Tefo Tefo
OUTGOING Mining Minister Lebohang Thotanyana has blamed his failure to win the Teyateyaneng #24 constituency in the 2015 snap elections on the Lesotho Times, saying this publication had tarnished his image a month before the polls.
Mr Thotanyana said this on Tuesday when testifying before the High Court as he motivated his M3 million claim for damages against this publication.
He alleged the paper defamed him in January 2015 through articles it published “portraying him as a fraudster and a bankrupt businessman”.
The Lesotho Times had reported about the High Court judgment that declared Thotanyana Mining and Civil Works Pty Ltd bankrupt.
Mr Thotanyana was a shareholder in that company when it was declared insolvent in a High Court judgement delivered by Justice Lisebo Chaka-Makhooane on 5 December 2014.
The Lesotho Times carried a story under the headline “Thotanyana’s firm declared bankrupt”.
Mr Thotanyana is complaining about the posters that were put on the streets as they were just written “Thotanyana declared bankrupt”.
This, the outgoing minister said, was a malicious attack on his reputation because he had never been declared bankrupt as a person.
He is also complaining about the article that was carried in the same newspaper that he was a “fraudster” as was alleged in the newspaper. The Lesotho Times stated that he had failed to honour an agreement he made with the Boqate community to contribute M50 000 towards the community’s electrification scheme but only paid M20 000 as compensation to the community for a mining quarry in the area.
According to the article, he had also entered into a contract with that community to construct a road leading to that village.
But Mr Thotanyana said all that was published in that particular article was not true because he did not enter into any contract with the Boqate community.
He said the posters and the article were a smear campaign against him that contributed a great deal towards his failure to win elections on 28 February 2015 under the banner of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy.
“I must say that publication depicted me as a fraudster,” Mr Thotanyana said on Tuesday.
“Maybe I should also highlight that the posters along the streets reflected that I had been declared bankrupt.
“The posters only said Thotanyana declared bankrupt.”
He showed the Lesotho Times poster to the presiding judge Justice Semapo Peete.
“The posters were put in all hot spots, where you have a large concentration of people. They were put along King’s Way and along my home town streets in TY (Teyateyaneng).
“It was clear to everybody that when the posters wrote about Thotanyana they were referring to me because whenever media write about me they never write the name Lebohang, but Thotanyana.
“And I am the only Thotanyana who is normally referred to as a businessman.
“I was never declared bankrupt by any court and there has never been an attempt to do so.”
He further said: “There was also a headline in the newspaper which said ‘villagers cry foul… accuse businessman Thotanyana of fraud’.”
He said the article indicated that villagers accused him of fraud; adding the article was complimented by his picture.
“The contents of the article are that I entered into a contract with Boqate villagers to mine quarry and I had promised to contribute M50 000 towards their electricity project and to construct a road to the village.
“It is further alleged that I failed to fulfil my promise by paying only M20 000 and never constructed the road.
“This is all not true because I never entered into any contract with the villagers,” he said.
“I am also quoted in the story as saying I am not bankrupt, but only Thotanyana Civil Works had a problem.
“I never uttered those words.”
He said the article says the chief from that area said they were going to take legal measures against him, “but nothing happened”.
Asked by High Court judge Justice Semapo Peete if ministers were allowed to enter into a lucrative business, he said: “This publication was made before I was appointed minister in His Majesty’s government.
“It was a few weeks before the elections.”
Mr Thotanyana said he was a professional chartered accountant who served as a board director in many companies.
He said the articles tarnished his reputation as a professional, businessman and a politician.
“Up to today the paper has never made any retraction.”
However, during the cross examination yesterday, the lawyer representing Lesotho Times, Senior Counsel Phillip Loubser said the article itself in the newspaper clearly stated that it was Thotanyana Mining and Civil Works company that was declared bankrupt not him as a person.
He said the poster on the street only directed readers to the newspaper itself.
“I put it to you that an average intelligent reader looking at the poster would have a reasonable impression that it was the business that was bankrupt, not you as a person.”
But Mr Thotanyana said the poster labeled him insolvent as a person.
“If the newspaper intended to show that it was only the company it could have said it on the poster.”
He reiterated the Lesotho Times poster that said he was bankrupt cost him both the 2015 and this year’s election in his home constituency.
“I got only 644 votes in February 2015 elections and by the grace of God I managed to get 1780 votes in this year’s elections,” he said.
He also alleged under cross examination that the Lesotho Times in 2015 had a vendetta against his party, the LCD.
“The Lesotho Times was very hostile against LCD at that time.
“They would finish anybody who was linked to LCD. They had a vendetta against it. They ruined my image.
“In fact, I am still surprised why my wife still loves me; being married to a fraudster.”
He further charged if the Lesotho Times had made a genuine mistake, it could have retracted what was written on the poster.
Instead, he said the newspapers’ management never bothered to rectify the mistake despite his attempts to get the matter corrected.
Mr Thotanyana was represented by Advocate Monaheng Rasekoai.
The case proceeds.
