Mohloai Mpesi
MINISTER of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Lebona Lephema, has been accused of abusing state resources to advance his political interests.
This after the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week slammed the minister for “issuing a directive” to have the government’s machinery used to develop a new football pitch for Lioli Football Club in his Teyateyaneng (TY) constituency.
The PAC, chaired by ‘Machabana Lemphane-Letsie, had summoned local government officials to explain what her committee views as a brazen abuse of public assets and infrastructure for political purposes.
Ms Lemphane-Letsie, flanked by several members of the PAC, said the committee was adamant that Minister Lephema was using state resources to advance his political interests. As the MP for TY, his political stock would rise significantly if he were able to build a new stadium for the popular reigning champions of the soccer league
Ms Lemphane-Letsie said the PAC had learned that Mr Lephema had directed the director general of the Department of Local Government to use the state’s yellow metal to build the football pitch for Lioli FC.
Mr Lephema, a multi-millionaire businessman, is also a Lioli FC benefactor and an avid soccer lover.
The local government department’s Director-General, Mating Molapo, confirmed they had deployed the government’s equipment to build the stadium. She however defended the decision saying she had made it independently with no duress from anyone.
Ms Lemphane-Letsie was not swayed, effectively implying that Ms Molapo was lying.
The decision was at the instigation of Mr Lephema “who sought to advance his political interests by using state resources”, she declared.
She therefore challenged Ms Molapo to convince them otherwise.
Ms Molapo then chronicled how the government had decided to construct a new stadium for Lioli. She said the ministry had entered a deal with Lioli to get its pitch to construct a bus terminus with market stalls for vendors in exchange of building a new pitch for the team elsewhere in TY.
The local government ministry was erecting such bus terminuses in all the country’s 10 districts. With regards to Berea District, which covers TY, Lioli’s pitch was the perfect spot for that. She then produced a report that detailed the deal with Lioli in terms of which they would exchange spots.
Having produced the report, Ms Molapo expressed surprise as to why the development in TY was being scrutinised when a similar project had been carried out in Leribe District with Linare Football Club.
Ms Lemphane-Letsie then insisted that the project in TY had been done with “deceitful intent” because it was meant to help Minister Lephema, the local MP, to advance his political interests.
“Let me explain to you why it becomes a problem when it comes to Berea. It becomes a problem because looking at it, Minister of Local Government is a Member of Parliament like us,” Ms Lemphane-Letsie said.
“He comes from the Teyateyaneng number 24 constituency where the development is being carried out. He is thus campaigning using government resources. He is essentially saying that government resources should be utilised to build a playing field for Lioli through his politics.
“Unless we get a clear explanation of what happened, we see it as the minister using the state’s resources to campaign in the constituency. Help us to understand whether the minister was not campaigning. That it was not a political decision, but a strategic decision.”
Ms Molapo was adamant that she had not been influenced by the minister and had made the decision independently.
“The Minister was not there (during the meetings). There is nowhere Mr Lephema directed me to take the machines to Teyateyaneng because it is his constituency,” Ms Molapo insisted.
