- but minister says law is controversial
- hence implementation must be gradual
- Lesotho must also tread carefully
- lest it spoil relations with other nations
Mathatisi Sebusi
SOME Basotho businesspeople are calling on the government to operationalise business licensing regulations which disqualify foreigners from operating in areas that are legally preserved for Basotho.
They want Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s government to implement Business Licensing and Registration Regulations (2020) passed by parliament three years ago. The regulations emanate from the Business Licensing and Registration Act, 2019.
The Basotho business owners claim that the government has not demonstrated interest in implementing the sub-laws which will see foreigners who own businesses in sectors reserved for Basotho being forced to leave those select industries.
But Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development, Mokheli Shelile, who inherited the regulations, told the Lesotho Times this week, that Basotho should exercise patience.
He said this was because the regulations were “very controversial” and their implementation “needs to be carefully handled” to avoid “risking relationships between the Lesotho government and other foreign governments”.
The Regulations reserve about 47 business sectors for Basotho entrepreneurs only.
Among these sectors are international road freight transport logistics logistics, motor dealerships, clearing agents, warehousing activities, retail sale of household fuel, bottled gas, coal, fast food activities, hair dressing and beauty treatment and repair.
Also reserved are the maintenance of motor vehicles and motorcycles, photocopying, document preparation and other specialized office support work, electrical, plumbing, as well as wholesale and retail sale of alcoholic beverages (whether consumed on the spot or not) wholesale and retail sale of meat and meat products, including poultry.
Maseru Chamber of Commerce, and Industry (MCCI) chairperson, Motseki Nkeane, said a task team which was established by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Business Development, comprising civil servants and representatives from the private sector, to push for the implementation of the regulations, had been dragging its feet.
Mr Nkeane said in August 2022, two years after the Regulations were passed by parliament, the then Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development, Thabiso Molapo, announced that he had given foreigners encroaching on businesses reserved for Basotho, a year to wind up their businesses.
But the change of government after the October 2022 polls meant that Dr Molapo could no longer implement the regulations.
Dr Molapo was a minister under then Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) led coalition government.
Mr Nkeane said after the change of government, they had approached the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Business Development but the current minister, Mr Shelile, had told them that his ministry was still working on an implementation strategy.
He said extensive consultations had been done during Dr Molapo’s tenure as trade minister. Their expectation was that Mr Shelile would simply inform them that government was on its way to enforcing the regulations “not that he is still working on the implementation strategy”.
He said the MCCI had selected native business owners to be part of the task team working on the implementation of the legislation but to date, the ministry and the task team had still not come up with something tangible to present to the business community as a measure of progress.
“The expectation was that by now, foreigners owning business reserved for Basotho would have been stopped. We were expecting that by now we will be talking about enforcement of the Regulations. We fear that this law will collapse like many others which were never implemented,” Mr Nkeane said.
Local businesspeople appointed to the task team share Mr Nkeane’s pessimism. They are not optimistic that implementation of the regulations will happen anytime soon. This because the trade ministry had said it would handle the implementation of the legislation cautiously because of its controversial nature.
A member of the task team, Teboho Motsépe, who also owns a butchery in Khubetsoana, said all the necessary research had been completed and that Lesotho was ready to implement the regulations. But civil servants within the task team were unnecessarily delaying progress, he said.
He said they had already categorised and compiled lists of foreign businesses which needed to wind up within months. But he accused civil servants of dragging their feet. Some wanted to continue pocketing the per diems they get when they travel abroad, “under the pretext” of learning how other countries implement the indigenisation regulations.
Mr Motsépe said last month the trade ministry had, “pushed” for a “study tour” to Botswana to assess how that country had implemented similar legislation. He claimed he was among people who refused to go on the tour but was nevertheless given a M19 000 ‘per diem’ for the trip.
“We don’t understand what the wait is for. Now things are bad because we are excluded from decision-making and are not updated on any progress made,” Mr Motsépe said.
“Disagreements between the task team happened when Minister Shelile and members of the task team who are civil servants suggested that the task team go on a study tour in Botswana, to learn how that country was able to successfully implement its regulations, similar to ours.
“The private sector did not see the need to go to Botswana as implementation of the regulations has been dragging for years. We believed that we had done enough studying to implement the legislation. Therefore, we refused to go. Civil servants pushed for the trip because they wanted per diems. We were each given money around M19 000 explained as ‘per diem’.”
He added: “Since refusing to travel to Botswana, we are denied any information pertaining to the study tour, and accused of leaking the task team’s information.”
Mr Motsépe also said that whenever they had to meet and discuss implementation of the regulations, the trade ministry made the excuse of lack of funds to cater for such.
“We don’t need money to hold meetings. The government has board rooms for that. Why should we go to expensive hotels every time we need to meet if we are indeed doing this for Basotho?” he quipped.
Speaking to the Lesotho Times this week, Mr Shelile said Basotho should exercise patience as the Regulations were very controversial. Their implementation “need to be carefully handled to avoid risking relationships between the Lesotho government and other foreign governments”.
“If they hurry us, the Regulations will not be fully implemented, or even worse they will cause strife between Lesotho and other foreign governments. We do not want that to happen,” Mr Shelile said.
“In preparation for the implementation of the regulations, I sent members of the task team to a study tour in Botswana four weeks ago. Botswana has the same regulations as Lesotho, and we wanted to learn how it was able to fully implement the law successfully.
“This is not the kind of legislation to implement overnight. We also must be careful not to violate rights of foreigners who own businesses reserved for Basotho as per the regulations. We need to give them time to wind up their operations.”
Mr Shelile said they had already categorised businesses which needed to wind up operations, to make space for Basotho “depending on the magnitude of each business and the time each needs to wind up”.
He said there were businesses which fell under the service provider category “which can wind up their businesses within months, and such businesses have been notified that they must wind up their operations”.
However, there were others, Mr Shelile said, for whom it would take years to wind up and “they are working on their exit strategy which he said will work for all parties concerned”.
Mr Shelile said, from their study tour, they had learnt that Botswana did not expel foreigners from businesses reserved for Batswana, but only stopped issuing new licenses to foreigners to operate such businesses.
“The challenge here at home is the interpretation that all foreigners operating businesses in reserved sectors, will be expelled to make room for Basotho. We are talking about supermarkets and other big businesses,” Mr Shelile said.
“Question is, do we have people who will operate those businesses as we speak? If these people hurry us, we will make mistakes.”
