MASERU — A petrol attendant at Excel Filling station along Pope John Paul II Road in Maseru must have thought he had hit a jackpot when he broke into his employer’s office and stole cash and cheques. Thabiso Mabote, 25, had only been employed at the station for three months when he connived with two […]
MASERU — When a woman is chased and stabbed with a knife, she cannot consent to sex even if she had undressed herself. This was the message that Maseru magistrate, Masupha Kao, delivered as he passed judgment on a 22-year-old man from Ha-Tikoe who was charged with rape. Ngaka Malingoane was yesterday found guilty of […]
MASERU — Civil servants on Monday ordered a local commercial bank, Lesotho Standard Bank, to stop deducting money from their salaries on behalf of three money lending institutions, the Lesotho Times has learnt. A delegation of the civil servants approached the bank to complain about the continuing deductions from their salaries despite a High Court […]
MASERU — The Law Society of Lesotho has filed a notice at the High Court to challenge the appointment of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Leaba Thetsane, as the King’s Counsel. The King’s Counsel is an honour bestowed on individuals who would have shown outstanding leadership in the legal profession. The Law Society normally recommends […]
MASERU — The 2009 Junior Certificate (JC) results are out. The Minister of Education and Training, Dr ‘Mphono Khaketla, announced at a press conference held in Maseru yesterday that the results would be released to the public today. Dr Khaketla also said six schools would not get their results because of some irregularities that occurred […]
MASERU — A High Court judge has recused himself from a case involving People’s Choice FM’s top management, saying he personally knew both the applicant and respondent. Justice Semapo Peete recused himself on Christmas Eve saying he knew PC FM executive chairman, Mohau Thakaso, and one of the directors, Hubbard Monaheng, who are at each […]
MAFETENG — Popular famo artist, Tumelo Shea, 33, and his wife, Mmakananelo, 30, were murdered in their home in Makeneng in Mafeteng last weekend. The two were shot dead by unknown assailants at around 10pm last Saturday. They died of their wounds shortly afterwards, according to the police. The Mafeteng district police commander, Thabo Lebasa, […]
MASERU — A sociology lecturer at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), Dr ‘Makhotsang Phokojoe, has blamed a “weak judiciary” for the increasing cases of crime in Lesotho. In an interview with the Lesotho Times on Tuesday, Phokojoe said the increasing cases of murder have left people living in abject fear. “Crime and murder cases […]
LERIBE — A 26-year-old woman from Pitseng in Leribe was stabbed to death last Friday after she allegedly rejected a man’s love proposal. Police spokesman Pheello Mphana said the deceased, ‘Mapaballo Rapoeea, was stabbed all over her body after a party on New Year’s Day. Mphana said the 28-year-old suspect who is in police custody […]
MASERU — Cabinet has still not approved the draft media policy for Lesotho four months after the policy was unveiled to the media. Communications Minister Mothetjoa Metsing told a media policy workshop last August that the policy would be approved by the government by September. The long awaited media policy seeks to regulate the broadcasting, […]
MASERU — A 29-year-old man from Mphaki in Quthing who is charged with the theft of motor vehicle parts was on Tuesday denied bail by the Maseru Magistrate’s court. Khutlang Pule was arrested last November in Khubetsoana but escaped from police custody during the same month. The police allege Pule fled to his home in […]
MASERU — The commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Major General Thuso Motanyane has said the April 22 attacks on the State House and Mokoanyane Barracks have ruined the army’s reputation. Motanyane was addressing 483 members of the LDF at a parade to review the army’s operations for 2009 and plan for next year. […]
MASERU — It is 10am and the Maseru Bridge is congested; both human and vehicular traffic choke the country’s major border post. On a Wednesday, two days before Christmas, hordes of Basotho are streaming into the country from South Africa. Most have been away for a long time and cannot wait to see their families. […]
MASERU — The city was swarming with last-minute shoppers yesterday ahead of the festive holiday. Shop assistants could be seen battling to clear long, winding queues in such chain supermarkets as Shoprite and Pick n Pay, with clothing retailers such as jet, PEP, Dunns, Ackermans and Fashion World also enjoying brisk business. An assistant at […]
MASERU — Two Blue Ribbon employees on Tuesday appeared in the Maseru Magistrate Court facing charges of theft by false pretence. Motheo Mohasisa (44) from Hara Makoro Mapoteng and 33-year-old Mohau Sehloho of Ha-Thetsane are facing charges of defrauding the Lesotho Defence Force and were granted M200 bail each. They pleaded not guilty and will […]
MASERU — The murder trial of a police officer accused of shooting a suspected armed robber 14 years ago, continued in the Lesotho High Court last week. Trooper Mothobi Moholi — who was based at Joel’s Drift Police Post in Butha-Buthe at the time of the murder — was in the dock on Tuesday and […]
MASERU — The Law Society of Lesotho (LSL) wants all lawyers to boycott a former chief justice who has been temporarily re-hired by the state to preside over the trial of a newspaper editor facing contempt of court charges. Retired judge Peter Cullinan, who was Lesotho’s chief justice from 1988 to 1991, is presiding over […]
MASERU — The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) says if the controversial Land Bill is not passed into law it will have to withdraw USUS$20.5 million (about M149.7 million) earmarked for the administration of the land reform process in Lesotho. The MCC, a US government agency, has come under fire from politicians and civic society leaders […]
MAFETENG — The son of a former government minister is embroiled in a bitter dispute with a popular businessman, Ashraf Abubaker, over the ownership of a shopping centre in Mafeteng. Benjamin Maphathe, 61, accuses Abubaker of dispossessing him of Patsa Shopping Complex which he claims he jointly owned with his late father, Thulo Maphathe, a […]
MASERU — A Maseru woman, ‘Malerato Masoabi, was yesterday slapped with a three-year jail sentence for raping her husband. This is the first time that a woman has been convicted of marital rape. The sentence was however suspended for two years. Masoabi, 31, from Ha Lebipi Mothobi in Maseru district, was charged with sexually assaulting […]
MASERU — When it comes to spending university funds the vice-chancellor is an extremely extravagant fellow. That is how an internal audit summed up the spending sprees, unauthorised trips, questionable per diem claims and unauthorised payments that the National University of Lesotho (NUL) vice chancellor, Professor Adelani Ogunrinade, made when he was appointed in December […]
MASERU — United States ambassador to Lesotho Robert Nolan on Monday met All Basotho Convention (ABC) youth league president, Libe Moremoholo, to discuss the opposition’s concerns over the controversial Land Bill. Moremoholo was appointed leader of the Political Parties Youth Leagues Forum that is fiercely opposed to the proposed Land Bill which is currently before […]
THABA-TSEKA — Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili took an voluntary HIV test on Tuesday as part of an awareness campaign during the World Aids Day. Mosisili took the test in Thaba-Tseka where the event was commemorated. “I have tested and I know my results. You should know yours,” Mosisili told the crowd that had come to […]
MASERU — When Finance Minister Timothy Thahane delivers his budget next year the common man is likely to get a sinking feeling in the tummy. That’s because it is likely to have a huge dosage of depressingly bad news. Thahane is likely to present a budget significantly less than this year’s because the South African […]
MASERU — The government has been forced to bail out middleman Bothata Mahlala by settling the hundreds of thousands of maloti he owes to estate agencies accommodating Basotho students in Bloemfontein, the Lesotho Times can reveal. Mahlala is the middleman who is alleged to have kept for himself money the government had deposited into his […]
MASERU — The youth wings of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the main opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) have demanded an urgent probe into the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS). In a rare sign of unison the youth leagues — normally at odds on almost everything serious — called on the government […]
BUTHA-BUTHE — Likhapha Lelosa, 21, is still in shock after her only brother, Tankiso, was clobbered to death with a knobkerrie two weeks ago. Ten-year-old Tankiso Lelosa was struck on the head with a knobkerrie by a neighbour who allegedly caught him red-handed stealing from his café in Maloseng, Butha-Buthe. Lelosa told the Lesotho Times […]
HA-RAMAKABATANE — At least two men were admitted in hospital with serious injuries while four, including a two-year-old toddler, sustained minor wounds after Ha-Nqosa villagers attacked the Ha-Ramakabatane village on Sunday afternoon. Speaking to the Lesotho Times, Ha-Ramakabatane villagers said this was not the first time that people from Ha-Nqosa villagers had attacked them. In […]
MASERU — The senior private secretary to King Letsie III has taken the government to court demanding payment for the leave days he accumulated when he was still a civil servant. Mabotse Lerotholi, who resigned from the civil service in September 2005, claims the state refused to pay him cash in lieu of the 105 […]
MASERU — The Ministry of Public Works and Transport has told rebellious affiliates of the Maseru Region Taxi Operators (MRTO) to accept the association’s new leadership. Six member associations of the MRTO have been refusing to recognise the assemblage’s new leadership, saying some officials had come into power through an illegal process. The disaffected affiliates […]
