Well, well, well. Miracles do happen in the Mountain Kingdom after all.
For the first time in a very long while, Prime Minister Sam Matekane appears to have discovered that the office he occupies actually comes with powers — including the revolutionary constitutional authority to hire and fire ministers.
And lo and behold, he has finally used it.
After weeks of political drama, ego contests and what increasingly resembled an attempted ministerial mutiny by former minister Lebona Lephema, the Prime Minister has at last shown signs of possessing a spinal cord.
Scrutator is impressed.
Genuinely impressed.
Not because firing ministers is inherently admirable, but because for once, Mr Matekane refused to behave like a bewildered school prefect pleading with unruly pupils to behave themselves. He acted like a Prime Minister.
At long last.
We previously argued that Mr Matekane faced a defining leadership test. Would he allow a minister to dictate where he should serve in Cabinet like a customer choosing seats in a taxi? Or would he remind the country that ministerial appointments are the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister?
Thankfully, he chose the latter.
And Basotho can finally breathe a small sigh of relief knowing that there still remains at least a microscopic difference between a Cabinet minister and a freelance warlord.
Because let us be honest: Mr Lephema had increasingly become a law unto himself.
Imagine the absurdity of it all. A minister openly resisting redeployment because of “business interests.” A public official seemingly treating Cabinet portfolios like private commercial franchises. A politician apparently more concerned about access to state-linked opportunities than about public service.
What kind of governance model was this becoming?
The Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police had already descended into administrative chaos under Mr Lephema’s stewardship. Basotho struggled for passports. Identity documents became mythical objects obtainable only through prayer and fasting. Yet somehow, the minister still appeared convinced that the nation could not survive without his majestic presence in Cabinet.
Thankfully, Mr Matekane finally realised that governments do not collapse merely because one politician throws a tantrum.
And let this serve as a warning to the growing class of politicians who enter politics carrying calculators instead of principles. Public office is not a business incubator. Cabinet is not an investment syndicate. Ministers are not supposed to simultaneously govern the State while circling state-owned entities looking for commercial opportunities like hawks hovering over wounded livestock.
When enough gets enough
The Prime Minister deserves credit for recognising that enough was enough.
More importantly, he must now continue down this road.
Because leadership is not demonstrated through endless smiling, motivational speeches and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Leadership sometimes requires unpleasant decisions. It requires telling powerful people “no.” It requires risking political fallout for the sake of institutional authority and public confidence.
For too long, Basotho had started wondering whether Mr Matekane feared confrontation so much that ministers could practically hold press conferences announcing their own terms and conditions of employment.
This time, however, he stood firm.
And Scrutator must say — cautiously, very cautiously — that this is beginning to resemble leadership.
Please keep it up, Ntate Matekane.
The country had almost forgotten what decisive governance looks like. You have shown the way. Your critics where now comparing you to that hapless weakling known more for stuffing dollars in a dining room couch than principled governing (aka Cyril Ramaphosa). You have proved that you are not a Ramaphosa. You are a decisive leader.
The Lephema Options
So, the inevitable has finally happened.
Former minister Lebona Lephema has been kicked out of Cabinet after disastrously overestimating both his political leverage and his indispensability to the government of Sam Matekane.
And now, according to the ever-buzzing political grapevine, Ntate Lephema’s attention has apparently shifted toward a new mission: dethroning Nthomeng Majara as deputy leader of the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) as a stepping stone toward eventually positioning himself for the premiership itself.
Well, Scrutator wishes him luck.
After all, plotting political survival is every politician’s constitutional right. In Lesotho’s politics, betrayal is practically a recognised indigenous industry. Nobody should begrudge Mr Lephema for planning his future after his spectacular fallout from grace.
But there is one tiny complication.
A man who could not issue passports cannot seriously expect Basotho to entrust him with an entire country.
That is where the problem begins.
Let us not revise history merely because political temperatures are rising within the RFP.
Mr Lephema was not fired while presiding over a flourishing ministry admired for efficiency and excellence. He exits public office leaving behind one of the most embarrassing records of administrative dysfunction seen in recent years. Under his watch, ordinary Basotho struggled endlessly for passports, identity documents and basic public services. Home Affairs descended into confusion while public frustration exploded daily.
Yet this is now supposedly the man some people should imagine occupying State House? Please.
Scrutator has no difficulty whatsoever imagining Mr Lephema as leader of queues at the passport office. Prime Minister, however, is another matter entirely.
And let us not forget the delicious irony at the centre of this entire saga: this is a man who arrogantly rejected the enormously powerful Ministry of Trade, Industry and Business Development — arguably one of the most strategic portfolios in a country facing catastrophic unemployment and economic stagnation.
A ministry central to:
- industrialisation,
- investment promotion,
- private sector growth,
- manufacturing,
- exports,
- job creation,
- and economic transformation.
Any serious politician with national ambitions would have grabbed that portfolio with both hands and used it to build a legacy.
Not Mr Lephema.
Apparently, the ministry was beneath him.
Or perhaps it interfered too much with other “business interests.”
Either way, Basotho observed something very revealing: a politician who had no appetite for the difficult work of rebuilding the economy but enormous appetite for political power.
That should terrify voters.
Ntate Matekane must therefore resist any temptation to panic about possible internal rebellions within the RFP. If Ntate Lephema wishes to challenge internally, let him do so. Democracy exists precisely for such contests.
But Ntate Matekane must call his bluff.
Because the reality is brutally simple: popularity inside party corridors does not automatically translate into national electability. Basotho voters are not fools. They have functioning memories. They remember the chaos. They remember the passport scandals. They remember the endless dysfunction.
And Scrutator certainly intends to help refresh those memories regularly.
Every single time Ntate Lephema’s name surfaces as a prospective Prime Minister, Scrutator shall dutifully remind the nation:
“This is the man who could not issue passports.” Repeatedly. Relentlessly. Without apology.
As for Scrutator’s preference within the RFP succession debate, our position remains unchanged. If the party genuinely seeks a figure with intellectual depth, legal sophistication, administrative temperament and national credibility, then Nthomeng Majara remains infinitely more convincing material for higher office.
At the very least, she has not spent her public career fighting allegations of treating government like a networking platform for commercial interests while simultaneously collapsing service delivery. Lesotho deserves better than ego-driven politics wrapped in self-importance.
And if Mr Lephema truly wants to become Prime Minister someday, perhaps he should have begun by first proving he could successfully manage something simpler, like passports. Unfortunately, he failed dismally on that front. He is therefore not premiership material. Period. Yes, he might have buckets of money. But State House is not for sale.
Basotho, Let’s Grow Up
There is another amusing phenomenon that always emerges whenever Scrutator expresses a favourable opinion about certain public figures in this country.
The village conspiracy theorists immediately begin hyperventilating that somebody somewhere must have “paid” for the opinion.
It happened the last time Scrutator wrote positively about Nthomeng Majara.
Apparently, in the minds of some Basotho, independent thought cannot possibly exist. Every opinion must be sponsored like a football jersey.
What utter stupidity.
Basotho must grow up.
It is deeply embarrassing that in 2026 there are still people incapable of comprehending that one may support a public figure simply because one believes they are more competent than the alternatives.
That is called analysis.
That is called independent opinion.
That is called intellectual honesty.
Not bribery.
In any event, the allegation itself collapses under the weight of basic common sense.
If Scrutator were truly for sale and motivated by money, surely we would be singing endless praises for Lebona Lephema — a wealthy businessman with vastly deeper pockets than Justice Majara, who spent most of her life serving as a relatively modestly paid judge.
The mathematics alone destroys the conspiracy theories.
The reality is much simpler and far less dramatic: Scrutator is guided by principle, observation and empirical reality.
And the empirical reality is that Lesotho is long overdue for a female Prime Minister.
Not as charity.
Not as symbolism.
But because there are competent women in this country who are demonstrably more intellectually prepared for high office than many of the loud, chest-thumping men who dominate our politics while producing catastrophe after catastrophe.
Justice Majara stands out precisely because:
- she is educated,
- legally accomplished,
- administratively experienced,
- measured in temperament,
- and already occupies the position of deputy leader within the RFP hierarchy.
In normal democracies, succession discussions naturally focus on individuals who already occupy senior leadership positions and possess intellectual gravitas.
That is not corruption.
That is logic.
What exactly is so scandalous about suggesting that a former Chief Justice may possess superior leadership credentials compared to politicians whose greatest achievement in office was collapsing passport systems and fighting over Cabinet posts?
Must Scrutator pretend incompetence is competence merely to avoid offending political fan clubs?
Absolutely not.
This country desperately needs to move beyond personality cults and childish political hero worship. The obsession with reducing every independent opinion to “who paid whom” reveals a profoundly immature political culture incapable of engaging ideas rationally.
Sometimes people support leaders because they genuinely believe those leaders are better suited for office.
Full stop.
And yes, Scrutator believes Lesotho would benefit enormously from finally having a capable female Prime Minister instead of the endless procession of overgrown male political gladiators who spend half their time plotting coups against one another while the country sinks deeper into dysfunction.
If that opinion offends some people, they are free to disagree.
But they should at least do so intelligently.
Not with the intellectual sophistication of drunken gossipers at a village shebeen.
For the record, Scrutator believes that ‘M’e Nthomeng will be a better prime minister because of the reasons stated above. I have not been paid by ‘M’e Nthomeng. My soul is not for sale. In any case, she could never afford my soul even if it was for sale. I am an expensive woman. Ntate Lephema’s catastrophic record speaks for itself. That’s why I prefer Nthomeng. Finish and klaar.
Ache!!!
