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 […]
ROMA — A foetus was found dumped in a dustbin at the female residence at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) on Monday. Police spokesman Masupha Masupha confirmed the incident. He said the almost six month foetus was found by one the cleaners during her cleaning rounds. “The cleaner informed us by phone and we […]
MASERU — A man from Semonkong is suing the police for M58 000 after his car was allegedly stripped of components while it was in police custody. Lekhotla Sekoala, 60, said the components of his Toyota 4×4 were stolen and damaged after it was impounded by the police. He alleges that the parts were stolen […]
MASERU — Basotho National Party (BNP) members who were fired from the party last week have said their expulsion was null and void insisting they were still members of the party despite the national executive committee’s decision. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday the seven members alleged that their expulsion was part of the […]
MASERU — Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Metsing Lekhanya suggested as far back as 2007 that Professor Kopano Makoa could succeed him, an expelled party official has said. Mothobi Moholi who was the BNP’s deputy secretary general from 2005 to 2007 and was part of the group of seven party members who were expelled last […]
MASERU — A former police superintendent escaped jail yesterday after he was slapped with a suspended term for soliciting a M1 000 bribe. Keletso Ramoeletsi, 56, was arrested and charged with soliciting a bribe from one Mats’eliso Sets’abi in 2006 following a police trap. Sets’abi was wanted by the police in connection with the theft […]
MASERU — A senior army officer who was on duty on the night of the April 22 attacks on Makoanyane military base and the prime minister’s residence has refused to appear before the commission of inquiry set up to investigate the attacks. Sergeant Motsoto was the senior officer on duty and was in charge of […]
MASERU — The Ministry of Education and Training will release the 2009 Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) results today. Acting education minister Ralechate ‘Mokose told a press conference yesterday that candidates would start getting their results at their respective centres this morning. ‘Mokose said the 2009 pass rate was 0.6 percent lower than last year. […]
MASERU — Breakaway political party, Senkatana, will hold its first general conference to elect a substantive leadership in Maseru next Friday. Senkatana broke away from the main opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) party led by Thomas Thabane in December 2008. The party’s leader, Lehlohonolo Ts’ehlana, was kicked out of the ABC for alleged insubordination after […]
MASERU — A faction in the Basotho National Party (BNP) says it wants prominent political scholar Professor Kopano Makoa to challenge party leader Major General Metsing Lekhanya for leadership at the party’s annual general conference this year. Moeketsi Hanyane, the former BNP youth leader and one of the prominent people behind the anti-Lekhanya faction, said […]
