Does anyone remember the Lesotho Sunday News, a newspaper that was never to be seen again after its first issue of 20 pages of incoherent copy surfaced on July 18, 2004?
All along Scrutator has been wondering why the tabloid died before it had even sold a single copy considering that other papers have survived for considerably longer periods despite churning out similar hogwash,
Then, voila, the owner and publisher of the one-off pamphlet, Makhakhe Tukula, last Friday cracked the “Da Vinci Code” for me.
Shshshshhhh . . . . it’s for your ears only: he entrusted his otherwise noble project in the hands of his fellow Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party cadres!
If he did not do that, why then would Tukula want any other employer to recruit on the basis of political affiliation?
In fact, why would he want his political colleagues to get jobs simply because they are LCD members?
And, by the way, does he owe his position as private secretary to a cabinet minister to his LCD membership or his academic qualifications?
I had the terrible misfortune of reading Tukula’s piece in that other weekly that triggered a running tummy.
His article titled “Hiring and firing, LCD’s dilemma” should make every open-minded Mosotho cringe with embarrassment.
Tukula is furious that LCD members have not been employed — never mind their suitability for the jobs — in projects that he claims to be “initiatives” of the ruling party.
There are times when singing for one’s supper reaches ridiculous levels.
If I may ask, does Tukula still have a tongue considering the amount of bootlicking he has been performing over the years?
“My experience with Limkokwing University taught me a painful lesson. Why was the office of the Prime Minister unable to make sure that whoever was going to be employed at Limkokwing shared or had LCD sentiments?”
Holy dung!
So universities have to employ lecturers and other staffers on the basis of their political affiliation instead of their academic qualifications and ability to deliver?
But, not content with embarrassing himself, Tukula attempted to give credence to his warped ideas by dragging Communications Minister Mothetjoa Metsing’s name in his diatribe.
“To be honest, think about the case where the wife of LCD spokesperson Mr Mothetjoa Metsing was denied employment by some arrogant Malaysian girl while the minister with other cabinet counterparts spent sleepless nights working to erect Limkokwing Lesotho,” he burbled.
Scrutator is not in a position to say why Metsing’s wife was allegedly denied a job if ever she was.
But for Tukula to argue she should have been given the job because her husband spent “sleepless” nights trying to make the Limkokwing project a reality is pure hokum.
Can you imagine the harm that would be unleashed when all strategic national posts are filled with party acolytes?
It’s sickening when pseudo-analysts like Tukula try to mislead the ruling party to stuff our universities with ruling party supporters regardless of their intellectual gravitas.
The reality is that these people are a danger not only to themselves but to the nation as well.
Tukula then goes on to complain about foreigners in high places while “Basotho graduates are idle”.
I get very worried when someone complains about our graduates being unemployed.
Some of them are unemployed simply because they are unemployable. Period!
Enter Arthur Majara.
The old man just felt he could not be outdone by Tukula in their xenophobic mantra.
It seems the pseudo-analyst, I’m afraid to say, cannot be rehabilitated.
Remember he went into hiding after Scrutator spanked him for his not-so-innocent articles in that paper?
He’s back.
And it appears he could have left the little reasonableness he had wherever he was hiding.
“What are the Chinese doing in Lesotho? Can’t we do things by ourselves?” gushed the headline of his instalment in the same weekly.
I puked.
I need not remind Majara that the Chinese have not stopped any Mosotho from starting business ventures of their choices.
Enterprising Basotho run successful businesses, like the fast-food outlet KFC, never mind the Chinese have restaurants strewn all over the country.
The only difference between them and the rest of us is that the Chinese are a hard-working people who do not sit on their bums waiting for government handouts.
People like Majara must go out there and compete for opportunities instead of whining endlessly about the Chinese and what the government has allegedly done for them.
Who has stopped him from starting his own sweatshop?
Sam Matekane has bought aircrafts while Majara continues to bleat about losing business opportunities he feels are being stolen by the Chinese.
But I still do not understand the raw hatred exhibited against the Chinese when they have done so much to improve the quality of life for Basotho.
The Chinese are employing just under 40 000 people in this country.
Can Majara tell Scrutator how many people his “columnist” business employs in this country?
None.
He is a worker just like those factory workers.
And his employer, if he is still the levelheaded person he was, might be tempted to dispense with such narrow-minded columnists.
