Bereng Mpaki
MASERU Central Police Station got a facelift at the weekend courtesy of Letshego Financial Services Lesotho (LFS) after staff members repainted the decrepit building.
LFS Lesotho Chief Executive Officer ‘Malehlohonolo Van Tonder, told the Lesotho Times the company decided to lend a helping hand after they observed the station was in serious need of a facelift to enhance the important work done by the police.
“For an institution that is entrusted with such an important job of ensuring law and order, we saw their premises were in a bad state and decided to lend a helping hand,” Ms Van Tonder said on the sidelines of the event.
The Botswana-headquartered company has undertaken several charitable activities since it started operating locally in 2012.
“Our policy is to give back to the community which supports us wherever we operate. Every year, when a subsidiary has made significant profits, a certain percentage is reserved for giving back to the community.
“One way through which we do this is our corporate social responsibility where we have assisted children living with disabilities as well as teenage mothers in the past year.”
She said, as part of this financial year’s programme, they had lined up a one-year scholarship for eight school children who excelled in their studies in Botha Bothe.
“What we are doing here (at the police post) is the second charity project we call Make A Difference. This is where the staff of LFS get involved in bringing about change in the lives of the communities where we operate.”
She said the police was one of the public institutions which facilitated their business operations, through issuing police clearance certificates and certifying documents for their clients when applying for credit.
“This is also not the first time we are extending a helping hand to the police as we also helped them to celebrate their 15th year anniversary in Thaba Tseka in 2015,” she said.
Police Constable Refiloe Sakoane spoke on behalf of the Maseru Urban District Commissioner Senior Superintendent Motlatsi Mapola and said the initiative was a timely boost to motivate staff at the police station to continue doing their job diligently.
“This gesture shows that they recognise and acknowledge the important role that we play in the society. We therefore take this as motivation for us to continue doing our job to the best of our ability,” WPC Sakoane said.
LFS has branches in Maseru, Butha Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng and Quthing.
It also operates in Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria and Mozambique where it recently opened a bank.