MASERU — The controversial Public Meetings and Processions Bill 2009 sailed through parliament’s law and public safety portfolio committee without any major changes. The committee headed by Rethabile Marumo of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) presented in parliament on Monday an additional sub-clause that adds to the list of punishable offences under the […]
MASERU — The trial of prominent television producer Habofanoe Ntsie who is facing two charges of murder took a dramatic twist this week after defence lawyers asked to play audio tapes exposing a police conspiracy against him. Ntsie is facing two charges of murder for the death of two of his neighbours, Souru Masupha and […]
MASERU — A former police officer, Mothobi Moholi, was on Monday slapped with an eight-year jail term without an option of a fine after he was convicted of murder. Moholi, who had claimed he killed Thabiso Hlao in self defence on July 1 1995, was two weeks ago found guilty of murder by the High […]
MASERU — The Lesotho government officials yesterday failed to attend a meeting with the opposition and Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL) to establish a roadmap in the search for a solution to the country’s bitter electoral dispute. A troika of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) that visited Lesotho last week called for the adoption […]
MASERU — For how long can a man’s criminal record continue to preclude him from the opportunities of life? That is the question businessman Makhoabe Mohaleroe wanted the High Court to answer in his latest application in a case in which he is fighting to remain a director of Lesotho Public Motor Transport Company (LPMTC). […]
MASERU — Former trade minister Mpho Malie is breathing fire over the embezzlement of state funds by block farmers. Malie, who resigned from the government in 2006, has since written an angry letter to Standard Lesotho Bank questioning why the bank has continued to give credit to farmers who have defaulted on their previous loans. […]
LERIBE — They might have failed to pay back their government-guaranteed loans but some farmers still believe all is not lost for block farming. This week the Lesotho Times visited a block farming area in Mpharane in Leribe district to see the progress they have made so far. Started in 2005, the group has 407 […]
MASERU — A parliamentary committee has thrown out a recommendation by the Ombudsman to force the Bureau of Statistics to reinstate a trainee woman who alleged she had been denied a job because she spurned her boss’ sexual advances. The Ombudsman, Sekara Mafisa, had recommended that Sehlabaka Ramafikeng, who was the 2006 census supervisors’ training […]
MASERU — A troika of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has called for the adoption of a roadmap that will see Lesotho amend the constitution and electoral law to end the country’s bitter electoral disputes. The troika, made up of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Swaziland’s King Mswati III and Zambia’s Defence Minister Dr Kalombo […]
MASERU — Trooper Mothobi Moholi’s 17-year career as a police officer came to a screeching halt on Monday. Moholi was in court to answer a charge of murder after he shot and killed a 19-year-old man, Thabiso Shao, on July 1 1995. Moholi had argued during trial that he shot Shao, who was wanted in […]
MASERU — A measles outbreak has killed seven children in Quthing district over the past month, the Ministry of Health said this week. There were 76 suspected cases of the disease in the same district and 15 confirmed cases, according to the health ministry. A total of 303 suspected cases have been reported in nine […]
MASERU — The Ministry of Education and Training has failed to supply stationery to government-owned primary schools. Most of the schools have not received books, pens, pencils and chalk from the ministry’s primary school supply unit since the beginning of the first term. Primary school teachers interviewed by the Lesotho Times said they have had […]
MASERU — Former employees of C-River, a Taiwanese owned textile firm that went bust three years ago, are up in arms against the liquidator of the company whom they accuse of delaying their severance packages. The 700 workers last Friday appealed to the Master of the High Court, Nos’bongile Vilakazi, to order the liquidator, Advocate […]
MASERU — Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Metsing Lekhanya says his party will challenge a clause of the constitution of Lesotho allowing Seabata Thabisi to retain his seat in parliament despite his expulsion from the party. The constitution allows an individual to retain his seat in parliament if he ceases to be a member of […]
MASERU — Youth leagues of the country’s opposition parties say they are not happy that the budget presented last Friday failed to address serious problems affecting youths. Their major gripe with Finance Minister Timothy Thahane’s budget is that it does not spell out how the government plans to create jobs for the youths and provide […]
MASERU — The proposed National Youth Council (NYC) will be made up of three youths from leading political parties, two of whom shall be nominated by the ruling party, a senior government official has said. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation, Makalo Theko, said this on Monday while […]
MASERU — A former acting school principal at Sekonyela High School in Mokhotlong who was accused but acquitted of embezzling funds is now demanding M100 100 from the school board. Mampine Lengoasa was in 2005 accused of embezzling M20 000 donated by a well-wisher to the school. But a school committee set up to probe […]
MASERU — An army captain with the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Lehloa Ramot’so, was last Wednesday court-martialled for violating the Lesotho Defence Force Act, 1996. Ramot’so was court-martialled at Makoanyane Barracks for “conduct prejudicial to military discipline” relating to the political disturbances that rocked Lesotho in June 2007 that saw government ministers attacked by unknown […]
MASERU — When ‘Malerato Masupha graduated with a diploma in education in 1980, she thought she had finally kissed poverty goodbye. Back then in the 80s, a teaching diploma opened the doors to prosperity and endless opportunities. Masupha, 53, says with her diploma in hand, her salary jumped from a modest M450 a month to […]
MASERU — Lesotho’s political leaders on Tuesday agreed to postpone the forthcoming local government elections to allow for amendments to be made to the Local Government Act 1997 and the Local Government Elections Act 1998. The decision puts an end to weeks of bickering between the opposition and the government over the elections. Three weeks […]
MASERU — A parliamentary portfolio committee has blamed the current backlog of cases in Lesotho’s courts on “laziness” by both judges and lawyers. An investigation by the public safety, justice and law cluster portfolio committee revealed that the judges and lawyers, the people at the core of the justice delivery system in this country, do […]
MASERU — The High Court is today expected to deliver judgment in a case in which a police officer, Maphephe Pitiri, shot and killed a suspected robber who attacked him with an axe. Detective Trooper Pitiri is facing a charge of murder for killing Jubile Pholoana on July 22, 1997 in Botha-Bothe. He has already […]
MASERU — Lerotholi Polytechnic College will phase out craft courses from its curriculum in its new academic year which begins in July as it prepares to be a university of technology in 2015. From July the college will not be offering certificate courses in welding, panel beating and spry painting, carpentry and joinery, plumbing and […]
MASERU — Tertiary students say they will today demonstrate in Maseru to force the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) to release their funds. The students said the march will also be held to commemorate the killing of National University of Lesotho (NUL) student, Mat’seliso Thulo, last October. Thulo died after she was shot by the […]
MASERU — Twenty-one men from Takalatsa in Matelile appeared in the Mafeteng magistrate’s court on Friday last week jointly charged with the murder of four men and assault of two others at an initiation school two weeks ago. Three of them were released into their parents’ custody because they are still minors. The rest were […]
MASERU — Opposition parties are pushing for the postponement of local government elections to allow for an amendment of the Local Government Elections Act, the Lesotho Times can reveal. The parties, together with the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) held a closed meeting with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Maseru yesterday to discuss […]
MASERU — Two Standard Bank employees briefly appeared in the High Court on Wednesday charged with 18 counts of fraud and theft by false pretense. Mats’eliso Rasethunts’a, 49, and Molebatsi Mothae, 28, are accused of defrauding nearly M2.5 million from the bank and its customers. They are alleged to have committed the crimes between May […]
MASERU — A preliminary report on an investigation into the riots that rocked the National University of Lesotho (NUL) last October has laid the blame squarely on students’ irresponsible behaviour. The report compiled by the sub-committee of the university Senate said the strike, which left one student dead and more than a dozen injured, occurred […]
MASERU — A 22-year-old woman, Mahali Kotoka, is in distress after her two-week-old baby was abducted at her home in Mohalalitoe in Maseru on Monday. Police spokesman Masupha Masupha said the police were not aware of the incident. Kotoka said an unidentified “old woman” who was visiting her landlord came into her room at around […]
MASERU — The heavy rains that pounded Maseru last week left three families homeless after their houses in Qoaling’s Ha-Besele area were destroyed and had their roofs ripped apart. The families who lost their houses are some of the poorest in the area. Among them is 86-year-old man who stays with his 60-year-old wife. They […]
