MASERU – The deputy attorney general Tsebang Putsoane has been roped into the ongoing fight between civil servants and money lenders over loan payments. More than 100 civil servants had demanded that the treasury department stops deducting money from their salaries to pay their debts to three prominent money lending institutions pending finalisation of their […]
MASERU –Prominent lawyer Haae Phoofolo wants Police Commissioner Malejaka Letooane behind bars. Letooane was convicted of contempt of court last week and sentenced to six months in prison but she was not jailed because she sought and got a stay of execution in the High Court last Friday. Justice Semapo Peete gave the interim order […]
MASERU –– A strike called by National University of Lesotho (NUL) students ended yesterday after the National Manpower Developmental Secretariat (NMDS) paid their loans. The students boycotted classes on Tuesday vowing not to return to classes until they were paid. The students demonstrated at the Roma campus on Tuesday singing songs and blocking cars seeking […]
MASERU –– The Labour Appeal Court (LAC) has fined Lerotholi Polytechnic College and its director M80 000 for contempt of court after they failed to comply with an order to reinstate a lecturer who had been unprocedurally dismissed. The college had fired Blandina Lisene for allegedly using her relative to mark final examination papers for […]
MASERU — Employees of Matekane Mining Investment Company (MMIC) a company sub-contracted by Lets’eng Diamond at its mine in Mokhotlong are planning to down tools on Monday. If the workers carry out their threat, work at the mine will come to a halt. The workers are bitter that the MMIC has refused to recognise their […]
MASERU –– The small stream that has provided water to the people of Tsénola’s village for a long time has run dry. For years this stream that runs through the village has provided some people with drinking water. They have washed and bathed in this stream. The parchedness of the stream could spell disaster for […]
MASERU — High Court judge Thamsanqa Nomncongo this week lashed out at crown and defence lawyers for delaying proceedings in the trial of eight police officers who are charged with murder. The police officers are accused of killing the principal chief of Phamong Bereng Letsie Bereng seven years ago. The case was first heard in […]
MASERU — The Law Society of Lesotho has banned 65 lawyers from practising for failing to pay their annual subscription fees to the organisation. The laws governing the legal profession stipulate that the lawyers should pay their fees in order to get practising certificates. The practising certificates allow the practitioners to appear in court representing […]
MASERU — The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) last night tried to distance itself from the mess surrounding the allocation of proportional representation seats, sources who attended the closed talks told the Lesotho Times. The IEC has been accused of wrongly allocating PR seats, causing serious friction between the government and the opposition. But last night […]
MASERU –– The Labour Appeal Court on Monday ordered Fahhida Cash & Carry to pay M405 000 to a group of former workers who were unfairly dismissed four years ago. The court said Fahhida Cash & Carry should pay the 31 dismissed workers within 30 days. Fahhida Cash & Carry had taken its case to […]
QEME –– All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader, Thomas Thabane, on Sunday said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was not a neutral arbiter in the dispute over the proportional representation seats. Thabane told a poorly attended rally in Qeme constituency that the IEC’s neutrality was questionable as it was favouring the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy […]
MASERU — A new aviation company on Monday introduced domestic flights to ferry passengers throughout Lesotho. The Mountain Airways Company will also provide cross-border flights to selected destinations. It becomes the second airline after South Africa’s Airlink to operate in Lesotho. “The airline will transport people to different mountainous places and will carry 10 people […]
MASERU — Lesotho’s only Sunday paper hits the streets this weekend, heralding a new era for the country’s nascent media industry. The Sunday Express will be Africa Media Holdings (AMH)’s second publication in Lesotho, coming hard on the heels of the Lesotho Times which has quickly established itself as a must-read since it was launched […]
MASERU –– Two local firms are suing the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) and the Ministry of Home Affairs for awarding a contract to supply police uniforms to a United States company that had been disqualified during the tender process. Smally Trading Company and Noko Enterprises say the LMPS and its parent ministry gave the […]
MASERU –– The talks to resolve the dispute between government and the opposition over proportional representation seats were postponed yesterday after the mediator said he wanted more time to analyse the issue. The talks, being facilitated by the Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL), were supposed to resume yesterday after the parties agreed on the ground […]
MASERU — ‘Maretsélisitsoe Lethata (pictured) is a desperate woman. Her debts are mounting and those that she owes are baying for her blood. “The people I owe want their money and they are giving me sleepless nights,” Lethata says. Lethata is not a victim of some unscrupulous money lenders. Neither did she spend her […]
QUTHING — Two security guards who barred patients from entering a government clinic were last week slapped with five-year jail terms each or pay a fine of M10 000 each for violating the Internal Security Act of 1984. The sentence was however suspended for five years on condition that they do not commit a similar […]
MASERU — A Maseru man, Nkoli Malia, appeared in the High Court last week to answer charges of murder and attempted murder. Malia allegedly shot and killed Mosa Lemphane on 12 December last year near the Lesotho Bank Tower in Maseru. Malia is accused of shooting Lemphane as he attempted to recover his taxi which […]
MASERU –– All Basotho Convention (ABC) party leader, Tom Thabane, says he is disappointed with the way the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has handled the electoral dispute between the government and the opposition. Thabane told party supporters at a rally in Naleli on Sunday that he was frustrated that SADC had not said a […]
MAFETENG — A 29-year-old man from Khilibiting Ha Ramathalea was arrested last week in connection with the murder of the area chief. The 83-year-old chief was killed while on his way from Thabana-Morena Post Office to collect his monthly pension. Detective Sergeant Motlalei Phihlela from Mafeteng Criminal Investigation Division said the chief was found by […]
MASERU –– Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili last weekend said he will not shift his position on the allocation of proportional representation (PR) seats in parliament. Mosisili told about 3 000 party ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party supporters in Teya-Teyaneng that the allocation of the seats was done lawfully. The prime minister’s statement could throw […]
MASERU –– Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Metsing Lekhanya, says he will soon have national rallies to persuade former supporters that have defected to other parties to return to the party. Addressing a poorly attended rally in Qoatsaneng on Sunday, Lekhanya told a crowd of about 150 supporters that he was planning to revive “the […]
Civil servants say loan deductions unlawful MASERU — A group of civil servants is demanding that the treasury department stops deducting their salaries to pay their debts to three troubled prominent money lenders. The civil servants are suing Select Management Services, Afrisure (EEZY Management Services) and B-Blue financial services for unlawful terms and conditions contained […]
MASERU — About 320 jobs are at risk at Raytex Garments textile firm because the company is facing serious viability problems. The company which is a subsidiary of Raytex Limited which is based in China has been struggling since last year. The company which is based in the Maseru West industrial area has already laid […]
MASERU — Officers from the National Security Service (NSS) were on Tuesday ordered out of the home of All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader, Tom Thabane, where a party meeting was being held. The two NSS agents had attended the ABC meeting at Thabane’s home in Ha-Abia. Thabane was briefing his supporters on the stay-away called […]
MASERU — All Basotho Convention (ABC) leader, Thomas Thabane, says the stay-away called by the opposition had failed “because the people let us down by going to work”. Speaking at a press conference held at his home in Ha-Abia on Tuesday, Thabane said some of the workers could have chosen to report for work because […]
Analysts say ABC didn’t do its homework MASERU –– The stayaway called by opposition parties flopped because the timing was wrong and the planning was poor, analysts have said. They said the opposition, led by the All Basotho Convention (ABC), had failed to mobilise enough support because there was nothing strong enough to trigger […]
Daring thieves raid, slaughter beasts on spot as owners sleep MASERU –– Mokone Motemekoane got the shock of his life last Saturday when he found his kraal empty. His three cows, the only ones he had, were gone. A carcass of one of his cows was just a few metres away from his yard. […]
MASERU — Communications Minister Mothetjoa Metsing yesterday said the government is committed to transforming the media sector in line with international trends. Speaking at a media policy workshop in the capital Maseru, Metsing said the government recognised the important role played by the media in promoting democracy and freedom. “I wish to point out that […]
MASERU — Taxi operators are worried the stay-away called by the opposition might not only cost them thousands of maloti in revenue but their vehicles as well should it turn violent. Yesterday the Maseru Regional Transport Operators (MRTO) was making frantic efforts to have the indefinite stay-away, scheduled to start on Monday, shelved. MRTO spokesman […]
