…As Mafisa redeploys 16 officers in an “act of vengeance”
Staff Reporters
The calamitous situation at the National Security Service (NSS) is worsening.
The spy agency’s Acting Director General, Lebohang Mafisa, stands accused of continuing to run the organisation into the ground. This as he seeks to consolidate his power by surrounding himself with sycophants at the expense of fostering an environment that allows for proper intelligence gathering to help the country reduce devastating crime levels, authoritative sources say.
The sources say this is illustrated by Mr Mafisa’s latest decision to redeploy 16 expert officers – mostly from the counter intelligence or special operations departments – to positions which are not core to their expertise.
This has dramatically diminished morale in the spy agency which sources now describe as wholly comatose at a time its services are needed most.
It seems Mr Mafisa – who was appointed acting NSS boss for an initial three-month period from 1 April 2024 – pending the hiring of a substantive boss – has already convinced himself he is going to be confirmed into the position. His acting appointment has since been extended by another three months. His entire life is now focused on consolidating his power instead of ensuring the competency of the organisation, sources say.
But his actions have wrought more destruction to an organisation that was already limping.
The Lesotho Times reported last week that the NSS was in total paralysis and had become increasingly unfit for any purpose.
The report spoke of a litany of challenges the agency is facing including demotivated staff, meagre resources to be effective, and intelligence gatherers not working in tandem with their bosses. Mr Mafisa had inexplicably withdrawn resources from critical sections, whose officers he believed wanted to kill him, imperilling their work.
It has since emerged that Mr Mafisa has implemented a unilateral decision to essentially redeploy 16 officers to different lesser positions to “constrict” them. The affected officers are said to be very unhappy with the decision. They view their transfers as demotions. Some are even considering legal action.
“The reason for all the transfers is that Mafisa continues to target officers he believes were loyal to Ralenkoane…..He wants to put his own puppets in all key positions….The result is that the work of the NSS is suffering….,” said an authoritative source.
“I have not seen anything like this in all the years I have been here. The mark of a good leader is to identify his best performers and deploy them into strategic positions…This guy is doing exactly the opposite. It seems he is being run by his close friend Machesetsa Mofomobe (the Basotho National Party leader) to benefit the opposition instead of assisting the existing government with strategic intelligence for proper decision making to safeguard national interests.”
For example, an officer who was headhunted to oversee cyber security issues, one Mr Moima, has been redeployed to do field work for which he has no experience. Sources said that would render that cyber security department equally comatose.
One highly regarded Mr Motseko Thaha has been removed from special operations and thrown to a lesser position in Quthing. His expertise in counter intelligence is now lost, the sources said. They said Mr Thaha had also been doing a commendable job in training others. That is now all in vain.
Another Regional Senior Manager (southern region), one Mr Kuleile, has been transferred to a lesser role in the training department, among other demotions.
All the redeployments and demotions are being facilitated by Nomalinge Tlakeli, whom Mr Mafisa, soon after taking over, appointed new human resources manager, after removing the incumbent Vusi Mbole, who is also said to have been deeply saddened with that sudden change.
After taking over as human resources boss, Ms Tlakeli, according to evidence seen by the Lesotho Times, immediately started facilitating hefty acting benefits for Mr Mafisa, notwithstanding that these had not been stated in his acting appointment letter.
“The NSS is descending from the gutter straight into the sewer. He (Mafisa) is imposing people who are incapable and unskilled …If he was doing these things to improve efficiency, we would all be happy.
“But his main aim is to target people he describes as Ralenkoane’s puppets. It is a mess. That’s not how to run an organisation. His (Mafisa) are acts of vengeance with no basis nor justification,” said another highly placed source.
The biggest drawback now, the authoritative sources told us, was that officers with valuable intelligence, were simply holding onto it and not passing it through. That was extremely bad for Lesotho as it prejudiced the government of intelligence to make strategic decisions. This is also at a time the NSS’s services were critically needed to combat rising crime.
Worse still, Mr Mafisa does not even believe that crime intelligence to help the state fight rampant violent crime is his business. In his last interview with the Lesotho Times, he told us that that was the responsibility of the police who were tasked with maintaining law and order. One official told us last week that statement alone was enough to prove that the NSS had become a sad joke under Mr Mafisa.
Mr Mafisa had promised us an interview, where we were supposed to put all our questions to him, but he reneged on the promise even after we had delayed publishing our story by a week. He is no longer taking our calls. We will publish his side of the story whenever he grants us an interview.
We nonetheless understand that he is establishing a crack team to spy on the Lesotho Times and our staff to, among other things, establish who our sources are. That is of course a blatant abuse of state resources for we are only doing our work of reporting in the national interest. It’s always foolhardy to try and shoot a messenger.
The All Basotho Convention (ABC), among others, has lamented the ineffectiveness of the NSS in helping combat crime. It is the duty of any responsible media organisation to explain why. That is all we are doing.
Mr Mofomobe, who is said to be in regular contact with Mr Mafisa, was not picking his calls last night. Normally, intelligence organisations must report to a reigning government alone and not consort with the opposition as they cannot serve two masters. But because Lesotho’s security agencies have long been bastardized, it seems professional etiquette is hard to come by.
Mr Mafisa is also said to have a line to Tumo Lekhooa, the former NSS director general, who is on the run over a series of crimes. Lekhooa, is wanted for helping Tlali Kamoli, at the height of the latter’s reign of terror which has seen him confined to prison for the last seven years while his various trials for murder and treason continue.
