Happy New Year to you all fellow Basotho. I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year break. Let’s hope that Moruo brings us its promised prosperity in 2023 or at least begins showing us signs that we are headed in that direction.
The year has started on quite a hilarious note. I was enjoying the last days of my leave last week when my attention was caught with the Lesotho Times’ headline screaming: ‘DMA boss demands return of seized M500 000’
Unless you were holidaying on Mars, you will know that the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) is hard on its heels to try and decimate the lootocracy that goes by the name of Lesotho.
It last month decided to disrupt the holiday seasons of Principal Secretaries Nonkululeko Zaly, Thabo Motoko and Lefu Manyokole as well as Government Secretary (GS), Lerotholi Pheko in its efforts to recover Covid 19 funds allegedly siphoned into private pockets.
Also targeted was Disaster Management Authority (DMA) acting chief executive officer, Makhotso Mahosi.
It is Mme Mahosi’s circumstances that I find most intriguing and enthralling. The DCEO seized a whopping M500, 000 cash which she claimed belonged to her three member stokvel. Really.
Just imagine my fellow Basotho, some among us can afford to stash as much as M500 000 in their couches. They are really living large. I wish I had just two percent of that figure. I would have had a better holiday. Now to you Mme Mahosi – Can I please join your stokvel? What is the membership criteria? Will you allow me to borrow first before I make any contributions? I promise I won’t run away after my first withdrawal. I am in desperate need of cash.
The DCEO is not known for its meticulousness. In fact, it is one of the most incompetent organisations of state in Lesotho, if not the most hapless with no single conviction behind it despite that Lesotho is a citadel of corruption. Few are holding their breaths that the movie style raids of the PSs will result in any convictions. But if I were the DCEO, I would be rubbing my hands in glee. Mme Mahosi’s unwise decision to file a court challenge to get her moolah back should be manna from heaven for the DCEO. Mme Mahosi’s application is so ill conceived and ill argued that it raises more questions than answers.
This is not at all to suggest that Mme Mahosi is guilty of the charges levelled against her. I will leave our esteemed judges to pronounce on that. But her court application to get her money back contains more hedges than the proverbial English countryside.
For starters, M500 000 is a huge cash pile to keep at home for any reason, either stuffed in couches in mattresses or steel or wooden drawers. Just ask President Cyril Matela Ramaphosa on that one?
Moreso, Mme Mahosi decided to keep this cash pile at her mother’s home in Mafeteng, a well-known criminal hellhole and home to unhinged Famo criminals and gangsters. Mme Mahosi must either have real balls or nerves of steel.
I hope the DCEO will interrogate her diligently. Mme Mahosi must explain herself further. Who else among us has the guts to keep M500 000 under their mum’s pillow? This figure probably represents the monthly salaries of many, many school teachers and nurses combined.
It’s a lot of money. I am green with envy. Here therefore are the questions the DCEO must pose to ‘Me Mahosi.
Question 1: How did a three member stokvel manage to raise all this moolah. It’s quite a lot. What are the salaries of each of the three members of the stokvel?
Question 2: When was this unregistered stokvel formed and when did it begin its operations? Was it before Covid? Or was it after Covid 19, when the Disaster Management Authority was gifted with a state of emergency which legally empowered Mme Mahosi to allocate projects without formal tender processes?
Question 3: ‘Me Mahosi claims she and her two fellow travellers in the stokvel contributed M12 500 per month each. That means about M37 500 a month? How much do they exactly earn to afford such hefty monthly contributions? We all know M12 500 is way above the salary of an experienced headmaster or headmistress.
Question 4: At that rate of contributions, it must have taken a mere 13 months for Mme Mahosi’s stokvel to have raised a huge cash pile of M500 000. That means the Stokvel can only have been established after the state of emergency declaration in March 2020, which vested Mme Mahosi with all those powers to bypass tender protocols? Is this all a coincidence or Mme Mahosi is just too entrepreneurial?
Question 5: Stokvels are commonplace though they rarely consist of only three members. They organize themselves and open bank accounts because of the dangers of keeping cash. All members contribute into a selected bank account of one of them. Why did Mme Mahosi’s particularly prefer to deal in cash? Why could it not open a bank account or use any of the members’ accounts?
Question 6: What was Mme Mahosi’s main motivation in determining that her Stokvel should only deal in cash? Why, why, why? Scrutator would want to know. It’s dangerous to deal in cash. We all know it. So again, why?
Question 7: Has Mme Mahosi ever run a similar stokvel before and what has been her modus operandi? Has she always kept huge cash piles with any previous stokvels or this is the first time? If so, why now after a state of emergency which vested her with enormous powers to bypass tender processes?
Question 8: Why did Mme Mahosi lie to the DCEO that she had indeed received this money as a bribe from one corrupt Ntate Khetso just to extricate herself from heavy interrogation and rush home to be with her daughter? Surely that is the dumbest thing for anyone to ever do? You don’t admit a crime and then rush to court to recant your statements? Why why Mme Mahosi? Why did you not stand your ground and tell your interrogators to jump into the deepest part of Mohale Dam? Even if they had kept you in custody just for one night, that surely would have been all worth it? Your daughter would just have been fine.
Question 9: Why did Mme Mahosi keep all this cash with her mom and risk losing it all in the custody of an elderly woman? Why did the members of this Stokvel trust that Mme Mahosi’s mum was the best custodian of this cash? What if she had been targeted by the Mafeteng thieves? Why did any of the three members not assume the responsibility of keeping their cash for themselves instead of entrusting it to a third party mother? Why were they oblivious to the fact that they were exposing her to a major risk?
Question 10: Can Mme Mahosi and her alleged partners in crime voluntarily and willingly share some of the M500 000 with struggling Basotho? Can we share in the success of her Stokvel? Scrutator would not mind a bit of this huge cash pile. I am reeling from the January disease. After all, being a good Samaritan is always a mitigating factor if things don’t go one’s way in court processes and they have to be jailed. The DCEO should surely allow this money to be released to Basotho if Mme Mahosi orders so?
Wither the DCEO: Let’s get real answers please. This is a test case of your ability to get to the bottom of issues. Mme Mahosi has certainly a lot of questions to answer or just clarify for now. Let’s see if you get it right this time round you DCEO. Otherwise you must just be disbanded.
And to all you Basotho, let’s hope for a prosperous 2023 as individuals and collectively as a nation. Let’s hope many of us will be able to run successful three member stokvels and keep M500 000 for ourselves. But let’s remember to keep that cash in the bank. It’s never safe to stash such huge amounts in couches and under the pillows. Again, just ask one Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa.
