Mohalenyane Phakela
THE Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) has appointed its long-time employee, Mohlomi Seitlheko, as its substantive managing director (MD).
Mr Seitlheko signed his five-year contract with the new LEC board chairperson, Professor Molibeli Taele, on Friday.
Mr Seitlheko had been the acting MD of the LEC since July last year following the departure of former boss, Mohato Seleke.
He joined the LEC in 2004 and was elevated to the position of General Manager: Engineering in 2019. He held the post until 2022 and was the following year appointed Head of Operations until he became the acting MD.
Prof Taele confirmed with the Lesotho Times that the LEC board had resolved to appoint Mr Seitlheko after the issue had been held in abeyance for about six months.
“Mr Seitlheko was recommended as the preferred candidate to assume this position around October last year by the recruitment panel. This after the post had been advertised and he was part of those who had been shortlisted and interviewed,” Prof Taele said.
“However, there are several issues which arose from that time he was recommended to the board, hence it took such a long time for him to be made substantive. I am not at liberty to disclose them.
“I was appointed as the new Board chairperson on 28 February 2024, after which the Board mandated me to finalise the appointment of Mr Seitlheko. I engaged in lengthy negotiations with him regarding his contract until we reached a consensus last Friday when we eventually signed the five-year contract.”
Prof Taele said Mr Seitlheko was the third LEC MD to be awarded a five-year contract. The others are Thabo Nkhahle and Mr Seleke. Before then, the MDs were appointed on three-year contracts only.
Even though Prof Taele declined to detail what had delayed Mr Seitlheko’s appointment, the Lesotho Times has been reliably informed that the issues related to an LEC forensic report released in 2018 which had claimed that Mr Seitlheko had a company, Electromech Consulting Engineering, which had been listed as one of the LEC service providers.
In 2018, LEC had engaged South African auditors, SNG Grant Thornton, to conduct a three-year audit for the period between 2015 and 2018.
It was found that Mr Seitlheko was amongst five LEC employees who had companies enlisted as LEC service providers, thereby having a conflict of interest.
“It is alleged that some LEC employees own companies and/or are related to individuals that own companies which conduct business with LEC without disclosures of conflict of interest. We were requested by LEC to assist with corporate governance interventions relating to disclosures of conflict of interest of related parties by LEC employees, which promotes transparency within the organisation.
“Ms Lipuo Molapo, from the Registrar of Companies, provided us with an undated unsigned list of companies, in which LEC staff are either shareholders and/or officers of companies in the Registrar of Companies database. We noted from the list provided that there were five LEC employees who are shareholders and/or officers in companies that are listed as vendors in the LEC vendor database,” the SNG Grant Thornton report stated.
Among those, Mr Seitlheko’s Electromech appeared to have been paid M371 867. 95 between 2015 and 2018.
Subsequently, Mr Seitlheko was subjected to a disciplinary hearing by the LEC. His case was heard from November 2019 to March 2020.
He was charged with contravening clause 1.102 of the LEC’s Code of Ethics and Conduct (Human Resources Manual 2015) for failing to disclose to the LEC that he had private business interests.
He was cleared of the charges in a judgement issued by the disciplinary proceedings adjudicator, one Advocate S. Malebanye King’s Counsel (KC).
“In the present case there was no evidence led to show that membership of the respondent (Seitlheko) in Electromech Consulting posed a potential risk of conflict of interest. In fact, that could not be so as the company was not in the database of LEC, and it was common cause that it did not do any business with LEC at all.
“There was furthermore, no evidence led to the effect that the respondent intended doing private work during his office hours that would negatively affect performance of his official duties as qualified by Clause 1. 10.3.
“Furthermore, it is common cause that the respondent had declared his interest in Electromech Consulting in May 2009 and the finding made by the auditors that he had not declared was incorrect, presumably because the declaration was made prior to the auditors’ period of investigation, namely between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2018. I accordingly find the respondent not guilty,” Adv Malebanye KC said.
Prof Taele maintained that Mr Seitlheko had been cleared of any wrongdoing and could therefore not be disqualified from being the Managing Director.
“There were about 20 LEC employees who had been found in the wrong by the audit report and were subjected to disciplinary proceedings. Some were even fired while others got lighter sentences such as suspensions. Others, like Mr Seitlheko, won their cases and therefore were cleared, while others successfully challenged their dismissals in court,” Prof Taele said.
Prof Taele is the new board chairperson, replacing Advocate Rapapa Sepiriti, who becomes an ordinary board member. No reasons have yet been explained for the change.
However, the appointment of a new MD, to replace Mr Seleke, appears to have caused some commotion at the state-owned power utility.
At one stage, Mr Seitlheko had himself asked the DCEO to investigate the “disappearance” of the MD’s recruitment file from the parastatal.
The Lesotho Times understands that some of his detractors had tried to use the conflict of interest allegations – over which he had been long cleared – to sabotage his appointment.
His appointment will hopefully bring stability and direction to the troubled parastatal. His long experience and knowledge of its workings will likely be an asset.
