu in the Maseru outskirts but was dramatically barred entry into South Africa at

LEKHETHO NTSUKUNYANE Over 20 employees in Office of the Auditor-General have approached parliament’s portfolio committee on Economic and Development Cluster, accusing their boss of denying them eight-week study leave, arguably mandatory to public servants on part-time training. The disgruntled government auditors want the National Assembly to intervene in their lingering dispute with Auditor-General Lucy Liphafa over the

SECHABA MOKHETHI Ombudsman Leshoele Thoahlane has quashed promotion of ‘Mabakubung Pitso from the position of Financial Controller to Finance Director – Revenue at the Ministry of Finance, reversing decisions on four other positions affected by the promotion. MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism learned Pitso was further promoted to the position of Deputy Accountant General–Cash Management, the one

…accuses commissioner of witch-hunt BILLY NTAOTE and MPHO THAA THAA The Chief Executive Officer of Co-op Lesotho Neo Theoha is under fire from the Cooperatives regulator for allegedly frustrating an audit of the cooperative’s books. This is after the Commissioner of Cooperatives Maphamoli Lekoetje received insider’s reports that prime land of the cooperative was illegally being developed under