…accused of brazen violation of the law
…by taking private sector job while still a DCEO staffer
…Uses DCEO role to promote private interests
Mohloai Mpesi
SUSPENDED Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) head of its Asset Recovery Unit, Peter Matekane, is now embroiled in serious allegations of abuse of power that threaten to further besmirch the anti-graft body’s reputation.
Despite that Advocate Matekane is a full-time employee of the DCEO, albeit currently on suspension, it has also emerged that he has been working as the Company Secretary of controversial undertaker, Naledi Funeral Planners, in utter violation of the DCEO’s own regulations and other public sector laws that prevent its officers in particular, and civil servants in general, from simultaneously working in the private sector whilst still in the employment of the state.
Adv Matekane now faces allegations of using his links to the DCEO to frustrate Naledi Funeral Planners’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for tomorrow to protect his interests and those of his favoured minority shareholders.
This because controlling shareholders in the company have been summoned to the DCEO to answer questions about the affairs of the company. The time of their summons is curious as they are expected to report to the DCEO at the very exact time the company’s AGM is due to start. Sources say this will inevitably force its postponement, effectively thwarting the ambition of the controlling shareholders to change its board, possibly for another year of two.
The whole imbroglio centres around Adv Matekane’s egregious violation of the law.
While he remains a top official at the DCEO, Adv Matekane is also Naledi Funeral Planners’ Company Secretary. His role at the company is confirmed in a notice he issued convening the company’s AGM for 16 January 2026. It is not clear for how long he has been holding this role at the company.
The Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences (PCEO) Regulations 2021, specifically prohibit DCEO officers from working in the private sector while the Public Service Act bars all other civil servants from gainful employment in the private sector.
Even though he is on suspension from the DCEO, sources say Adv Matekane naturally retains influence in that organisation. He now stands accused of conniving with officials in the anti-graft body to scuttle the Naledi AGM by getting them to summon the controlling shareholders at the very same time they are supposed to be attending the AGM.
The controlling shareholders see their summoning as a well-orchestrated and calculated move to thwart their plan to effect changes at the business.
The four shareholders controlling more than 70 percent of the company’s shares were on Monday summoned by the DCEO to appear at its Maseru headquarters at 8am tomorrow, just an hour before the AGM is due to commence.
Proxy deadline
Adv Matekane’s AGM notice, dated 22 November 2025, informed shareholders that those unable to attend the meeting in person could appoint proxies, who must not be shareholders, by 9 January 2026.
The notice further stated that shareholders wishing to attend electronically via Microsoft Teams were required to register by the same deadline (9 January 2026).
This effectively meant that the four summoned shareholders; Thabiso Madiba (45.152%), Sidwel Jackson (12.523%), Khojane Madiba (1.243%), and another unnamed shareholder holding 13.345%, would neither be able to attend nor be represented at tomorrow’s meeting, as the proxies deadline had already lapsed by the time the DCEO summons was issued. The unnamed shareholder had been tipped to take over the Board chairperson role.
The Naledi Funeral Planners AGM is scheduled for Friday, 16 January 2026, from 09:00 to 11:00, at Thetsane Office Park Boardroom in Maseru.
Shareholders were invited through a formal notice issued on 16 November 2025, authored by Adv Matekane in his capacity as Company Secretary.
The notice states that shareholders unable to attend may appoint a proxy to “attend, speak and vote” on their behalf, provided the proxy appointment was lodged by 16:30 on Friday, 9 January 2026. However, the majority shareholders were only summoned by the DCEO on Monday 12 January 2026, meaning they could no longer appoint the proxies.
Sources close to the developments, said the DCEO’s decision to belatedly summon the shareholders after the proxy deadline had been machinated by Mr Matekane to force the postponement of the AGM to save the existing board to align with his own interests.
“This appears to be a calculated move to ensure the meeting does not reach quorum, resulting in its postponement,” one source said.
The source explained that if the AGM fails to proceed due to lack of quorum, it could be postponed for up to two years, effectively extending the term of the current board.
Even though corporate AGMs are supposed to be annual affairs, that is not always the case as they can be delayed for various reasons.
“All these shareholders were bizarrely called to report at 08:00, the exact time the AGM is scheduled to commence, after the expiry of the proxy deadline,” the source lamented.
The source said shareholders attempted to persuade the DCEO to reschedule the interviews to Monday next week to allow them to attend the AGM, but their request was rejected.
These four shareholders had written to the DCEO requesting a postponement of their meeting with the anti-graft body to Monday. In any event, they had indicated that it would be better to answer any questions related to the company after they had attended the AGM and had been fully briefed on its operations.
One shareholder, whose name our sources asked us not to publish, wrote to DCEO investigator , one Mr Autata, explaining that the shareholders have a direct and legitimate interest in the governance of the company and that any issues under investigation by the DCEO would most probably be addressed at the AGM.
“I wish to clarify that I am a shareholder of Naledi Funeral Planners, together with Mr Thabiso Madiba and Mr Sidwel Jackson, who you have mentioned as some of those you are attempting to contact for interviews on the same day,” the shareholder wrote.
“As shareholders, we have a direct and legitimate interest in the governance processes of the company.
“I further wish to advise that on Friday we will be attending the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Naledi Funeral Planners. This AGM is held once a year and serves as the primary forum where the board is formally held accountable to shareholders.”
“Importantly, the same matters currently under investigation will (probably be) discussed at the AGM, allowing shareholders to deliberate and decide collectively on an appropriate solution in line with the company’s governance framework.”
The shareholder said he would thus not be able to attend the DCEO meeting due to this and other prior commitments.
“I am currently managing a very tight schedule, which includes council meetings as I am based in South Africa, and I have parental responsibilities as schools reopen. These commitments make it practically impossible to accommodate parallel processes scheduled on the same day.”
He requested that the DCEO meeting be rescheduled to 14:30 on Friday, Monday, or another mutually convenient date.
Khojane’s objection
Another summoned shareholder Khojane Madiba, also wrote to Mr Autata, questioning the rationale behind the DCEO interview’s timing.
Khojane stated that he resides in South Africa and that attending the scheduled 08:00 hours DCEO meeting was neither feasible nor reasonable.
He warned that insisting on the early-morning attendance would exclude him from a once-a-year statutory AGM.
DCEO a pawn in a chess game
The DCEO had not responded to these shareholders by the time we went to print. But the unanimous view of those affected is that the anti-graft body could be a pawn in a chess game masterminded by its suspended senior employee, Mr Matekane, who could be conniving with junior officers in the anti-graft body to orchestrate his corporate politics.
This inevitably puts the DCEO’s already demure reputation into more peril
The affected four shareholders, through their legal representatives Malokotsa and Associates, wrote to the DCEO on Monday warning that the summons created a reasonable perception that the anti-graft body was being used to influence the AGM’s outcome.
“The Company Secretary of Naledi Funeral Planners, Mr Peter Matekane, is also an employee of the DCEO, which has summoned our clients to appear at the same date and time as the AGM.
“On the face of it, this creates a reasonable apprehension that the DCEO is being used to alter the outcomes of the AGM to protect the interests of its employee.”
The firm requested that the interviews be postponed to a date after 16 January 2026.
“Should you ignore, refuse or decline to postpone the interviews as requested, we have been instructed to approach the courts of law on an urgent basis to seek an interdict on the grounds that your decision is unreasonable, malicious and ultimately unlawful,” the letter states.
DCEO response
DCEO spokesperson, ‘Matlhokomelo Senoko, confirmed that Adv Matekane remained a DCEO employee, albeit on suspension, and was precluded from holding any position in the private sector.
She cited Regulation 56 (1)(x) of the 2021 PCEO Regulations, which specifically prohibits DCEO employees from engaging in alternative employment without authorisation.
“Engaging in other employment without authority is a breach of discipline and an offence,” Ms Senoko said.
She added that the matter was now before the DCEO Director-General, Brigadier Advocate Mantšo Sello, who would issue a final decision.
Contacted for comment, Adv Sello refuted allegations that the DCEO was being institutionally used to fight its employee’s private battles and scuttle the business of a private company.
He told the Lesotho Times: “It cannot be the DCEO’s intention (to usurp a private company). The DCEO cannot be used to frustrate an AGM of a private company. Never, it can’t happen,” he said.
Attempts to obtain comment from Adv Matekane were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to repeated calls from this reporter despite promising to call back. He also did not reply to WhatsApp messages.
Matekane
Adv Matekane has been on suspension since 2021 when he was charged with money laundering, corruption and abuse of office alongside then DCEO Director-General Advocate Mahlomola Manyokole and several other co-accused.
The charges stem from the Victoria Hotel curatorship, following an investigation into alleged corruption linked to the hotel’s former lessee, Sobita Investments’ , owned by the late Thabiso Tlelai.
Prosecutors allege that Advocates Matekane and Manyokole unlawfully appointed M Putsoa and Associates as curator despite the firm having been deregistered by the Lesotho Institute of Accountants in 2016.
The accused are said to have diverted hotel funds for non-curatorship expenses and concealed the movement of the money. Adv Matekane is further accused of failing to declare alleged personal and business ties to the appointed curator.
All accused were granted M3000 bail each by the Maseru Magistrates’ Court in May 2021. The case is still pending in the High Court.
Background
Naledi Funeral Services has long been embroiled in its own controversies. Thabiso Madiba, the company’s founder and suspended CEO, faced allegations including fraud, corruption and financial misconduct which led to his suspension by the company’s board in 2023.
Amid the escalating conflict, Naledi’s chief finance officer, Ikhetheleng Matabane, who had reportedly exposed Thabiso Madiba’s alleged misconduct, was shot and killed in broad daylight at a popular Maseru restaurant, along with another senior employee, the finance manager Maserema ‘Makong. They were killed shortly before a board meeting that was set to discuss a forensic report, they had been compiling detailing the alleged looting and mismanagement by the founder. Madiba was subsequently arrested and charged in connection with the murders, although he was released on bail. His murder case is also pending.
