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

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

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

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

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

…some given to top cops and politicians during the political turmoil BILLY NTAOTE and RETŠELISITSOE KHABO The acquisition of 1500 firearms by the Lesotho Police Staff Association (LEPOSA) during the 2014-2015 political and security instability appears to have been riddled with corruption, negligence, opaque arms dealing, and gifting of guns to government

By Billy Ntaote and Itumeleng Koleile Former employees of Liqhobong Mining Development Company, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange-listed Firestone Diamonds Plc, have accused the mining company of reneging on a re-employment promise after it allegedly demanded they withdraw their unfair dismissal lawsuit in exchange for their jobs. Liqhobong, a diamond

…allegedly bribed commissioner of mines, politicians and local authorities Matiisetso Mosala Lesotho Stone, a mining company that brands itself as the largest quarrier of natural sandstone products in Southern Africa, is alleged to have illegally extended the boundaries of its mining site, and secured its mining license against these boundaries, by bribing

NICOLE TAU The School Feeding Programme, launched as an initiative to provide hundreds of thousands of malnourished primary school students with a healthy diet, is failing, MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism can reveal. The World Food Program’s Fill the Nutrient Gap Lesotho reported in 2019 that 33% of Basotho children under five

NICOLE TAU Livestock dependent farmers in the highlands of the country have been left in abject poverty after the Park Homes project that was intended to combat animal theft has been abandoned. The project was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Home Affairs to ease stolen livestock identification and recovery. “The