• Farmer has unique way of predicting weather

• Weather expert says no significant change to rain patterns

• Agriculture expert gives indigenous knowledge the thumbs up

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• Villagers owed compensation since they surrendered field 5 years ago

• Others paid M15k to compensate for lost harvests

• LHDA says pay out started on March 7 and has been completed

Local actor, producer and comedian, Bofihla

‘Neko has scored a role on South Africa

telenovela ‘The River’ as a right hand man for a character called Kabo

who is a diamond dealer.

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Unemployment solvable – MatekaneLocal business mogul Sam Matekane this week launched a new political party – the Revolution for Prosperity – which he says is determined to come up with strategies to eradicate poverty. Matekane said one of the strategies that he is going to put in place if elected as Lesotho’s next Prime Minister is to make sure that Basotho youth are empowered to start their own businesses.

He says when more youth start their own businesses, they will be able to give jobs to other youth instead of expecting to get jobs from government.“Unemployment is a huge challenge in Lesotho and one thing that is important is to remove all the bottlenecks to doing business, so that all people who are willing to be in business can do so. We are going to sit down with the youth to find out what their challenges are in starting their own businesses.

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By ‘Majirata LatelaSenior Reporter

PARTNERING TO PLANT TREES TODAY FOR A GREENER TOMORROW

See page 9, to find out about our forestry restoration initiative.

The enraged Community of Polihali is demand-ing compensation for their fields which the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority

(LHDA) took control of five years ago.The community resorted to intermittently bar-

ricading with rocks the road that leads to one of the camp sites at Masakong village since March 14.

Masakong community leader, Lebohang Len-goasa said in January this year the community held discussions with the LHDA where they demanded compensation for the fields earmarked to be affected by the construction of the Polihali Dam. The LHDA had promised it would pay out compensation money in two months’ time. But this never came to pass.

“On March 8 2022 I called to remind LHDA that the two months we had agreed on had just only two days left. They never responded and that is why the following week we decided that we are going to block the road that leads to our fields on which the camp has been constructed.

“We have decided to block the road because we want LHDA to pay for our fields. We cannot be starving in our homes while LHDA continues with the project as if nothing has happened. We are go-ing to continue blocking the road until the last person has been paid.

“There are 37 people in Masakong waiting for compensation as per the LHDA promise. Before tak-ing the decision to start demonstrating we checked on each one of the people who are yet to receive their compensation. It is one villager who has been com-pensated,” he said.

He added that the LHDA Polihali branch manager Gerald Mokone urged them to clear the road as the authority was already processing their monies. The police are being deployed to disperse the protesting villagers and clear the road, only for the disgruntled villages to blockade it again.

He expressed their disappointment and criticized the LHDA for inviting the police to disperse them and end their protest instead of working for a resolve of their grievances.

Lengoasa said yesterday said some of the villag-ers have begun receiving their monies. But he was at pains to accept the dishing out of the compensation saying it was too little.

This, he added, was far more less than the ex-pected amounts promised by the LHDA.

He said they have written a letter to LHDA re-

Polihali community up in arms

MASAKoNg coMMuNiTy BLocKiNg AcceSS To The RoAd

questing an explanation as to why the amounts are now altered. He said all the time LHDA has been silent about the format that it uses to calculate the amounts to be paid out.

He added that as the community they are still not happy with the 50 years of compensation and that they plead for help for affected communities. He said they demand lifetime compensation instead.

One of the community members whose fields have been made way for construction of a workers’ camp at Masakong, ‘Mamolefi Raisi says since her fields were taken by LHDA she has been struggling to feed her family. It was only in 2019 when she was given M15 000 as compensation ‘for harvest’.

“I have not been able to use my field from 2018 when LHDA told me that the fields are going to be affected. I then received that cheque only once. I am very disappointed at the way LHDA takes long to process our money when they are busy with con-struction activities of the dam.

“I am no longer happy with the dam construction because I already foresee hunger and poverty among people who have been affected by the dam. We are not supposed to be running after the authority to give us what is due to us,” Raisi said.

LHDA’s public relations’ manager, Masilo Phakoe said yesterday Masakong community blocked access to the site establishment area which is where the permanent Polihali village and other accommodation and office facilities will be constructed. Access was blocked from March 14 2022.

He said the area also comprises temporary man-

agement camps for LHDA and various consultants. That meant that work on the Polihali village and lodge construction was affected as workers had no access to the construction site. He said access to and from the camp was also temporarily limited for the consultants and some LHDA officials that reside at the temporary management camp.

“While the works were temporarily stopped, the affected contractors for construction of housing and for the construction of the Polihali North East Ac-cess Road and the Consultant who is supervising the construction of the road between Ha Seshote and Semenanyane River have now resumed operations.

“The LHDA is sensitive to community concerns including those related to compensation payments. It initiated community engagements in the past to address these issues and continues to engage with the relevant community structures to address con-cerns on compensation delays. The LHDA compen-sates the affected communities the amounts that are stated in the filled in forms.

“LHDA started making compensation payments for households within the Masakong village from March 7 and all have now been paid their compensa-tion.

“LHDA acknowledges that there have been de-lays in compensation payments in some areas but this needs to be understood within a context that before actual payment of compensation there is a process to follow,” Phakoe said.

He said the LHDA engages with affected house-holds to register their assets, verify the information,

consider the households compensation preferences and then enters into an agreement of compensation options with individual households. Compensation entitlements and payments per household are based on the type and size of asset lost.

He added that the compensation process is not simultaneous for all people affected by the Project.

“In cases where the Project needs to access peo-ple’s properties before payment has been issued, the LHDA consults the specific owners and an agree-ment is reached with them, allowing LHDA access to the land whilst payment is being expedited.

“The initial agreement with the community in question was for them to be paid Annual Compen-sation Payment (ACP) for a period of two (2) years starting 2019. This was to end in 2021. At the end of the two years the Project consulted with the af-fected households to establish whether there would be some who would prefer to continue with the An-nual Compensation Payment.

“There were households who opted for lumpsum payments but at one point it was not clear as to who among the affected indeed preferred Annual Com-pensation Payment. Further consultations were held to try and have final decision by the households on their preference. What could be considered as the final decision by the households was reached around October 2021,” He said.

He further explained that LHDA used cheques to pay compensation to the affected households. However, at the end of September 2021, the use of cheques as medium of exchange was phased out. The LHDA then had to embark on an outreach pro-gramme to assist the affected households to open bank accounts into which LHDA would transfer compensation funds.

He said the opening bank accounts is a process that takes quite a while especially for those house-holds that reside in the remote and mountainous areas.

“Another factor that contributed to the delays is that by the time the LHDA was about to pay the com-pensation, it was discovered that some of the bank accounts were dormant and the owners of those ac-counts had to make arrangements to have those ac-counts active. This is the context we are referring to,” he concluded.

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By Poloko MokheleJunior Reporter

The management and staff of the Lesotho Opportunities Indus-trialization Center (LOIC) are

divided into two camps over the run-ning of the institution, with some staff members calling for the ouster of the acting executive director, a move he dismissed as ‘workplace politics’.

LOIC is a vocational school based in Maseru which was established in 1974 by a Christian missionary from Canada to provide learners with vocational skills.

The discord comes after five staff members known to this publication came out guns blazing against the act-ing executive director, Kokolia Rama-bele, accusing him of a plethora of misdeeds including mismanagement, corruption and lack of improvement of the school since his appointment in a letter written to the minister of small businesses development, cooperatives and marketing Machesetsa Mofomobe.

In their letter, the staff indicates that: “the acting executive director of LOIC is mishandling the running of the school as he seems to be operating it with a divide and rule policy to the staff and students; this has therefore creat-ed two factions around the institution.”

The staff state that Ramabele has been acting executive director of the institution since April 2020 but there has never been any intention by the board to hire a permanent person for the position.

“We are really wondering when the board will hire a new executive director. We suspect that he is cahoots with the board because according to the govern-ing rules of LOIC a person who holds the position of executive director has to be in possession of at least an under-graduate degree, but Ramabele has a certificate in plumbing,” they said.

The staff said the current board should not be part of the running of the school as Justice Tšeliso Mona-phathi had ruled that former principal secretary of small businesses ministry, Tankiso Phapano had disbanded it law-fully in 2021.

“The board sued the former prin-cipal secretary claiming he had fired them without following proper proce-dures. However, Justice Monaphathi in his February 2021 judgement ruled that they were removed lawfully. We are therefore surprised that they are still posing as members of the board till date and receiving sitting allowances,” they said.

The charged that during Rama-bele’s tenure as acting executive direc-tor, there are no developments that he has done for the school, hence they believe that the appointment of a new acting executive director will assist the school in financing itself without rely-ing on government subvention only.

Ramabele was appointed the acting executive director after the resignation of Lephethesang Lesaoana. The staff indicate in their letter that, according to the LOIC chain of seniority after

war at LoiC

AcTiNg Loic execuTive diRecToR, KoKoLiA RAMABeLe,

Lesaoana’s resignation, the deputy director of finance and administration, Mpho Letuka was supposed to have acted as executive director.

They further point out that Ramabele’s qualifications and experience are below those of Letuka and deputy director training, Sebaki Moji. The staff called on the minister of small businesses to appoint a new board and ensure that the recruitment of a new executive director gets underway.

“We suggested that LOIC introduce part time lectures and establish an innovation hub but there has not been any change from the management of the school.

“During the former executive director’s ten-ure a website and Facebook page were created to make it easier for potential students to apply without incurring expenses of travelling to the institution. Ramabele has stopped this without clear reasons and this has caused a communica-tion barrier for those having queries about the school and us,” they claimed.

Ramabele has also been accused of expelling staffers with diploma qualifications and failing to fill vacant positions without providing clear reasons, saying instead he has appointed those close to him with certificates to act in the posi-tions.

“Mookho Tlali, who holds a diploma in con-struction management, was fired without any clear reasons. The acting executive director is reluctant to fill vacant positions of senior in-structors in the electrical installation, plumbing and bricklaying departments that need people with diploma qualifications. He has instead ap-pointed his friends with certificates to act in those positions,” they said.

They staff mentioned that there is corrup-tion regarding the recruitment of students and they suspect that Ramabele is part of it since he has not taken any measures to investigate it.

“There are acts of corruption happening at the institution as students are not admitted through the normal processes, but forced to pay bribes ranging from M500 to M2 800 and we suspect he is part of it because he has not shown any means to do investigations on the staff members who were implicated as their names are well-known,” they said.

Contacted for comment, Ramabele said: “I have seen the letter somewhere, although it was not officially copied to me, but what I can say is

that there are 24 staff members at LOIC and it is quite surprising that five people including one who is also part of the management are saying I am mismanaging the institution yet he is part of the management.

“There is also an issue that I am firing peo-ple with diploma qualifications - that is not true. The lady that there are talking about in their letter was hired on a temporary basis and when her term came to an end we released her; they are only complaining because she is their friend.”

He also indicated that it is not true that some of the decisions he takes are not for meant for the development of the institution, saying some of the staffers want personal friendships and, as the executive director, he has a responsibility to ensure that the institution is managed in ac-cordance with its mandate.

Asked to shed light on how he was appoint-ed, Ramabele told theReporter that: “When the former executive director resigned, the board asked him to recommend someone to hold the fort and he said he could not recommend any-one in the management for the position as he did not have confidence in those under him.

The board then took a decision to appoint someone; I was nominated along with two other people from the board since I was the workers’ representative in the board then, and I got most votes and was appointed as the acting executive director.”

Ramabele also took a swipe at the ministry of small businesses development and coopera-tives, accusing it of being hell-bent on taking part in the day-to-day running of the institution and overstepping its constitution in the process.

“The ministry of small businesses wants to run the daily operations of this institution; LOIC is an independent institution registered under the Societies Act. We are just getting subvention from the ministry and there has to be separation of powers; even the board is not appointed by the ministry,” he said.

He was quick to add that he views what is happening as ‘workplace politics’ meant to tar-nish his image, saying that the staffers have no case.

Efforts to get a comment from minister of small businesses development and cooperatives Mofomobe were fruitless as his phone rang un-answered.

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By Vishwas Satgar

As we count down to the parliamentary elections later this year, a catalogue of issues will be flaunted around but we believe one issue that has to take centre stage is corruption.

This has also been a subject of wide coverage in the country’s media. Of course we have published numerous stories on corruption, and will continue to do so because this is a scourge that has pervaded our society.

What is even more disturbing about corruption is that it soiled efforts to address the Covid-19 pandemic. While many were getting sick from the virus, others saw an opportunity for self-enrichment.

Let’s take a global perspective to the matter. A report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development titled “Public integrity for an effective Covid-19 response and recovery” issued in 2020, stated that besides the procurement of goods and services required to directly address the current Covid-19 crisis, governments also have to manage ongoing public contracts.

In her 2015 book, “Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security,” Sarah Chayes, using Afghanistan as a case study, explains the consequence of unchecked corruption. Unchecked corruption is the source of instability, national frustration, and can be the cause for violence or violent protests and people seeking puritanical solutions. Chayes refers to the Afghan government as a vertically integrated criminal network where low-level government officials skim money from the population and the high-level officials loot the money with a guarantee of protection from prosecution.

And, yes, we are not afraid to say it again: the government is organised in a mafia style, with kleptocrats, skimmers, and thieves waiting to fleece resources earmarked for the post-Covid-19 recovery plan.

Who will save Lesotho from corruption?

Vladimir Putin’s regime, unlike Franco, Mussolini or Hitler, has a formidable nuclear arsenal. In this context, the contemporary world stands

on the brink, facing extinction either through nuclear holocaust emanating from battle fields in Ukraine or worsening the climate crisis, while in our everyday lives prices for food and fossil fuels are skyrocketing.

Precariousness, uncertainty and complex risk have become the lived reality of deep globalisation in which markets for finance, energy, food and production have been integrated.

The fragility of this global economy was exposed in the “great financial crisis” (circa 2007-2009) from which the world economy has not recovered, by the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, and now by the Russian inva-sion of Ukraine. These realities cannot be understood through simple memes, propagandistic binaries or ab-stract security concepts.

The stakes are highA global historical process has brought us to where

we are, a political project to remake the world in the im-age of the US after the end of the Cold War. This pro-ject has failed after four decades and is driving all of us deeper into a death trap.

Yet the leadership of the US and its allies continue to repeat the same mistakes. If we do not grasp this prem-ise as the basis to understand the world disorder, we are also not going to escape this madness. Moreover, we are not going to be able to think through – or find a way out of – this crisis and will remain hostage to a paradigm of war shared by the US, the EU, Russia and China.

Using a more nuanced and critical geostrategic reading of the US, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its wider implications will illustrate the point.

Many security strategists and media commentators, mainly in the West, characterise the invasion of Ukraine as the inauguration of “World War 3” or a “new Cold War”. This framing defines international politics by setting up two opposing sides with distinct ideological orientations: the liberal West versus the authoritarian Russian Federation and China.

This narrative has immense commonsense appeal but does not correspond to reality. US democracy sits on the same authoritarian spectrum as Russia and Chi-na. It is a failed market democracy, best designated as a plutocracy in which it has given overwhelming power to corporations over citizens.

The Republican Party is also the harbinger of a mi-nority project based on supremacist white nationalism, including voter suppression laws in several states. US democracy looks more like a “racist banana republic” than a shining example of democratic rights and free-doms. V Moreover, the binary geopolitical frame is dan-gerous because it reinforces a paradigm of war which serves the interests of countries with big military-indus-trial-security complexes, and as a result believes war is necessary to order international relations.

us, russia and ukraine – the death trap beyond the new Cold war and world war 3

Philosophically, this rests on simplistic and static conceptions of human nature as inherently about vio-lence. Both world wars in the 20th century led to im-mense loss of life, about 80 million people, and scorched ecosystems.

While the US likes to believe it won the Cold War through outspending the former USSR in an arms race, the fact of the matter is that Mikhail Gorbachev and his party realised – after decades of building nuclear arse-nals, chemical and biological weapons – that the geopoli-tics of the Cold War was a dead end for humanity.

Nobody wins if we all self-exterminateBy the 1960s, both sides had nuclear weapons that

could vapourise cities the size of Cape Town and Johan-nesburg. No matter what military doctrine and narrative was used to justify nuclear weapons, these technologies of mass annihilation were never about deterrence, but essentially about first strike extermination of millions of human beings.

About 40 recorded nuclear incidents occurred dur-ing the 45-year Cold War, including planes and subma-rines armed with nuclear warheads ending up in acci-dents. Our world could have ended during the Cold War because none of the safeguards really worked. A whole generation alive on our planet today does not understand this threat.

Most people also do not appreciate that nuclear war fighting has become ingrained in how the US under-stands its superiority in the world. After the Cold War, instead of embracing Gorbachev’s invitation to secure a nuclear weapons-free world, the US leadership did the opposite. It failed to sign on to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and take seriously nuclear arms reduction and reductions in strategic ballistic missiles.

Instead, it steamed ahead with the wrongheaded as-sumption that nuclear capability, both strategic and tacti-cal, was necessary to complement conventional military capabilities.

In the 1990s, Russia’s military budget collapsed and its nuclear arsenal was put into storage. However, other nuclear powers such as Britain, France and China fol-lowed the US lead. Putin jumped on this bandwagon once ensconced in the Kremlin, propped up by criminalised petro-capitalism (aided by US corporations), as Nato ex-panded east and his revanchist ultranationalist dreams of territorial empire took shape.

The world has to ask: Why has the US not thrown up a Gorbachev? Why is the US, which has had the power to lead by example, not actively worked to prevent nuclear proliferation after the end of the Cold War? Where is the American leader who can ensure Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea and all other nuclear powers terminate their nuclear arsenals and ambitions by showing the US will do the same for world peace?

Militarist expansionism has its roots deep in US his-tory going back to early frontier expansion and genocidal violence against Native Americans. In the 19th century, this was married to the notion of “manifest destiny” which is about a divine right to expand the territorial boundaries of the country.

Hence, throughout its modern history, the US has had a selective respect for international law, including the UN Charter. This was demonstrated starkly during the Cold War, when US-trained militaries in the infa-mous School of the America’s overthrew democratically elected governments in Latin America. In the so-called US backyard and beyond, about 10 million people were killed during “hot wars” in the Global South.

For Noam Chomsky, such forms of US intervention-ism were tantamount to fascism and up till now there has been no reckoning. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US continues to furnish this example of hypocrisy to the world through violations of human rights, illegal inva-sions and extrajudicial killings during its “war on terror”.

Putin is a good student of US hypocrisy and is put-ting it to the test in his own maniacal way. Some misread Putin and his denazification rhetoric as a progressive anti-imperialism.

In the post-Cold War world, based on a complex weave of fragile economic integration, the US also trailblazed with a new form of global warfare, adding to its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capabil-ity. This is made up of three elements: 1) Full-spectrum dominance (including air, land, sea, space and the cyber-sphere); 2) Hybridising full-spectrum warfare in combi-nation with economic, extrajudicial actions, embedded journalism and even multilateral relations; and 3) Pro-jecting global reach.

An American failureThe Cold War wasted the talents and skills of two

generations. The world cannot afford to repeat this mis-take.

All scholarly security thinking today highlights the climate crisis as the primary complex threat facing the world; the entire world needs to be seized with this chal-lenge. The US is brazenly failing to take responsibility for its contribution to the worsening climate crisis and rather has become a threat multiplier in both military and climate terms to the world.

Is it time for climate justice sanctions against the US and those like it? Russia, China and the EU are no dif-ferent if they remain within the US death trap. All these geopolitical competitors certainly do not represent the interests of the greatest superpower on planet Earth: the human species.

Even with a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine based on commitments not to join Nato and security guarantees, the situation in eastern Europe is going to be tenuous; there will be no lasting peace.

Hence, at minimum, anti-war politics today has to stand for a nuclear-free Europe and world (already bil-lions of people in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia are in nuclear-free zones); a renewed social rather than a market-centred pan-European project embracing both Ukraine and Russia; an end to Nato; the termination of war machines driving endless global war in Ukraine, Palestine, Yemen and elsewhere; extending support to all refugees on the planet, including enhancing humanitar-ian aid to Ukraine through cancelling all foreign debts; and an end to the war with nature, particularly the cli-mate crisis, by immediately phasing out fossil fuels and going beyond a politics of nationalism to embrace a poli-tics of human and non-human solidarity.

It’s time for collective human power to prevail over those who threaten all of us before it is too late.

The South African government, in its “neutral-ity” stance, is far from these concerns and is stuck in outdated geostrategic and security thinking. It needs to use the termination of the apartheid nuclear arsenal and chemical and biological warfare programme to echo the imperatives of contemporary anti-war politics on the global stage: in the AU, the UN, BRICS and in engage-ments with the US, EU and Ukraine. DM

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JSE- and ASX-listed mining consultancy DRA Global has advised of a mixed outcome from an arbitration process between itself and Liqhobong Mining Development Company (LMDC) in disputes over a contract.Notably, the final award, handed down by arbitrator Advocate Michael Kuper, determined that DRA was not grossly negligent. DRA had entered into an engineering, procurement and construction management contract for the expansion of the Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, in June 2014.The mining consultancy later started arbitration proceedings against LMDC for unpaid invoices and incentive scheme payments, for which an arbitration hearing was already concluded by July 2021. DRA first expected the award to be handed down during the second quarter of 2021.LMDC, meanwhile, counterclaimed citing gross negligence based on a failure by DRA to consider alternative designs, which DRA was absolved of in the final award.DRA originally filed three claims totalling R68-million, or $6.2-million, while LMDC filed six counterclaims totalling R289-million, or $26.3-million.Two of the DRA’s claims and three of LMDC’s counterclaims were dismissed in the final award.

Arbitrator delivers mixed outcome in DRA, LMDC contract dispute

By Seleoe NonyaneJunior Reporter

Road Users are hereby informed that Toll Gate Fees will increase at all Ports of Entry, effective from April 01, 2022. The new fees are as follows:

Class 1Motor Cycle and Light Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with no heavy axle

Class 2

Medium Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with heavy axle

Class 3

Large Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with 3 axles

A4

Class 4

Extra-Large Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with 4 or more axle

M50.00

M130.00

M310.00

M90.00

A4

Road Users are hereby informed that Toll Gate Fees have increased in all Ports of Entry, effective from July 09, 2021.

The new fees are as follows:Class Current Fee New Fee Foreign Registered

VehiclesClass A

Motor Cycle and Light Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with no heavy axle

M45.00 M50.00 M70.00

Class B Medium Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with heavy axle

M85.00 M90.00 M120.00

Class C Large Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with 3 axles

M125.00 M130.00 M180.00

Class 4 Extra-Large Heavy Vehicles designed or adopted for conveyance of people or freight with 4 or more axle

M295.00 M310.00 M430.00

For convenience, Road Users are encouraged to acquire Pre-Paid Cards from all LRA Offces at all Ports of Entry (except Sani Top). The cards facilitate smooth crossing of borders via express lanes reserved for card holders only. Road users can now recharge pre-paid cards at lanes for their convenience.

“Maintaining a smooth journey”

A4

M70.00

M180.00

M430.00

M120.00

Class

Get your Prepaid Card and recharge at all Ports of Entry to enjoy the Express Lane Services.

“Maintaining a smooth journey”

M325.00

M135.00

M95.00

M55.00

Foreign Registered Vehicles

Current Fees

Foreign Registered Vehicles

New Fees

Local Registered Vehicles

Current Fees

Local Registered Vehicles

New Fees

M75.00

M190.00

M450.00

M125.00

Tokiso Nthebe, who is well known for his finan-cial skills, will host a youth wealth building brunch, the first of its kind in the country on

April 2.The event is intended to teach people about invest-

ment principles and provide them with knowledge on guidelines one can follow in order to achieve wealth.

It is at this event where attendees will know that attaining wealth is a possibility only when there is a clear plan that can enable one to acquire wealth.

“We all want to be wealthy and want to leave wealth for our dependents in case one passes on. Therefore, it is important to note that wealth building does not happen overnight like some people tend to think,” Nthebe warned.

Those invited are speakers who will share their experiences and knowledge in finances.

The first speaker is a business development consultant at STANLIB. She deals with clients and teaches them about investments and sell investment products to them. She is knowledgeable on what peo-ple can do to grow and start participating in invest-

Debt inspires building wealth

ToKiSo NTheBe fouNdeR of TK coNSuLTANcy

ments programmes.The second speaker has experience in banking

and works as a wealth manager. Therefore, Nthebe believes her experience and expertise will come a long way in making the event success.

Nthebe said that he intends to hold the event annually and make it grow beyond what it is at the moment.

“It needs to be an event that will one day live on even when I am no more around.

Speaking on what inspired the event, Nthebe said it all began after he found himself in serious debt despite being a finance graduate from the Uni-versity of Pretoria where he completed his Masters in Finance.

After acquiring a job at one of the commercial banks in the country, he made costly financial deci-sions which resulted in high levels of debt as he had no savings at the time. He then hit rock bottom.

It was at that moment he decided that enough was enough and dumped his biggest financial mis-takes during his 20’s in a blog post.

He later founded TK Consultancy mandated to create awareness programmes that help young peo-ple have a better relationship with their money.

In 2019 he was at the United States of America

(US), as a participant in the US Mandela Washing-ton Fellowship Programme. It is at this time when he thought of how could use social media in order to en-gage in conversations about money.

Thereafter, he was inspired to launch “the faith challenge” where people interested in joining the challenge would post about what their financial goals are and all participants in the challenge would hold themselves accountable.

After a year, all participants would look back to see if all their financial goals have been achieved or

not.This challenge went on for a period of two years.

Upon realising that people were actually achieving their goals, he thought on how they could then move from savings to investment hence he established the youth wealth building brunch.

“Now we must focus on how to grow our money from savings and investment”, he said.

He noted that there are other aspects such as fi-nancial planning which needs to be taken into high consideration. He added that financial planning has a number of building blocks towards. Planning for wealth and investment is one of the components.

Moreover, he said that before investing, one needs to think of aspects such as budget.

This will not be his first event. In 2017 he hosted a financial seminar organised a couple of master classes focusing on tax in collaboration with Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA).

However, this is the first building brunch which will specifically focus on wealth.

Nthebe is also a content creator where he shares amazing content on money, travel and lifestyle.

He is a philanthropist who loves his country while being passionate about youth development.

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 9

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As part of our continued support toward the reforestation of the country, Standard Lesotho Bank in partnership with the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation, launched the initiative to roll out the planting of trees at an event held on Monday 21 March 2022, at Ha Ntsane in the area of Thaba Bosiu. The target was to plant a total of 100 000 trees, with 10 000 trees planted in every district.

The global theme for this year’s commemoration was Forests and Sustainable Production and Consumption,which advocates for global citizens to manage forests in a sustainable manner. 43 villages were identified for theplanting planting of trees this year in all the ten districts of the country, where the Bank staff, together with government officials and the public planted trees. The Bank has committed an annual budget of M200 000 towards this initiative for a period of three years.

Members of the public, teachers and public servants at the tree planting event

SLB staff participated in the tree planting initiative

Acting Head of Brand and Marketing - Mr. Manyathela Kheleli

Principal Chief Khoabane Theko with the LDF

Commander at the Tree Planting launch

Principal Chief Khoabane Theko addressing the

public at Ha Ntsane in Thaba Bosiu

PARTNERING TO PLANT TREES TODAY FOR A GREENER TOMORROW

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 202210 |

BUSINESS

By Neo KolaneJunior Reporter

The Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) in collaboration with Nedbank Lesotho this week cele-

brated women who play a role in entrepreneur in order to develop the economy.

The celebration saw women share ideas on tips and skills in building business as a measure to deal with stereotypes in business development.

The resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lesotho, Betty Wabunoha, said gender stereo-type is a generalised view or perception about characteristics or roles that are expected to be intimately confessed and socially performed by women and men.

Wabunoha said these gender stereotypes can be as they limit women and men’s capac-ity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers by making good choices in their lives.

She said women in Lesotho are more edu-cated and more likely to start businesses com-pared to men and noted that about 53 percent of micro, small and medium enterprises (MS-ME’s) in Lesotho are women-led.

“Stereotyping is still affecting women busi-nesses. Women are discriminated against on

women fight stereotypes in business

WoMeN AT The NedBANK ANd Bedco ceLeBRATioN of WoMeN iN BuSiNeSS.

the basis of sex, dress code, society expecta-tions and the environment in which they live in.

“The stereotype influences the decisions, timing and the type of the economic activity that women get to be involved in in Lesotho,” she observed.

She added: “In Lesotho, the average age of woman entrepreneurs is about 14 years.”

At the occasion, the manager of small and medium enterprises at Nedbank Lesotho, Thato Phohlo, said women tend to enter into

businesses like construction and hospitality that are regarded as men conquered.

Phohlo said Nedbank Lesotho is interest-ed in the way women venture into business industries which are male dominated and get challenged by encountering some obstacles.

“In the presence of the bank and its knowl-edge, there are people who are allocated and dedicated to assist entrepreneurs. When an entrepreneurs build a friendship with their bankers, they are able to showcase when they start business all the way through,” Phohlo

said. She said some women entrepreneurs rare-

ly know anything when they get to the bank therefore they need to build friendships with the bankers.

It is at this event where the chief executive officer and founder of Mahlakapese Guest House, Matšeliso Mokuoane, noted that as a small catering business she encountered a problem of theft as she sought to grow her business.

At one point, she told the occasion, her business collapsed. At the time, she ran a restaurant while also being one of the biggest catering companies in the northern part of the country.

She explained that she obtained a large portion of funding from the financial institu-tion which boosted its growth. The Nedbank Lesotho advised her to avoid using cash to buy equipment but save and open a call ac-count.

A call deposit account is a bank account for investment funds that offers the advantages of both a savings and a checking account. She urged that banks require collaterals in order to obtain loans to growing businesses.

Collateral is an item of value that a lender can seize from a borrower if he or she fails to repay a loan according to the agreed terms

Mokuoane said her call account helped her start her business.

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 11

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By Seleoe NonyaneJunior Reporter

The Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) is claiming to have no full knowledge of the scope of the country’s traffic laws.

This emerged when the LMPS public relations of-ficer Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli yesterday said the police were not in full knowledge of the Traf-fic Law, which provides a list of road traffic-related offences.

Surprisingly, the police have a traffic unit which is entrusted with ensuring motorists and pedestrians abide by the traffic laws. The unit also enforces the traffic legislation, charges and fines traffic law of-fenders.

The police’s admission came in response to ques-tions regarding the proliferation of vendors who ply their trade – selling an assortment of goods - in the middle of major roads in and outside the city of Ma-seru.

The vendors’ trading activities are going on una-bated, sometimes irritating motorists. And the traffic police are doing nothing about it.

The Road Traffic Act No.8 of 1981 states that: “Except on or in premises licensed by competent authority, no person shall sell, display, offer for sale or deliver pursuant to a sale, any goods on any pub-lic road, or any traffic sign denoting a blind corner or rise thereon, on any public road inside an urban area, except in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may by regulations provide or, in the absence of such regulations as he may determine, either generally or specifically.”

The law provides that any person who contra-venes this law is guilty of an offence.

Bu the vendors are seen selling their items such as fruits, sweets, roasted meat and beverages in the middle of the roads.

vendors take their business to the roads

Mid-RoAd veNdoRS AT MASiANoKeNg

They can be spotted at the Airport Road, Main South I in Masianokeng and the Main North I near Mohalalitoe in Maseru, to name a few.

A vendor who sells grapes in Masianokeng on the Main South I Road, Tasa Lebitso, said he has been vending on the road for the past six years to support his family. This is despite knowing that it is a traffic offence to trade in the middle of the public road.

He said he is forced to trade at the place to fend for his family although that generates little income.

The money he gets from vending, he argued, is only enough to cater for family’s basic needs.

“When I first began selling on this road a police official once approached me and my colleagues and informed us that it is illegal to sell on the middle of the road. We did not consider the warning as a seri-ous matter. We continued to trade there as the officer never came back.

Lebitso was aware of the road accident risks him and other vendors faced as motor accidents often oc-cur at the place.

“Many of my colleagues have been hit by vehicles leaving them with minor and serious injuries. Some

have ceased selling their items there,” he said.One of Lebitso’s colleagues who also sells fruits

at Masianokeng regarded his trade as so important as it “has changed and shaped my life for the better.”

His journey to vend started in 2013 when he sold peaches and grapes while he was in Form A.

But he was ignorant that trading in the middle of the road is an offence that might likely haul him into the courtroom.

However, he is not yet meditating on leaving his trade as it is a source of income for him and his family.

“That will not be easy as I make some profits from the business. I started selling on this road dur-ing the weekends because at the time I was struggling to even attend classes as I was still in school. There-fore, my coming here made a huge impact in my life as I was able to complete my studies with the money I raised when selling fruits on this road,” he said.

He strongly cautioned small traders to dread care-fully as it is a dangerous spot to sell items.

He was adamant that the government should pro-vide them with means to live if ever they are removed from the area.

Another vendor in Maseru, Thabang Moloi, who trades along the road near the Central Bank and the Central Park was also not aware that such practice was breaching the traffic law.

He said that he started selling on the road because he had realized that a lot of vendors were doing it. However, the meagre profit sustains his livelihood, al-lowing him to put bread on the table.

Moloi said he was once hit by an oncoming vehicle while on duty and sustained a minor injury.

He has called on government to create much needed jobs for them.

But the practice has not gone without any harsh criticism from some irate motorists.

‘Mabokamoso Posholi, who usually drives along the Main South I Road said sometimes “it is so frus-trating to drive along that road as the traders slow the traffic flow.”

She argues that in other times she is forced to ar-rive late at work as some drivers abruptly stop in the road to buy goods from the vendors.

But she shared her sympathy with the small trad-ers as “they fend for their families in the midst of high unemployment.”

The chief information officer of the road safety de-partment, Ntumeleng Ntšekhe, categorically warned it is a transgression of the law for vendors to trade along the road.

She urged that road safety was key for both mo-torists and pedestrians – including the vendors- in order to avoid any road accidents.

“As Road Safety, our only duty is to create aware-ness about the dangers of selling on the road and how unsafe it is for anyone to operate on the road.

“But Road Safety is not authorized to remove the vendors from the road. We are not an enforcement of the law but just advisers”, she added, saying her department could only work hand in hand with the police as the law enforcement agency.

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 202212 |

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Maseru, Lesotho, 23 March, 2022 — Pan-African inclusive fi nance entity, Letshego Holdings Limited (“Letshego Africa” / “Letshego Group”) has announced positive Full Year Results for the year ended 31 December 2021 this last Thursday 3 March 2022. The Group’s consolidated performance for 2021 has been strong with double digit growth in profi ts: Profi t before tax was up 11% year-on-year to P1.147 billion, and Profi t after tax climbed 16% for the same com-parative period, to P730 million.

Asset quality remains strong with the Group’s Loan Loss Ratio (LLR) at -0.1% for the year, or 0.5% excluding once-off deductions. The Group’s Non-performing loans ratio increased marginally to 5.9% for the year (FY2020: 5.3%), reiterating stability in the Group’s credit and risk management framework. Performance for the year was largely driven by 17% growth in net customer advances, totalling P11.9 billion.

Other fi nancial performance highlights include:

NET INTEREST INCOME up 6% to P1.989 billion (FY 2020: P1.861billion)

TOTAL ASSETS increased by 30% year-on-year to P15.8 billion (FY 2020: P12.2billion)

CUSTOMER DEPOSITS increased by 77% year-on-year to P1.2 billion (FY 2020: P664 million)

COST TO INCOME RATIO of 52% (FY 2020: 50%), in line with expectation due to heightened digital investment and insur-ance costs in Namibia

EFFECTIVE TAX RATE (ETR) improved to 36% (FY 2020: 39%)

EARNINGS PER SHARE improved by 16% at 31.5 thebe (FY 2020: 27.1 thebe)

RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE) increased to 14% (FY 2021: 13%) and return on assets was maintained at 5% (FY 2020: 5%).

CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO remains well cap-italised at 35% (FY 2020: 39%) alongside strong asset growth

DEBT TO EQUITY increased to 145% in line with gearing ratio guidelines (FY 2020: 118%)

NON-FUNDED INCOME increased by 30% year-on-year to P368 million and grew to constitute 16% of Operating Income (FY2020: P284 million, 13% of Operating Income)

Letshego’s double digit growth in profi t was supported by the Group’s progress in its Trans-formation Strategy, underpinned by digitalisation. Letshego’s 5 year vision is on track to deliver world-class retail fi nancial services, with a focus on platform customer experience, product eco-systems and multi-tier partnerships within its regional digital hubs. Consid-erable investment in this strategy was realised in 2021, with 5 distinct ‘Value Streams’ now leading Letshego’s product delivery and customer focus, namely Lending, Savings & Depos-its, Insurance, Payments and Lifestyle.

Andrew F. Okai, Group Chief Executive Offi cer, said, “Letshego’s 2021 performance was sound with our regional team delivering double digit growth in both profi t before and af-ter tax, despite navigating our way through an ongoing global pandemic. We are making strong progress in transforming our organisation into an entity that leverages digital and end-to-end automation to unlock signifi cant enterprise value, not only for our customers, but also for our investors and shareholders. People remain our strongest asset as we con-tinue to acquire and empower individuals with specialist skills to power a future-fi t organ-isation.”

2021 saw the commencement of Letshego’s second phase (the customer phase) of its 6-2-5 strategic execution roadmap, ‘Plan 2’. The second phase will run for two years and is char-acterised by focused investment into deepening investment and differentiating digital and tech enhancements. This is with a view towards spurring momentum in end-to-end auto-mation of processes, systems and platforms, while securing strategic milestone in platforms and products that enable a step change in tangible value for new and potential customers. In the fi rst half of the year, Letshego went live with its LetsGo Digital Mall in 10 markets, fol-lowing successful pilots in Botswana and Nigeria. This unifying platform increases custom-er access across multiple channels including web, USSD, WhatsApp and mobile, enabling Letshego to build and evolve the platform towards its ambition of creating a company with an inclusive one-stop portal not only for Letshego products, saving, payments, loans and lifestyle solutions, but also enabling access to everyday facilities such as mobile data and airtime, municipal service payments, all in a secured environment. Net Interest Income saw a gradual increase of 6% year-on-year, and non-funded income increased by 30% year-on-year, buoyed by momentum in new insurance offerings in select markets. In line with the Group’s commitment to spurring focused investment, the Group’s operating expenses grew 13% year-on-year. Investment is expected to increase further in the 2022 fi nancial year.Within the Group’s lending value stream, Letshego achieved double digit growth in its De-duction at Source portfolio of 14% (FY2021: P10.5 billion). Profi tability in Deduction at Source remains positive, buoyed by digital and system enhancements. The year saw slower growth in the Micro & Small Entrepreneur portfolio increasing in value by 7% to P859million (FY 2020: P806million), while the Mass Mobile Loans portfolio enjoyed stronger performance, with growth more than doubling in value to P568 million (FY 2020: P231 million).

Since launching the LetsGo Digital Mall, Letshego’s regional subsidiaries are focusing their local campaigns to register both existing and potential customers. At the end of 2021, just over 93,000 Enterprise Active Customers (EAC) had registered on the Mall and loan appli-cations submitted via digital channels increased to 78% by the end of the reporting period (End Dec 2020: 69%). At the time of going to press, the Group has already tripled this fi gure to registering more than 300,000 Enterprise Active Customers as at 3 March 2022. Letshego is on track to achieve 1 million EAC’s by end of 2022. Enterprise Value is also expected to gain momentum with the ongoing addition of new products to the Mall, as well as the launch of fl agship programmatic social impact solutions (including Affordable Housing, Agriculture, Education and Health).

Letshego’s most vulnerable product segment in pandemic conditions remains its marginal portfolio of Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSE), comprising 8% of the Group’s total port-folio. Recovery of this segment remained gradual through the year following intermittent pandemic containment measures that prevailed across select countries in 2021. The Group’s Deduction at Source portfolio remained resilient with public sector jobs largely unaffected despite pandemic conditions. In an effort to mitigate risks associated with unpredictable pandemic environments, the Group is prudent in curtailing new loan growth in higher risk segments and geographies, while prioritising portfolio remediation and collection efforts.2021 was a milestone year for Letshego’s Savings and Deposit segment, crossing the P1 bil-lion mark in portfolio value, and increasing 77% year-on-year to P1.2 billion (FY2020: P664 million). Operational effi ciencies over the period saw the segment reduce its costs by 100 basis points, with fi nal quarter on quarter growth measuring the highest trajectory at 14% growth.

Deposit mobilisation remains a priority for the Group, evidenced by increased deposit cus-tomer numbers growth of 17% to 722 921 (FY 2020: 619 481). Focused initiatives to grow the deposit base in 2022 include digitalising micro-saving solutions, salary domiciliation, devel-opment of our LetsGoPay payment ecosystems on the digital mall and growth in strategic partnerships.

Employee costs increased by 11% year-on-year supporting the acquisition of specialist and digital skills needed to support digitalisation, risk management and the overall Transforma-tion Strategy. Letshego remains passionate about upskilling and empowering employees, customers and members of the community with future-fi t, digital skills that support sus-tainable fi nancial inclusion and digital-savvy economies for Africa’s long-term benefi t.

Ongoing initiatives to increase the number of agile thinking activators across Letshego’s footprint were successful in 2021, with train-the-trainer Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) train-ing more than 40 employees as certifi ed practitioners. 30 cross-functional Agile Squads now support customer and new product delivery targets. Performance measurement and track-ing is now tracked online, with operational productivity having increased by 15% Group-wide since introducing Agile ways of working.Other people-fi rst initiatives include the appointment of 131 individuals with digital and spe-cialist skills to support delivery and ongoing strategic transformation. Other empowerment initiatives include the launch of the LetsGo Digital Mastery programme for external candi-dates, leadership development programmes for both Executive and Managerial employees with Gordon Institute of Business School (GIBS), McKinsey’s Black Academy for 25 employ-ees to secure global expertise, and the extension of Letshego’s online digital learning portal, where all employees have access to over 4,000 globally accredited training and skill enhanc-ing curricula. Currently, 71% of employees are learning off the Coursera platform with 45,423 learning hours logged during the year, averaging 26 hours per employee. Letshego remains well capitalised at 35% capital adequacy ratio and has a strong liquidity position to support future business growth. The Board has resolved to pay a fi nal dividend of 9.7 Thebe.

Letshego Lesotho

Letshego Lesotho is progressing well with its digital transformation journey. The full year’s performance included positive trends in the growth of Net Interest Income, achievement of cost savings against targets and maintaining a resilient loan portfolio quality. This perfor-mance was supported by a 100% digital adoption rate as customers used new and enhanced digital channels, followed by the launch of the LetsGo Digital Mall to improve access and convenience for Basotho through their new and exciting digitally-led products and services. Challenges were experienced as the business operated in a tough economic environment as a result of the COVID -19 pandemic. However, these were mitigated by a focused operating model to adapt to market conditions. The business also introduced new fi nancial solutions to satisfy evolving customer needs, in line with their product diversifi cation focus. Going forward, Letshego Lesotho plans to introduce additional fi nancial solutions to support Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSEs) while leveraging their experience and existing product of-fering to expand and diversify their offering.

Selloane Tsike, Letshego Lesotho’s Country Chief Executive added, “Our People-First agenda remains a priority as we upskill our employees to support our digital transforma-tion and seize our potential for sustainable growth. Employees have been trained in ‘Agile ways of working’, and 100% are actively participating in globally accredited Coursera cours-es available on our digital learning platform. Lesotho is set to achieve a step-change in per-formance, following the launch of MSE-geared solutions. We will also leverage our digital solutions to further enhance our traditional loan offering before June 2022.”

ENDS.

Letshego in LesothoLetshego Lesotho started its operations in September 2012 as a credit-only licensed fi nancial ser-vice provider. The company has positioned itself as an inclusive fi nancial solutions partner for the people of Lesotho. Through continuous customer experience improvements, Letshego Lesotho’s customer base has grown to over 6,300 customers. Customer access points are well distribut-ed across the country in Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru and Mohale’s hoek, expanded further by Letshego’s digitisation of further access channels such as Webforms; WhatsApp and USSD. Letshego Lesotho continues its focus and progress in diversifying its customer segments into non-government sectors, boosted by the Group’s regional rollout of world-class digitised channels and systems to support customer access, convenience, and product diversifi cation. For more information, visit: https://www.letshego.com/lesotho Follow us on Facebook: @LetshegoLe-sotho

About Letshego GroupThe Letshego Group is an African multinational, fi rst opening its doors in Botswana more than 21 years ago by offering loans to government employees. Today, the Group has over 3,000 employees comprising more than 21 nationalities, and supports public and private sector individual custom-ers, as well as micro and small entrepreneurs. Letshego has operations in 11 sub-Saharan African markets, including Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Letshego Holdings Limited (the group holding company) is listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange, with additional listings including a subsidiary listing on the Namibian stock exchange, and bond listings on both the Ghana and Johannesburg Stock exchanges. www.letshego.com – follow us on social media #LetshegoGroup #letsgodigitalnation

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Letshego Finan-cial Services Le-sotho enquiries::

Name: Nobandile Seleteng RanthamaneTitle: Head of Sales, Channels and MarketingTel: (+266) 22031017Mobile: (+266) 56713620 Email: motselisis@letshego.com

PR Agency for all Media enquiries:

Taazima Kala-EssackGeneral Manager and Lead ConsultantHotwire Tel: +267 392 3579Mobile: +267 71754870Email: taazima@hotwireprc.com

Lindiwe CharlesPR ConsultantHotwire Tel: +267 392 3579Mobile: +267 76847792Email: lindiwe@hotwireprc.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELESE

LETSHEGO AFRICA DELIVERS DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH IN PROFITS, BUILDING THE @LETSGONATION TO SUPPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACROSS FOOTPRINT

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 13

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visit our wEBsitE: www.thereporter.co.ls/opportunities25 March 2022

EXCLusivE oN tHE wEB - thereporter.co.ls

South African supermarket giant Pick n Pay is sourcing lettuce leaves and herbs from vertical farms. It has launched displays of these upright gardens in two flagship stores to show customers how its salads are grown.

Several varieties of lettuce and herbs, from basil to parsley, are being grown in six-meter-high tubes that stretch towards the top of a giant greenhouse outside Pretoria. It’s here, at the high-tech, hydroponic CAN-Agri facility that plants are grown for Pick n Pay’s shelves.

A single CAN-Agri tower holds 80 plants. More than 200 of these tubes have the capacity to grow 384,000 plants.

FRANCHISE CORNER: Pick ‘n Pay is piloting in-store farms

By Neo KolaneJunior Reporter

1. IntroductionLesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) is a parastatal of the Gov-ernment of Lesotho mandated to “ initiate, promote and facilitate the develop-ment of manufacturing and processing industries, mining and commerce in a manner calculated to raise the level of income and employment in Lesotho”.

In pursuit of continuous improvement and sustained service delivery and evolv-ing economy, the Corporation intends to pre-qualify vendors for the supply of goods and services that are routinely procured throughout the year. Inclusion on the list allows vendors the opportunity to be directly solicited to do business with the Corporation when a need arises without additional advertisements. However, vendors should note that inclusion in the database of common goods and services does not automatically qualify the vendor to supply common goods and services. Selection of vendors will continue to be made on a com-petitive basis and on merit, as well as consideration for the best value for mon-ey, good quality, acceptable delivery period, and reliability using only suppliers that exist in the database.

The Corporation will procure goods and services over the next two years from those suppliers that are determined pre-qualifi ed in response to this invitation. The Corporation invites local suppliers for the supply of goods and services in the categories listed in the subsequent section.

2. Categories of common Goods and Services The common goods and services to be supplied by vendors are on the follow-ing individual categories;

GOODS AND SERVICESCATEGORY NO ITEM DESCRIPTION

GENERAL SERVICESCATEGORY NO ITEM DESCRIPTION

LNDC/PQ/020/2021-2022 Security services - All security related services (Guarding of LNDC Estates).

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION-RE-LATED SERVICESCATEGORY NO ITEM DESCRIPTION

LNDC/PQ/052/2021-2022 Construction works - Construction and building maintenance works.

LNDC/PQ/045/2021-2022 Electrical works - Installation and mainte-nance which is electrical in nature.

LNDC/PQ/047/2021-2022 Locksmith Services.

LNDC/PQ/054/2021-2022 Provision of service of emptying septic tanks

Construction companies already in the database need not apply

3. Submission ConditionSubmission must meet all conditions indicated below.

a) Full details of goods and or services offered;b) At least four (4) references where a similar assignment was undertak-en, including contact persons, telephone numbers, physical addresses and copies of contracts for work done ; c) A Company profi le which summarises an organisation’s purpose, history, functions, and experience as well as contact details; d) Copy of current Tax Certifi cate; e) Copy of Traders Licence; f) Proof of permission to use WASCO dams for honey sucker truck compa-nies and all submissions shall be signed. g) Copy of category from Ministry of Works for construction companies and from LEC for electrical contractors. 4. Submission Formata) All submissions must be in a sealed envelope clearly marked “Invita-tion for pre-qualifi cation of vendors for the supply of common goods and services and the category applied for; b) The bidder must submit the original and 1 copy clearly marked “ORIGINAL” and “COPY” and c) No electronic submissions will be allowed.

5. Other Detailsa) Any request for clarifi cation on this invitation must be addressed in writing to Procurement Offi ce at procurement@lndc.org.ls at least fi ve days pri-or to the deadline. The Corporation will respond to written inquiries or queries only.b) Submissions must be made at Lesotho National Development Corpo-ration offi ce, Block A, Development House, Kingsway Road, Maseru, Lesotho on or before 12:00 noon on the 22nd April 2022. No submissions will be accepted after the closing date and time. c) The Corporation reserves the right to cancel or withdraw this invita-tion for pre-qualifi cation of vendors as a whole or in part without furnishing any reasons and without attracting any liability.d) Late submission shall not be accepted.

INVITATION FOR PRE-QUALIFICATION OF VENDORS FOR THE SUPPLY OF COMMON GOODS AND SERVICES

Caption: Keneuoe Rantalane’s doughnut shaped ChaRCoal bRiquettes.

Keneuoe Rantalane is trying her luck at ven-turing into making charcoal briquettes, af-ter she realised that several restaurant busi-

nesses are now using the material to cook.According to experts, charcoal briquettes are

made of leftover bits of wood and sawdust mixed with additives and compressed to give them their defining pillow shape.

Rantalane told theReporter that many local res-taurants are now using charcoal for cooking instead of wood imported from South Africa and Namibia.

She said another reason for her invention is that if people from outside know what Basotho need, why can’t Basotho know what the country needs.

Rantalane’s charcoal burns for roughly three hours compared to two hours for foreign brands. Her charcoal does not emit smoke like the one im-ported from outside the country.

The Bachelor of Science Chemical technology student who is in her fifth year of study says she

rantalane’s charcoal briquettes the new rave

makes a charcoal briquette with wholes because it helps oxygen to circulate sparking a complete com-bustion that is effective.

She explains that her charcoal briquette re-mains at a steady temperature for a longer period hence it burns longer.

She currently works at the chemistry labora-tory at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) where she schools.

The 23-year old inventor says her product is ready for the market, but she cannot supply super-markets because her production will be low due to the equipment she uses.

She is yet to write business proposals for in-vestments.

“I want to supply the whole country with the charcoal briquette that does not give off smoke, which will be used for fire places.

“Also there are companies that produce char-coal. Those companies have powder that they use while I use that powder to make my charcoal bri-quettes.

“My raw materials are wood and clay, which helps with binding the charcoal briquette into the doughnut shape. It also absorbs heat then releases it slowly.,” she explained.

She added clearly: “It maintains the shape of the charcoal briquette because of its melting point. When I don’t have wood, I use charcoal powder from other companies,” Rantalane said.

Hailing from Pitseng in Leribe district, she said her aim is to open a business; she will not use wood only but also some waste paper to manufacture to make charcoal briquette.

She has not yet found a place where she will fully implement her project after she graduates, but it cannot be at school. She needs a bigger space to work from.

She also explains that for her business to grow, she is willing to find investors who can pump mon-ey into her invention.

Rantalane can be contacted on 53479697.

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 15

OPPORTUNITIES

Central Bank of LesothoINVITATION TO TENDERRe-tender

The Central Bank of Lesotho invites bids for the supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of 3 x Photocopiers as follows:

Copy SpeedPrint volumePeak volumePaper feeder UnitStaple finisher

Multifunctional Photocopier-Printer-Scanner, Three in one: Monochrome photocopier, printer and scanner.45 copies per minute A4 Black and white, 15 copies per minute A3 Black and white33 300 pages per month44 5004 trays 3650 sheets & large capacity unit 3000 sheets50 sheets stapling; max output 3200 sheets

Type

MANDATORY TENDER CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS (FAILURE TO COMPLY FULLY WITH THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION.1. Bidders are required to show i) delivery period ii) validity period of bid iii) warranty.2. Electronic PDF email bid submissions stating “Bid for photocopiers” on the email subject should be emailed to mlechela@centralbank.org.ls.3. Bids should be received on or before Friday April 08th 2022 between 14:30hrs and 16:30hrs. Bids received after the time period stated above will not be

considered.4. The Tender opening will be on the next day at 10:30hrs. As a health measure, no bidders will be allowed to attend the opening session. All proponents will

be emailed the record of the opening proceedings.5. Valid copies of current tax clearance certificate and traders license or certificate of Incorporation (if not Lesotho Registered) must be submitted with the bid.6. One-page letter of introduction identifying the proponent (proponent’s name and physical address together with contact details; contact person, telephone

number and e-mail address) and signed by the person or persons authorized to sign on behalf of, and bind the proponent to statements made in the tender7. All required documents should be provided in a document form not as reference to a website or link.8. Recent financial statements of the bidder duly signed by an Audit Firm or practicing Chartered Accountant that reflect a minimum working capital equivalent

or more than the bid amount or a credit line letter from an authorized Financial Institution that reflect a minimum credit/ loan facility equivalent or more than the bid amount must be provided with the bid.

9. Bidders are to note that the Bank may require a performance guarantee of no more than 10% of the bid amount.10. Bidders are requested to quote in Maloti or Rands only.11. Bidders are requested to provide a comprehensive service level agreement that covers provision of drums, all parts, toner developer, monthly major service,

maintenance and repairs. All consumable and parts costs to be incorporated under photocopier usage fees.12. Pricing should be in two parts as follows:• Sale price of the photocopiers inclusive of VAT @15% which is once off fee• Photocopier usage fees: rates per copy/print/scan made13. Central Bank of Lesotho is not bound to accept the lowest or any bid and may cancel the bidding process at any stage prior to the award of contract and is

not bound to provide reasons for cancellation.14. 14. Bidders must expressly respond and fully comply with the specifications as stipulated in the advertisement. 15. 15. For further clarification bidders are requested to contact the undersigned at telephone #:22232126 and /or mlechela@centralbank.org.ls.16. 16. Evaluation criteria shall consist of the following mandatory requirements (Failure of which result in disqualification):

Supplier registration Valid copy of the traders license/ certificate of Incorporation ( if not Lesotho Registered)

Full compliance to the detailed specifications

Valid copy of current tax clearance certificate

To be provided by the bidder

Valid for at least 30 days

Manufacturer warranty should be provided “as is”

Full compliance to the pricing requirements, Competitive Price

A comprehensive service level agreement that covers provision of drums, all parts, toner developer, monthly major service, maintenance and repairs.

Recent financial statements of the bidder duly signed by an Audit Firm or practicing Chartered Accountant that reflect a minimum working capital equivalent or more than the bid amount or a credit line letter from an authorized Financial Institution that reflect a minimum credit/ loan facility equivalent or more than the bid amount must be provided with the bid

Tax Compliance

Technica Specification

Financial Capacity

Delivery Period

Validity of the bid

Warranty

Price

Photocopier Maintenance and usage

SPECIAL NOTES1. Bidders are expected to ensure strict compliance with the above specifications and conditions, failure to do so will result in disqualification of bids.2. All Bidders are advised that a Vendor Exclusion Policy shall apply where necessary; copies of the policy may be obtained from the Secretary.3. Bidders are to note that the Central Bank of Lesotho shall apply withholding tax obligation where applicable when effecting payment at the rate of 10% for

foreign companies and 5% for local companies. Proponents that include an added amount to their proposed fee as the withholding tax shall be disqualified.4. Contractors and suppliers shall recognize the importance of performing the work in a safe and responsible manner so as to prevent damage, injury, or loss

to individuals, the environment, including materials and equipment used at the work place and or stored on-site.5. Payment terms should be clearly stipulated.

M. Lechela (Mrs.)Secretary, Tender Committee

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 202216 |

IFB Number: ADF/e-Gov/G/007 Purchaser: Ministry of Communications, Science & TechnologyProject: e-Government Infrastructure Phase II Project Contract title: Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of e-Parliament Software and Equipment for the Parliament of LesothoCountry: Kingdom of LesothoLoan/Grant No.: 2100150042148 Procurement Method: Open Competitive Bidding (International) (OCBI)OCBI No: ADF/e-Gov/G/007Issued on: 24th March 2022

The Kingdom of Lesotho has received fi nancing from the African Development Fund toward the cost of the e-Government Infrastructure Project Phase II and intends to apply part of the proceeds toward payments under the contract for Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of e-Parliament Equipment and System for the Parliament

The Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology now invites sealed Bids from eligible Bidders for Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of e-Par-liament Equipment and System for the Parliament of Lesotho.

Bidding will be conducted through the Open Competitive Bidding (International), (OCBI) method as specifi ed in the Bank’s as specifi ed in the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Bank Funded Operation, dated October 2015 and is open to all eligible Bidders as defi ned in the Procurement Framework.

4. Interested eligible Bidders may obtain further information from Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology and inspect the bidding document during offi ce hours 0830 to 1600 hours at the address given below.

5. The bidding document in English may be purchased by interested eligible Bidders upon the submission of a written application to the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of LSL 400 or equivalent in any freely convertible currency. The method of payment will be cash at accounts offi ce or direct deposit in our Bank account and details of the Bank account can be requested from the e-mail address below.

6. Bids must be delivered to: Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Level 3 Moposo Building and Deposited in the Tender Box at reception area on or before 6 May 2022 at 11:00 hrs. Electronic Bidding will not be permitted. Late Bids will be rejected. Bids will be publicly opened in the presence of the Bidders’ designated representatives and anyone who chooses to attend at the address above:

7. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security of LSL 90,000 for Lot 1 and LSL 60,000 for Lot 28. The address referred to above is: Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Level 3 Moposo Building, Kingsway RoadMaseru, Lesothoabia.malefane@gov.ls Cc kuleile.matlatsa@gov.ls

Lesotho Government

Specifi c Procurement NoticeInvitation for Bids [IFB]

Goods African Development Bank

Central Bank of LesothoINVITATION TO BID

The Central Bank of Lesotho (the Bank) invites proposals from duly registered and suitably qualified service providers to provide a cloud-based Risk, Compliance and Business Continuity Management System.

For full details of the tender requirements, interested person

(s) should contact the undersigned at Tel: +266 2223 2126

or Email: mlechela@centralbank.org.ls, and ask for a copy

of detailed RFP. The soft copy may also be downloaded

from the website at www.centralbank.org.ls.

The closing date for submission of proposals is Friday, 22nd

April 2022 between 14:30hrs and 16:30hrs.

M. Lechela (Mrs.)

Secretary, Tender Committee

notICe oF Lost LeAse

NOTICE is hereby given that I intend to apply for a certi-fied copy of a registered Title Deed/ Lease to immov-able property registered under no 12594-026 on the 9/10/1985 in favour of tsIetsI ALBeRt MoseLI in

respect of every right or interest on and to the building(s)and other developments express or implied in certain Plot

no 12594-026 situated at MoHALe’s HoeK uRBAn AReA on Plan no 12594 As held by the Chief Surveyor.

All persons having objection to the issue of the said copy are requested to lodge such in writing to the Land Regis-

ter within three from the last publication of the notice.

ADDRess: APPLICAnts’s nAMes AnD ADDRess

Land Registrar MOJALEFA MOSELI

Land Administration Authority MOHALE’S HOEK

Lerotholi road THOTENG

P.O Box 11856 LESOTHO

Maseru 100 ContACt nuMBeR: 57333738

OPPORTUNITIES

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 17

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FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 202218 |

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To that end, we collaborated with Limomonane Trust to carry out a sustainable urban greening and forest restoration project. This collaboration is a continuation of our commitment to environmental protection.

To date, we invested M450,000 in the planting of 10,000 fruit and indigenous trees.

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Home-grown solutions for local problems. This is the cornerstone of the Movement for Economic Change’s ideology.

MEC leader Selibe Mochoboroane provides solutions to the country’s woes, some of which are self-inflicted

FoCusoNELECtioNs22

NEXT WEEK: Movement for Economic Change (MEC)

Basotho Action Party (BAP) leader Profes-sor Nqosa Mahao does not believe in those colourful manifestos which he says promise

much but offer very little in terms of implementa-tion. In this interview with theReporter, he outlines his party’s well thought out and workable pro-gramme of action to set the country on a path to an inclusive economy anchored on all round clean and accountable governance. ‘

Please outline the BAP’s vision for Lesotho, and why it deserves to be given the mandate to govern Lesotho?

I can’t imagine that there is any party that de-serves the support of the nation, given the crisis of our political system and political parties that are par-ticipating in the system. BAP is a transformational political outfit. It’s a key vision, it’s based on three pillars: 1. we believe in a clean government, this coun-try is economically, administratively and politically crippled by corruption and theft. The second aspect of our vision is the rule of law; again everybody can see that Lesotho is a teetering on the brink of an-archy, there is no order whether it is in planning in our social affairs in terms of control over incidence of crime. Remember that, Lesotho actually ranks num-ber 6 in the world in terms of homicides and number 1 on African continent in that space and the simple reason is that that our law and order infrastructure has collapsed. The third aspect of our beliefs is that our economy has to grow in an inclusive manner.

Again remember that, almost 60 percent of our people live below the poverty datum line. Lesotho ranks number 8 in the world in terms of the dispar-ity between the haves and the have-nots. And so in terms of how we have developed, in our programme of action we deal with how we are going to deal with how we are going to grow the economy outside the state sector so that everybody has access to a de-cent means of living which up to now have evaded this country. So all of these are in our programme of action. No other party in this country does have a programme of action. Normally, what you will see as the elections approach, parties are going to begin to unveil what are called manifestos which are just wish lists, which have no direct impact on the fundamen-tal structure problems of the country. But the BAP has developed the programme of action that goes to the heart of the program.

one issue that has caused a very visible di-vergence of views among political parties is the demarcation of constituencies. what is the BAP’s position on this matter and what are your reasons?

Well, we pronounce ourselves very clearly on that. First of all, look as a party that believes in the rules of law, it is the constitution of this country that enjoins hat every 10 years the constituency bounda-ries, must be reviewed to take in to account the de-velopment movement of the population in the coun-try so that every constituency is relatively equitable to another constituency. BAP is firmly supportive of the demarcation of the constituencies. We think it is the right thing to do and you may be aware that one party, the DC, filed the court case where it was try-ing to stop the demarcation. The BAP responded by actually filing an opposition to that case.

taking us back to the issue of corruption that you have raised. of course we have

BAP stands firm on accountability

seen an escalation of corruption in recent years. the has led to people losing confi-dence, thrust and interest in both politics and politicians. How does the BAP plan to revive the people’s interest in national af-fairs?

The nation has been losing faith in politics in general and in party political activity because po-litical parties have not been convincing in terms of tackling grave social ills. Corruption is one such. You recall that when I was a minister of law and justice I caused the suspension of the director-general of the anti-corruption body for the simple reason that the institution was not combatting corruption. Instead, we found ample evidence that they were involved in actually abetting corruption themselves. In fact, the director general amongst other things was suspend-ed for having actually defrauded moneys that were kept in custody as evidence within the DCEO. Now, our policy is, strengthen the political independence of DCEO. Appoint the people that are competent, people that are committed to fighting corruption; clean the police service of political involvement and of elements that have a tinge of criminal activities themselves and ensure that the courts of law also are equipped with magistrates and judges that are clean, competent and professional. Remember, it was during my tenure as the minister of justice that I introduced the currently unfolding dispensation where judicial positions are advertised and people are interviewed in the public and the best of them get appointed as judicial officers. It is part of the whole landscape of reforms that we believe we will be able to deal vigorously with corruption, with crime in gen-eral and foster a society based on law and order.

there is this issue that has always topped the agenda in Lesotho, namely poverty and unemployment particularly youth unemploy-ment. How does the BAP plan to address it?

That incident is very serious, in the society. You would be aware that many of our young people are actually leave the country and go and work in very dangerous situations, particularly in disused mines in South Africa where they live underground for months on end without seeing daylight and many of them are actually die in the course. Now BAP be-lieves that you have to restructure the economy by ensuring that you create job opportunities outside the state, by encouraging the development of the

private sector. The way we are going to go about it is to first of all establish a development bank, the purpose of which is going to be to provide funding for young people who would be trained in artisan and technical skills so that they would be able to access money to establish their own businesses and drive the economy.

Another element is to also enable the develop-ment bank to support the business sector so that it would be able to employ more people> We have said in several of the pronouncements we have made in the public space that, if a business man employs young people for a period of six months those young people would not be paid by the industry concerned will be paid by the government as apprentices so that after the six months, then they will either have expe-rience and remain with the particular industry. From there on of course the industry will take over the pay-ment of their wages or they will have the experience to go and establish on their own. So these are some of the ways in which we are addressing that issue of grave unemployment that is ravaging the country.

You also mentioned crime. it is a fact that we have witnessed unprecedented rise in murder statistics. Does the BAP have a solu-tion to the rampant crime seen in Lesotho?

Most definitely. First of all, the institutions that have to combat crime have to be strengthened and empowered professionally, starting with the police. Our police service does not have enough equipment. For example, they don’t have vehicles, even horses, to be able to respond quickly to calls where crimes are being committed. We also suspect that their num-bers are not enough to deal with the scale of crime ravaging the country. For example, take a town like Mokhotlong or Thaba Tseka. Between them, you are talking about three to four hours’ travel. But there is not a single police station in between, notwith-standing the fact that livestock theft is very serious in those areas. This means you need to have more hands of deck in terms of police personnel and police stations. You also need to have more bette- trained investigators.

Another element, is to capacitate the judiciary all the way from the primary courts right up to the high court. Presently there are more than 4000 cases that constitute a backlog in the high court alone. This shows that our judiciary is completely overwhelmed by the incidence of crime. All of this is a result of poor

investment on the part of successive governments in ensuring a criminal justice value chain that is on top on the phenomenon of crime ion the country.

You also mentioned the issue of education. there is a belief that our education system has become irrelevant and out of touch with the needs and challenges of today. what is your party’s position on this?

That is correct. Our education system needs a total overhaul. As the BAP we say, at the middle level you need to establish vocational and technical schools in every district of the country. Because ar-tisans and technical people are the people who drive the economy of the country. Without them the econo-my cannot work. And you need to create as many of them as possible. Also because these are the people who would be able to employ themselves and employ others.

At tertiary level, we have said with a 10-year peri-od we will have transformed the landscape such that 60 percent of enrolments in tertiary will come from disciplines such as agriculture, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, health and commerce. That way you will be generating a crop of citizens who are relevant in terms of the direction of the glob-al economic growth and relevance to the needs of our society. At the moment, over-emphasis on the arts, humanities and some of the social sciences is the di-rect consequence of why we have so many graduates walking the streets without job opportunities.

there is growing discomfort and mistrust at the growing influence of the Chinese in Lesotho’s public affairs and economy. Do you share this sentiment?

Who wouldn’t be concerned? You know that a re-cent past Prime Minister engaged a Chinese man as his so-called economic advisor. What did we see out of that arrangement? This man was just looting the economy of this country. Almost all of the major ten-ders were offered to him and we haven’t seen any in-vestment coming into the country. Let me talk about the Chinese capturing the economy of this country. If you look at the wholesale industry, hardware and retail business including right in the heartland. Eve-rything has been taken over by the Chinese. The explanation is, there are laws that govern who goes into which business but they are not enforced. Now imagine someone leaving China to come and sell fat cakes in Maseru. Corruption and poor management of the economy are to blame for the takeover of our economy by the people of Asiatic origin.

Finally, the thorny issue of amnesty of per-petrators of politically motivated offences. what is the BAP’s stance on this one?

If you already have the dubious distinction of be-ing the hub of crime on the continent and then you come up with a bizarre dispensation where the politi-cal class are offered amnesty for the crime they have committed, what message are you sending to the na-tion out there? That committing crime pays because you won’t be call to account? BAP says all of us must be subject to the law, in particular the political class that make the laws in parliament. They must submit themselves to the laws that they make. So this whole amnesty thing is totally unjustified. On the contrary it encourages the commission of crime.

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 21

NEWS

By Neo KolaneJunior Reporter

Three widows, ‘Matumisang Motaboli, ‘Mahopolang Khatleli and ‘Malulang Chaka are desperately waiting to be

relocated by the Lesotho Highlands Develop-ment Authority (LHDA) from their village Tšila-Ntšo to Makaleng in the Mokhotlong district. They have been affected by the con-struction of the Polihali dam.

The Tšila-Ntšo village lies between the rivers Khubelu and Tšila-Ntšo and is to be impacted by the construction of the dame as part of implementation of Phase II of the giant highlands water project.

Already, the villagers have been warned of relocation but have since not been assisted with moving to their new plots of land.

One of the widows, Motaboli said their vil-lage was flanked by the two rivers that are tipped to overflow on completion of the project phase.

Motaboli said some of her neighbours have already been relocated to other places leaving their houses abandoned. They are the only vil-lagers remaining in that deserted dwelling and they feel insecure.

She has urged the highlands water authori-ties to speed up their relocation by allocating them sites at designated village of Makaleng.

She said during heavy rains it is impossible for them to cross the Tšila-Ntšo river as it hits its banks. making life difficult for them.

widows desperate for resettlement

the village wheRe the maRooned widows stay

“We were promised last year that we will be moved from here. What we want is to be closer to other villages. We want to be allo-cated promised sites which are available at the Makaleng village.

“We do not mind building shacks for our-selves to stay in. We do not feel safe at all,” Motaboli said.

Another tormented resident, Khatleli reit-erated that she was eagerly awaiting to be al-located site at the promised land, fearing for their lives as the only widows left in the village.

The irked villagers lamented that they could not cross the river Tšila-Ntšo to other villages adding their safety was at stake.

The nearby village is that of Ha Kompi, situ-ated about an hour walk from theirs.

Commenting on the issue, the chief of Tšila-Ntšo, Katleho Khatleli confirmed that there are only three widows left in a village called Ntšotsong located in Tšila-Ntšo area.

He said the sites have already been earmarked for building houses at Makaleng as agreed between the residents and the water project authorities.

“The women told me that they want to be set free to go stay at their own sites. They pre-fer to build their own houses because they can-not wait for LHDA,” he said.

“I informed the councillor of Senqu Mok-hotlong, Boeang khatleli and we are yet to go to the LHDA to find out if they are yet to relocate the widows to their new sites,” he enthused, added that he received the three villagers’ complaints in February this year.

The councillor of Senqu in the Mokhotlong district, Boeang Khatleli, said he sent the com-munity representative last week to request a meeting with the LHDA official who is tasked to attend to the public’s grievances.

In September last year, LHDA public rela-tions manager, Masilo Phakoe  said the con-

struction of the dam would commence mid-2022 as resettlement planning was underway.

Phakoe said the registration and verifica-tion of affected assets has been completed for most project components, including the Poli-hali transfer tunnel. Verification activities are still in progress in the Polihali reservoir area. Completion of the registration of assets is esti-mated at 95 percent.

He added that consultations on replacement and housing designs have been completed with households to be relocated from the reservoir area and other project sites such as the access roads and site establishment area. 

“Consultations have been completed with households in the Polihali village area on the two resettlement site layouts for physically displaced households. The planning of reset-tlement sites for households to be relocated from the remainder of the reservoir area will be finalised this year.

He further indicated that the public gather-ings to create awareness about a menu of vi-able, sustainable livelihood options to be con-sidered for implementation by communities have been held in all areas within the area.

“The purpose was to prepare communities to take advantage of the opportunities created by the implementation of Phase II, in mitiga-tion against the potential negative effects of the project,” Phakoe said.

But Phakoe did not specifically respond to the matter relating to the three villagers and asked to be furnished with detailed informa-tion.

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BY KABELo MoLLo

SUPPORTED BY

I recently saw a quote on Twitter that read “life is moving at several Haibo’s a minute” and quite frankly I’ve yet to

find a more apt summary of our lives at the moment. I had barely had my morning green tea when I got a WhatsApp asking me to confirm whether the rumours were true about the impending shake up in the political landscape.

I thought the person who was asking was talking about the looming motion of parliament that occurred this past week, and because I expected the status quo to remain, I poured cold water over the sug-gestion that there was any kind of seismic shift on the horizon. Not long after that I exclaimed “Haibo” as a Facebook friend in-timated ntate Matekane, the philanthropic billionaire would be throwing his hat in the minefield that is Lesotho’s body politic. When a third and fourth person chimed in confirming they’d heard the rumour too I figured smoke is seldom without Fire.

The following day at a MISA/LCA train-ing for journalists I was dumbfounded as I discovered how antiquated the laws govern-ing the media in this country are. We let off a collective “Haibo” as media practitioners when it was pointed out to us that actually according to the law, media personnel were not permitted in the august house. Some had to swallow humble pie as they realised that the law enforcement agencies they had encountered run ins with were on the right side of the law. In that same presentation I learned that sending and sharing of explicit sexual content is prohibited by law. In lay-man’s terms sharing nudes could land you in hot legal soup. Make of that, what you will…

Last week I made a tongue-in-cheek statement that media practitioners were suddenly in demand. Where it was journal-ists struggling to get ahold of politicians not so long ago, it is now politicians strug-gling to pin down members of the fourth estate. How quickly the wheel of life turns, and what’s even funnier is that interest is only going to intensify in the next 6 or 7 months. Don’t be surprised when you see your favourite journos sipping single malts

and not the quart sized beers your used to. I have lamented the broadcaster and me-dia owner experience in the Kingdom, but it suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. I’m only half joking to be honest. I wish it were like this all the time.

A free press with access to any and all people of interest is a good thing. A press that isn’t withstanding constant verbal and physical threats is one that can be an effec-tive ally for Joe Public in terms of dissemi-nation of information. It can ask difficult, hard hitting questions when needed, but can also broadcast good news stories when available.

Something caught my eye this week and I wished journalists and the media at large would ventilate it to the nth degree. A popular brand embarked on a CSI project that for me wasn’t clear. Was the CSI pro-ject to assist an existing customer, or was

it remuneration for a past oversight? Was it neither and an act of altruism that ben-efited all involved? Haibo, what a benevo-lent gesture if it was the former, while if it were the latter then, surely many questions must be asked?

I mentioned the MISA/LCA training earlier. I was so pleased our regulator as well as media body had such a timely in-tervention. With elections coming up it’s very important we are capacitated to run efficient news rooms and deliver the right messages to an interested public. Another Haibo that caught my attention at said event was a lively debate that I inadvert-ently sparked when I insisted that some of the content that we peddle on our plat-forms ought to be advertorial paid for by the entity we were giving the publicity. It is my assertion that there’s a thin line be-tween news and free publicity. It is also my

view that too many of our corporate part-ners have fudged the lines such that we no longer know which is which. I hope that practice comes to a halt and that we fig-ure out a more fair way of engaging going forward.

My final Haibo is the realisation that struck me the other morning during my morning workout, and that was that too many people are chomping at the bit to be free of wearing masks. People, with the fifth wave looming, as well general winter illnesses like flu etc, why would you not want to continue with the mask mandate?! Even for those of fully vaxxed and loyal to the Sankatana products I still encourage wearing masks! I reckon I’m going to wear mine for the next two years at least! I can hear many exclaiming “HAIBO!”

FRIDAY 25 - 31 MARCH, 2022 | 23

BACKPAGE

By Neo KolaneJunior Reporter

Marketing and brand activation agency, Tgee Modelling Agency, is hosting its annual Morena

Moshoeshoe Fashion Week today and tomorrow at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre.

The main show is today while the fash-ion expo and auction are tomorrow.

Morena Moshoeshoe Fashion Week is a week-long fashion event hosted once in a year in Lesotho during commemoration month of Basotho’s hero King Moshoe-shoe I.

The aim of the fashion show is to at-tract the global market to Lesotho’s very rich and diverse dress culture which can be explored as a catalyst for the socioeco-nomic growth of the country’s garments, textile and fashion clothing.

The executive director of Tgee Model-ling Agency, Thato Fonya, says the fashion show platform has managed to promote and change the lives of over 30 fashion de-

THATO eMbrAces FAsHiOn in LesOTHO

exeCutive pRoduCeR of the fashion plug afRiCa thato fonya

signers, 50 fashion models, 12 tablets, eight media companies while establishing valuable relations with other interested parties in the in fashion cy-cles.

The fashion activist said the marketing and brand activation agency is to embark on promo-tion investments and ultimately end up doing le-galized talent exporting where fashion designers, models and producers can be catapulted on to the international stage.

Fonya also explained that the fundamental objectives are to reduce the high unemployment rate in Lesotho and promote investment in Leso-tho’s wool and mohair sector as we as elevate local fashion to greater heights.

He further said the platform is aimed at re-cruiting local modelling talent in order to turn male and female models of the Mountain King-dom into professional model.

He believes that models are vital in not only promoting Lesotho, but also bringing the interna-tional community together with embassies across the world by exposing local designers to the out-side territories.

“The agency has six years of existence and is hoping to have its models go international on big

Thato thought.People who will be seen during the

main show amongst many are influencers like Mig and Selloane Thakanyane, with performances by Omali Themba, Teboho oa Seroki and Athandwa Naledi.

Models such as Neo Lesekele, Refiloe Lefothane, Mofumotse Chere, Refiloe Kolobe and the Face of Lesotho 2022 Rel-ebohile Bobo Buti will be part of the full meal event.

Fonya launched a fashion calendar that appreciates top models, beauty queens and fashion influencers on January 22 un-der the Fashion Plug Africa.

Fashion Plug Africa is a WakandaLand Lifestyle hub aimed at keeping people in the loop with the latest trends of works of fashion, models, beauty queens, fashion influencers and all that’s going around the globe.

He concluded: “We are about forg-ing relationships for African investment promotion in the fashion and modelling industries.”

fashion weeks with big brands to put Lesotho on the map.

“In Lesotho, Tgee Modelling Agency wants to build a strong fashion industry so as to win attrac-tion from both and outside the country.

“Imagine a great venture of a capitalized en-terprise with world class infrastructure to process raw world-class quality wool and mohair into the finest fabric, and exporting it as a finished prod-uct.

“Visualize the agency establishing and nurtur-ing a local talent of fashion schools and creative hubs that would conceptualize unrivalled designs,”

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25 March 2022

By Neo KolaneJunior Reporter

Local actor, producer and comedian, Bofihla ‘Neko has scored a role on South Africa telenovela ‘The River’ as a right hand man for a character called

Kabo who is a diamond dealer. The River is created by Phathu Makwarela and Gy-

dion Beyno. It tells of two communities divided by a river that

separates the rich and the poor in Pretoria, South Af-rica.

It is an M-Net original production produced by Tshedza Pictures for DSTV’s general entertainment subscription channel 1Magic and is available for stream-ing on Napsers’ subscription-based video-on-demand service Showmax.

In an interview with theReporter, ‘Neko explained that he received a call asking him to take part in the show.

He explained that the call he received was from a casting director who asked him if he would be interested to feature as a gangster in The River.

Bofihla told the director that he was driving and told the gentlemen to call him later.

“I then thought of the part and at first I needed to

focus on my fellow actors who are still struggling as far as income is concerned, but in the end I decided to take part.

“It is a good opportunity to be seen by a wider spec-trum than just being in a few colour cloud,” he said.

Being a veteran in this acting scene, ‘Neko disclosed that when he is given an opportunity to act, he is very much willing to give it his all.

The director of the Sesotho comedy series Li-laphalapha, Bofihla revealed that this is not a permanent role as he is still employed in Lesotho while also running his own company. For this reason, he cannot be far from home for a long time.

He mentioned that playing the part brought drama in the telenovela and hopes for the best.

“I am not sure when it will be aired but I start on episode 64 in the series. I am operating on a call ar-rangement not a contract since I am still employed,” he explained.

Bofihla will be acting alongside Presley Chweneya-gae, Thembinkosi Mthembu and Sindi Dlathu, to name a few of the heavyweight cast.

Bofihla also made headlines early this month when he challenged dancer and choreographer Maveleto to a boxing match.

bOFiHLA TO AppeAr On sA sOApie