Mohalenyane Phakela
LESOTHO Electricity Company (LEC) Managing Director, Mohato Seleke, will leave the power company on 30 June 2023 after he and the LEC board agreed to a “mutual termination” of his contract.
Mr Seleke and the LEC board had reached an agreement to terminate his contract as the parastatal’s boss effective from 1 June 2023. Mr Seleke will remain in office until the last day of this month to serve his notice period.
Mr Seleke was appointed to the LEC’s helm in January 2021 on a five-year contract. His contract was due to end in January 2026.
LEC public relations manager, Tšepang Ledia, told the Lesotho Times last night that Mr Seleke had reached a mutual agreement with the LEC board to part ways.
“There has been that form of communication to the staff that Mr Seleke would be leaving the company this month end. A managing director is appointed on a five-year contract which means Mr Seleke’s contract was far from expiring,” Mr Ledia said.
The LEC board’s communique to the utility company’s staff stated that the two parties had reached a mutual agreement to part ways.
“The Lesotho Electricity Company and its managing director (Mohato Seleke) have agreed to a mutual separation with effect from 1 June 2023 and the managing director has started serving notice for a period of one month until 30 June 2023.
“The LEC board of directors wishes to thank the managing director for his hard work, dedication, and professional contribution in ensuring the business continuity for the LEC during his tenure. We wish you (Seleke) well in your future endeavours.”
The notice further informed staff that the LEC board would expedite the process of recruiting Mr Seleke’s replacement.
Mr Seleke could not be reached for comment last night.
He however leaves the LEC with his head high. Under his leadership, the LEC has not embarked on wide scale load shedding as has happened in just about every other Southern African Development Community (SADC) country.
He has also been very strident in demanding that customers pay for their electricity usage to enable the LEC to meet its own obligations.
Mr Seleke made headlines in March this year when he shut down power supplies to the Water and Sewage Company (WASCO) over its failure to service its utility debt of over M40 million the to LEC. A fortnight ago, he held a press conference where he warned companies and government departments which owed the LEC to service their debts or risk being cut off.
Before he joined the LEC in January 2021, Mr Seleke was the chief executive officer of the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) from 2017 under the Thomas Thabane administration. He was installed at LEC by former Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro.
He is a vastly experienced business person who has worked in numerous consulting assignments for both local and international organisations in the areas of corporate finance, investment, and international trade and technology integration.
Amongst others, he consulted for the Commonwealth, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and CARE.
Mr Seleke holds Masters in Business Administration from the University of the Free State (UFS) and also graduated from the National University of Lesotho with BSc in Mathematics and Statistics. He further completed advanced training in Operations Management and Logistics and Lean Management with both the University of Free State and University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, respectively.
