—and not rely on the Public Service Commission
PRIME Minister Sam Matekane recently caused widespread consternation among his political opponents when his government approved regulations seen as lavishing his office with a number of perks including a humungous staff complement of up to 130. Previous prime ministers had gone by with far less numbers of staff, the PM’s critics claimed, while also lashing out at the government’s decision to let the PM and his ministers use their private vehicles at the state’s expense when the government already has a number of “good vehicles”.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Limpho Tau, this week sought to clear the air. The criticism against the prime minister was wholly misplaced, he said. Mr Tau explains that the government had made a deliberate decision to move the coterminous staff members of the PM from the prescripts of the Public Service Commission (PSC) to enable Mr Matekane to hire his own preferred staff. This because the PSC had refused to hire Mr Matekane’s preferred employees. While other previous prime ministers had been left to hire people of their own choice to fill specific positions, the PSC had denied Mr Matekane that same choice, Mr Tau claimed. The PSC had, for instance, insisted that the prime minister’s press attaché should have a degree in journalism or political science and administration. But the same criteria had not been applied to spokespersons of previous prime minister, Mr Tau insists. For example, erstwhile premier Thomas Thabane, was allowed by the same body to employ an individual with just a high school qualification as his press attaché, Mr Tau claimed.
As a result, the government had been left with no option but to remove the responsibility of hiring staff for the PM’s office from the PSC to the prime minister himself. There are also other positions for which the PM should be allowed to recruit people he trusts because of their sensitive nature.
Yet the PSC would not allow Mr Matekane that freedom, Mr Tau said. Because of the PSC’s stance in hobbling the PM, the government had consequently resolved to remove all staff assigned to the PM from the Establishment List of the PSC and put all of them under the direct jurisdiction of the PM, hence the number of 130 specified in the Regulations. These posts had always been there but they were hidden in the PSC’s Establishment List in terms of the Public Service Act, 2005. These are not new employees. Other prime ministers had always had similar staff. The difference now is that premier Matekane’s office will hire these people directly, Mr Tau said.
When Mr Matekane’s term of office ends, all his personal staff would automatically go with him, allowing any new PM to hire their own people.
Mr Tau added that it was “quite ironic” that the PSC was hell-bent on following procedure where Mr Matekane was concerned, whereas previous heads of government like Mr Thabane had been allowed to hire people with no degrees like Relebohile Moyeye and Malehloka Raditapole to key positions in the office.
The new regulations empowering the PM to bypass the PSC, among other things, have been termed Members of Parliament (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations, 2023. They were tabled in the National Assembly alongside the Statutory Salaries (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations 2023, by Leader of the House, Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara and the Minister of Public Service, Labour, and Employment, Richard Ramoeletsi, on the 17th of May 2023 and approved on the 7th of June 2023 before the House adjourned for the winter recess.
Mr Tau has also defended the move to let members of the executive use their vehicles provided they are fuelled, maintained, and insured by the state. He said the move would save the government of M31 million in the current financial year alone. The private vehicles of the 15 members of the executive, inclusive of Mr Matekane’s Mercedes Benz Maybach, will only cost the state M4 million “for insurance, maintenance and fuel”, he said.
On criticism that the government could not afford to be lumbered by maintenance costs of the PM’s ultra-expensive Maybach, Mr Tau said it was unrealistic that Mr Matekane, an affluent businessman and Lesotho’s first billionaire who was accustomed to certain luxuries he had acquired for himself through his own sweat, be now expected to downgrade his vehicle “just because Matekane is now Lesotho’s prime minister”.
Below are excerpts from Mr Tau’s interview with Lesotho Times (LT) Deputy Editor Bongiwe Zihlangu:
LT: The recent endorsement of Regulations on the remuneration of the prime minister, his deputy, cabinet ministers and MPs, has created a lot of noise both in and outside parliament. The PM’s statutory benefits which have been described as overly lavish, have particularly ignited the ire of some opposition parties in parliament and other critics. Minister, can you explain the logic or how it came about that individuals forming Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s personal staff are now employed directly under his office, whereas the long-standing practice has been that they were listed in the so-called Establishment List under the Public Service Act, 2005?
Tau: You have rightly pointed out that the prime minister’s personal staff was listed under the Public Service Establishment List. And all along the personnel therein have been engaged as the appointees or persons preferred by the prime minister. That has always been the case. But this time around, when we got into office in November and the prime minister wanted to make a few appointments, among others the appointment of the Press Attaché to the Prime Minister, Director of the State House, Private Secretary, his Chef at the State House, and maintenance people for such things as plumbing and electricity, the Public Service Commission (PSC) refused to endorse such appointments. They insisted that such appointments should be done after all due processes of advertising and everything else have been done.
Now, we sort of implored the PSC to consider appointing such people because it has always been the case that the PM was allowed to select his own staff. It was quite odd. If for instance you look at the advert for the job description of a press attaché, all along it has said that the chosen candidate should hold a degree in journalism, political science and administration, or a candidate of choice of the prime minster, who may or may not the qualifications required but does have experience in media and publicity. We found this job description here. It’s not us who made it. But the PSC could not appoint the preferred candidate because he did not have the qualifications therein. But we have it on record, that in the past under former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, a person who holds COSC only was appointed press attaché, by the very same commission, bodies, or people. So, it was quite odd. It’s bad, to the extent that that person (Press Attaché to the Prime Minister) has not yet been employed officially despite being in office. He is not officially being paid. It’s not just him, and so are many others. So, you’d wonder, what would be the reason that the prime minister would advertise to get a chef? How would the prime minister advertise, to appoint chef, director of the state house, political advisor or personal assistant? Has it happened before? No, it hasn’t. so, those are some of the challenges we’re having. For instance, a private secretary is a person whom you have known for quite some time. Yes, qualifications could be an issue, but previous prime ministers have appointed individuals of their choice.
Thabo Thakalekoala and ‘Malehloka Ralitapole were appointed Press Attaché and Private Secretary respectively by erstwhile premier Thabane and there was never an issue. The PSC approved those appointments. When that was raised, they said those positions were in the public service therefore they should be advertised, and people interviewed. So, would you advertise for a political advisor or government spokesperson? As we were trying to engage the PSC to understand why they were being difficult considering it was on record, that what we were asking for had been done before; they simply said they didn’t want to repeat the same mistake. So, that being the case, we have about seven people in the prime minister’s office who have not yet been officially engaged. People who are preferred by the PM himself are not yet paid. So, we decided to move that list from the public service. Again, it makes it easier because as PM’s coterminous staff, when his time in offices ceases, his support staff also falls off automatically.
LT: If the seven people you refer to have been working in the prime minister’s office for seven months and are doing the state’s business by virtue of working for the head of government, but have not been paid for that long, who then pays them? Does the PM pay them from his own pocket?
Tau: I don’t know, I can’t say. I wouldn’t commit. But as far as I know, they have not been paid by the government. They have not been processed because they are not government employees officially. So, then came the decision to place them under the PM’s support staff hence their listing in the Regulations. They will be processed as the PM’s personal staff. Why the PSC behaved like that this time around, it’s hard to tell. They are the same people who appointed Relebohile Moyeye who worked for Ntate Thabane as his press attaché. We tried to engage them, but they told us that they don’t talk to ministers but to civil servants as directed by section 136 of the constitution of this country. So, to make the PM’s life easier. We moved those positions to the PM’s office.
LT: On item “K” under the prime minister’s coterminous staff, we have what is called ‘Gentleman in Waiting’. It’s a fairly new term politically although we know that in the monarchy’s context it is someone who waits on and helps the king, basically. What’s this person’s role in Mr Matekane’s case?
Tau: Gentleman in waiting is the PM’s attendant, so to speak. Look, the PM is normally assigned the ADC (Aide-de-camp) by the army, to look after the PM. An ADC is a personal assistant or secretary to a person of high rank, usually a senior military, police, or government officer, or to a member of a royal family or a head of state. In our case, the gentleman in waiting is meant to assist the PM with his personal needs. While the ADC travels with the PM and takes care of his security, he doesn’t have someone to send around, like getting refreshments or running other errands for him. So, the gentleman in waiting is someone like that – more of a helper.
LT: Another issue that has ignited the ire in some quarters of society, is the provision in the Regulations for the prime minister, his deputy and cabinet ministers to use their personal vehicles to perform state business. These vehicles will be fuelled, maintained, and insured by government. How did you arrive at that decision when the government is said to have good vehicles bought by other previous coalitions?
Tau: Basically, this is done to address two things. One, ministers are entitled to two vehicles, a utility and a sedan depending on the business the minister will be doing at any given time, like travelling for instance to areas where one would need a utility vehicle. But as it stands there are no sedan vehicles. It is not true that there are adequate good vehicles. When we came in, we were faced with a situation whereby we had to decide to buy 14 new Mercedes Benz vehicles and one S500 Mercedes Benz, which would have cost taxpayers around M31.7 million. When we came into the office there were no official vehicles to use, perhaps only two were usable, and I was assigned the one that was used by the former first lady (‘Maesaea Thabane) which needed M145 000 to repair as it had hit a pothole. I even had to fork out another M14 000 from my own pocket, which I am yet to claim, as I was told that some repairs were not covered by insurance. Look, ministers were struggling. Every time their official vehicles had issues and had to go for repairs, they would be forced to use their own vehicles. I remember legislator Motlatsi Maqelepo asking in parliament whether there were any legislative instruments allowing ministers to use their vehicles for official business. But we had to go ahead and use them because work had to continue. I met situations where my official Prado had gone for repairs, and I had to use my private vehicle. The financial circumstances of our country forced us to do that. Let me add that even the Prados we use are not in good condition and the worst part was that when we needed to repair them, service providers were not keen to take orders from government because of failure to settle debts. From November last year to March this year, ministers had to pay upfront for their vehicles to be repaired. It was only after we’d settled the debts that previous governments had owed them for years, that their confidence in us was restored. We have been able to reassure them that we will pay them going forward and they are now comfortable to take orders from us.
LT: Are you saying that the government does not have the funds to buy official vehicles for ministers?
Tau: These will cost at least M31 million as I have said. But then, it depends on what the priorities are now. Are you going to spend so much to buy new vehicles when ministers can have an alternative that is cheap whenever there is a need? Not all the time but when there is a need……Now, coming to the issue of fuel, maintenance, and insurance, we worked out the figures and it is about M4.1 million. That is if they are being fuelled and maintained round the clock, 365 days. It comes to around M4.1 million. Now you compare the costs. Do we buy new vehicles for an estimated M31 million when we are still going to incur fuel and maintenance costs? Or do we spend M4.1 for this year and wait to see what the financial situation will be like in the next financial year? So, that was the basis of that decision. People have been talking about the Maybach (Mr Matekane’s luxurious vehicle). Yes, we have factored in that Maybach in the cost.
Look, people are not going to tell Matekane that he chose to be Lesotho’s prime minister therefore he must downgrade. He is accustomed to the luxury that he built on his own. He didn’t steal or borrow his wealth. He worked for it. It’s the same as people making noise questioning why he is using his private jet. Are you saying just because Matekane is Lesotho’s prime minister, he must queue and travel in economy or business class. If he is used to traveling for ten hours from Lesotho to the United Kingdom in his private jet, are you saying that he must now spend more than twenty-fours jumping from airport to connecting flights that would take him to his destination? It’s like people are saying, hey, make sacrifices for us because you chose to be prime minister. Besides, when he uses his private jet, he doesn’t need a cent from government. He uses his own fuel and pays the pilots from his own pocket. It’s costing the government nothing, yet people are complaining. Why the noise? Even the Maybach that he is using, he has never fuelled it from the government’s coffers, he does so on his own. Perhaps now that the regulations have passed, he can fuel his vehicle at the state pump.
LT: The M5000 fuel allowance for the MPs is a topical issue right now. People are complaining that leaders of the current government had promised that once in office, they would cancel that controversial benefit. But the opposite has happened. Regulations containing that provision were recently passed. Should Basotho believe that the government of which you are part sold them a mirage?
Tau: We are not at all comfortable with the M5000 fuel allowances. You will recall they were passed during the 10th Parliament in November 2022 by former premier Moeketsi Majoro. And once they became part and parcel of parliament, they became an entitlement for MPs. And we all know that if you don’t pay a person what you’re supposed to, you’re infringing on their rights.
LT: But isn’t effecting the requisite changes a discretion of the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs and their public service counterpart? Why did they not affect the changes to get rid of the allowances provision even though it had been introduced by the Majoro establishment?
Tau: Yes, it is the minister’s decision but also an entitlement of the MPs. But once you remove it, you must give MPs an alternative, that does not leave them worse off. Remember, an MP might have personal obligations based on what he/she earns. They might be using the allowance to service a loan. All of a sudden if you remove it, unilaterally, you make life difficult for this person and that’s not proper. You are actually trampling on their rights, irrespective of how it (the allowance issue) came about…. Once you remove that unilaterally, you make life difficult for him/her because they have to adjust. So, we respect people’s rights, much as we are saying you are unduly entitled (to the rights).
