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MINE DISPUTE COSTS GOVT M3bn PAGE 2

Judiciary, Law Society in frosty relations PAGE 4

2

Public Eye

Friday June 15, 2018

News

Mine dispute costs Lesotho M3 billion • Govt could pay another M3 billion if it loses court battle with Swissbourgh BILLY NTAOTE

M

ASERU - A protracted international investment dispute that has lasted 28 years between the Lesotho government and a South African owned diamond mining company, Swissbourgh, has cost the country a whopping M3 billion in legal costs.

If Lesotho loses the case, the amount could double to M6 billion, MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism, has learnt.

Lesotho has been embroiled in a seemingly endless legal battle with Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Limited since the military rule in 1990, with the matter still pending finalisation before the Singapore Williams Tribunal today.

The battle is over mining rights Swissbourgh wants back from government after the latter revoked the company’s licenses in 1988, failing which the firm wants to be compensated to the tune of M3 billion on top of legal costs Lesotho has already incurred through the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs.

Finer details of the amounts spent so far are revealed in the audit report for the year ended March 31, 2017, on the consolidated f i n a n c i a l s ta te m e n ts o f t h e government of Lesotho prepared

by Auditor General Lucy Liphafa for parliament.

In the report, Liphafa raises serious audit concerns that during the financial year 2016/17, government incurred costs on the compensation claim of M33 million against Swissbourgh for a cancelled mine contract.

She said “the amount of M8 million related to legal costs and M25 million lodged as security pending final award by the Singapore Williams Tribunal”.

The Auditor General further points that Swissbourgh “claimed a compensation award of M3 billion from government of Lesotho” and is concerned that “the expenses incurred on this litigation for the past 28 years could be closer to claimed compensation award.”

Swissbourgh was registered under the laws of Lesotho and incorporated by a South African national Josias Van Zyl in November 1986.

W h e n t h e c o m p a n y wa s first registered, Van Zyl owned

f ive percent of its shares, 85 percent shares were owned by his unidentified nominee and the remaining 10 percent was halved between two other unidentified persons.

B u t i n M a r c h 1 9 8 9, a l l shareholders, other than Van Zyl, diverted their shareholding to the Josias Van Zyl Family Trust (JVZF), which thus acquired 95 percent of the shares in Swissbourgh. In June 1997, the JVZF Trust transferred 90 percent of the shares in Swissbourgh to the Burmilla Trust, established in South Africa.

The Centre discovered through court documents that by 1987, Sw i ss b o u rgh h a d s u b m i tte d applications for five mining leases in five different areas in Lesotho, namely; Matsoku, Motete, Rampai, Orange, and Khubelu.

At the time, a review of such applications involved the following stages; first, negotiations between the applicant and a committee of senior government officials who would advise the Ministry of Water, Energy and Mining; secondly, approval by the ministry. And thirdly, approval by the country’s Mining Board. The fourth stage would be a recommendation by the board to the Military Council following consultations with the local chiefs responsible for the land, and fifthly, an approval by the Military Council before final confirmation by the King.

In June 1988, at the conclusion of the above-mentioned process, King Moshoeshoe II approved the Swissbourgh applications for the mining leases.

Howeve r, t h e c o m pa ny ’s acquirement was short-lived as the government subsequently claimed to discover, after the mining leases had been registered with the Registrar of Deeds in October 1988, that there was no evidence that the local chiefs in the Ha Rampai area had been consulted or had agreed to the granting of a lease. This is what sparked the legal battle as the government had revoked the mining leases.

In terms of the lease for Ha Rampai, Swissbourgh was given an exclusive right to mine for precious stones in the area for a period of 10 years from the date of registration of the lease in the Deeds Registry, with an option for renewal of the lease for a further five years.

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HELP US GET IT RIGHT Public Eye is committed to reporting news that is accurate, free from bias, and truthful at all times. We do our best to research and cross-check our stories. But mistakes do happen. If, as the reader, you spot any mistakes, please point them out to us so that we can correct them.

Law and Constitutional Affairs PS Retired Colonel Tanki Mothae But, the lease was for land already identified to be part of an area to be submerged in water after the construction of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project’s Katse dam.

This meant that within a few years after the commencement of the Rampai mining lease, a portion of the mining lease area would be flooded and impossible to be mined

by Swissbourgh.

This happened and Swissbourgh contends it is entitled to claim c o m p e n sa t i o n f ro m L e s o t h o amounting to about M3 billion.

T h e C e n t re u n d e rsta n d s , Sw i ss b o u rgh a rg u e s t h e compensation is for loss of profit it says it would have made had it not been prevented from recovering considerable quantities of diamonds which, according to Swissbourgh, lie beyond its reach beneath the waters of the Katse dam.

However, the company lost all cases even after taking an appeal on grounds that the issuance of the mining leases did not follow due process in awarding of mining leases in the court of Lesotho.

Having unsuccessfully pursued legal action until the Court of Appeal, Swissbourgh commenced proceedings in the SADC Tribunal in 2009, alleging that Lesotho had

breached its obligations under the SADC Treaty by wrongfully expropriating the mining leases.

Unfortunately for Swissbourgh, the SADC Tribunal was dissolved by resolution of the SADC Summit before it had an opportunity to determine the defendants’ claim.

Undeterred, the miner commenced international arbitration proceedings against the country in 2012 on the basis that Lesotho, by contributing to or facilitating the shutting down of the SADC Tribunal without providing alternative means by which the Swissbourgh’s expropriation claim could be heard, Lesotho again breached its obligations under the SADC Treaty.

Now, this Rampai lease dispute is in the arbitration processes in Singapore Williams Tribunal and the Centre has learnt a judgement is coming soon after the matter was heard in May 2017.

Commenting on the case, the Law and Constitutional Affairs Ministry’s Principal Secretary Retired Colonel Tanki Mothae, told the Centre the case in Singapore is ongoing.

He, however, said he could not get into the merits of the case as it is an ongoing case, but “soon the parties involved in the case shall

hear judgement” but admits the dispute has dragged for too long and costs have escalated.

Mothae said from May 17 to 21, 2017 the battle for compensation for the Rampai area was heard by the Singapore Williams tribunal.

“We have been winning so many cases over the years against those people, but they are always taking appeals and right now we are waiting to hear judgement from the tribunal.

“As a result of our membership to many international organisations and party to many conventions, the case is being taken through many avenues by the claimant.

“But we are currently awaiting the outcome of the court judgement,” said Mothae.

In her report, the Auditor General points that since the case started as far back as 1990 during the Military Government, it is still going on today.

“At stake is a claim against t h e gove r n m e n t o f L e s o t h o in the amount of M3 billion as compensation award.

“From time to time the ministry of law requests special funding from the ministry of finance to settle professional bills and or make other necessary payments in relation to the litigation, as its budget cannot conceivably finance a case of this nature which, according to management, is an extremely expensive litigation” read part of the Auditor General’s Report.

Liphafa gives an example in the report that “in 2015/16 expenditure incurred on legal costs, international subsistence allowance and taxes amounted to M24, 003,044 and expenditure in 2016/17 was M15, 633, 713”.

She further notes that government has also lodged an amount of M25 million as security pending a f inal award by the Singapore Tribunal.

“The case has been dragging for a long time and continues to cost government a lot of money.

“The expenses incurred on this litigation for the past 28 years could be closer to claimed compensation award,” she noted in the report.

She further recommends that “government should, maybe, consider out of court settlement to save ta x paye rs m o n ey i f Singapore Williams Tribunal rules unfavourably”.

M N N C e n t re fo r I nve s t i ga t ive Journalism (MNNCIJ) produced this story. All views are ours. See www. lescij.org for our stories, activities and funding sources.

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Friday June 15, 2018

News

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12

Public Eye

Friday June 15, 2018

News Analysis

What has Thabane’s government done a year later?

M

ASERU – Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s coalition government has been fixated with strengthening its hegemony since it ascended to power by harpooning political rivals, while ignoring its key developmental mandate.

Analysts and politicians this week accused Thabane of falling off the rails as he doggedly pursued his competitors and “perceived impediments” to his grip on power.

This, commentators and politicians who spoke to Public Eye said, had resulted in the economy sinking deeper into the doldrums as government was virtually on auto-pilot.

Thabane’s government had disingenuously categorised Lesotho’s situation as “sociopolitical instability”, to hoodwink the nation into not questioning his failure to vigorously prosecute its pre-election agenda.

If anything, they added, Thabane, Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki, Communications, Science and Technology Minister Thesele ’Maseribane and Labour and Employment Minister Keketso Rantšo were at pains to purge their rivals, implement their own political agenda and capture key institutions.

Institutions such as the army, police and judiciary, as well as the offices of the Attorney-General (AG) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), had been suborned while a bloated cabinet had become an albatross to treasury.

When he took office Thabane promised a lean and hardworking executive geared at reversing the effects of bad governmental habits that purportedly set in under Pakalitha Mosisili.

They added that Thabane, ’ Ma s e r i ba n e a n d R a n t š o ’s obsession with the opposition stems from their flight into exile between 2015 and 2017 and fear of an alleged assassination plot.

The trio reportedly fled with their lives because of the activities of renegade elements in the army under the command of former army chief Tlali Kamoli.

The assassination of former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) C o m m a n d e r M a a p a ra n ko e Mahao in 2015 had fanned and strengthened their feelings of insecurity.

T h e a n a l ys t s ’ n e ga t i ve s c o re ca rd o f gove r n m e n t ’s performance so far were triggered

by Thabane’s statement this week that his government had restored

peace and stability since winning office.

In the same media interview, Thabane excoriates Chief Justice Nthakomeng Majara and the judiciary which he branded inefficient and crying out for an overhaul.

Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) leader Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, yesterday described Thabane’s government as being characterised by anarchy and untrustworthiness, citing its failure to trim its cabinet as promised in section 5 of the August 2017 document The Coalition Agreement for National Unity, Reconciliation, Peace and Stability, in which they undertook to have “a cabinet of up to 34 ministers and deputies”.

“The coalition government considers the size of this cabinet to be too large for effectiveness and cost and could lead to fragmentation of government programmes. The parties agree to review ministries and their responsibilities, and thereafter realign them as necessary before the beginning of the next fiscal year. Consideration will be given to having a smaller government in future, following the review”.

Rakuoane added that while the government had promised to support a lifestyle audit motion in parliamnet, the august House was swiftly sent on a winter break, without the motion being debated, a move which he said was in stark contrast to Thabane’s declaration to fight corruption. “ T h a ba n e ’s gove r n m e n t is characterised by anarchy, lawlessness and is unreliable.

They have failed to trim their ever-ballooning cabinet, despite t h e i r u n d e rta k i n g i n t h e i r coalition agreement. Increasing the size of that cabinet amounts to lawlessness,” Rakuoane asserted.

“They also avoided debating the issue of lifestyle audit, which speaks to their declaration to fight corruption. They swiftly adjourned parliament for the winter break without debating it.

They have also ignored the revival of good laws which were in the House in the previous parliament, despite their relevance.”

According to Rakuoane, while Thabane’s government had undertaken to implement SADC recommendations and reforms, their decision to arrest some soldiers for alleged crimes committed by the army, while sparing others, meant their job was “half-done”.

A number of soldiers, among them Kamoli, are in remand prison on charges of committing

Prime Minister Thomas Thabane a slew of crimes including murder in the Mosisili era.

The PFD leader further said key institutions like the army, the judiciary and the police were “dying under this administration” and made an example of the police, maintaining that “the police service and minister of police don’t seem to have a clear strategy to fight crime” but were instead implementing Thabane’s instruction that “police should beat up criminals”.

Rakuoane submitted that focus now should be on strengthening key institutions and that politicians should stop misleading the nation that it was leaders who were failing “when in actual fact the failure we see is due to the shortcomings of our institutions”.

“It’s time to advance the agenda of reviewing our laws in order to build stronger and more accountable institutions, instead of blaming individuals. It was Mosisili yesterday, it is Thabane today. I am developing a fatigue of this up and down movement we have been doing. I have worked with both Thabane and Mosisili.

It’s time to resolve this country’s issues in earnest,” Rakuoane submitted.

Independent political commentator Arthur Majara said the Thabane government’s agenda in the past year, has solely been to “settle political scores”.

“Thabane had a lot of things that he wanted done while he was in exile. There were so many political scores that he wanted to settle. His agenda has never

been developmental, it was always political,” Majara said.

“He categorised Lesotho’s situation as socio-political instability, and abandoned the country’s economic needs to consolidate his political agenda.

His is criminal pursuit and political purge, which affect offices such as those of the DPP and AG, which were occupied by people he saw as impediments to implementing his political pledge.

“The purge also involves the capture of key institutions such as the judiciary, police and army, thus plunging Lesotho back into a new type of sociopolitical instability. More like a dictatorship, which functions under a seemingly democratic environment.

“You simply need to look at people around him to understand his dictatorial tendencies. Let’s take for one, his close relationship with BNP leader ’Maseribane, which nurtures the dictator in Thabane.”

Majara touched on the current coalition’s annual budget, as compared to former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s governments, claiming that “he has maintained the status quo, there’s nothing new with his government’s budgets”.

“All he has been focused on is consolidating the political purge. One would expect better f ro m F i n a n c e M i n i ste r D r Moeketsi Majoro, particularly on the development aspect.

But unfortunately he’s deeply consumed in politics to do anything meaningful,” Majara

declared.

Lesotho Council of NonGovernmental Organisations (LCN) Executive Director Seabata Motsamai, weighed in saying the Thabane government’s main focus was supposed to be on the implementation of the multisectoral reforms programme, SADC Recommendations and Economic reforms, but that while it had made strides in some areas, it had failed dismally elsewhere.

“They had undertaken to establish a cabinet comprising 34 ministers or less. But a year down the line, the cabinet is ballooning.

It says while the management of that cabinet is in their hands, they have failed dismally to guard against it growing,” Motsamai said.

On the question of stability, Motsamai’s brief response was that “there’s some political stability, albeit to some extent.

It’s not hundred percent”.

Asked about his views on reforming the economy, the LCN director noted that government was advancing the agenda of indigenising business, but quickly touched on the contentious and currently topical issue of government preferring Chinese contractors over Basotho’s for large-scale construction projects.

“While there seems to be a turnaround in terms of the growing indigenisation of the economy by supporting local industries, it is worrying that it seems the Chinese are preferred over Basotho as regards the awarding of large-scale construction tender projects,” Motsamai said.

16

Public Eye

Friday June 15, 2018

Feature MASENTLE MAKARA AND RAY MUNGOSHI

M

ASERU – The sprawling village of Masowe on the western edge of Maseru – complete with its brand new, swanky houses – is hardly a place one would expect to find residents haggling over gullies and climate change.

Its pristine homes with their high walls and manicured green lawns however belie palpable tensions and anxiety that is keeping some home owners awake at night.

Unlike their nearest neighbours in poorer Ha Tsolo whose main nocturnal preoccupation is keeping out thieves, the danger facing Masowe residents is clearer and ever present – a gaping gully (donga).

The donga - a steepsided gully created by soil erosion – is cutting a swath of destruction smack in the middle of the village, sending residents and environmentalists into a panic and seeking ways of rolling it back.

Home owners in the path of the huge gully fear another season of torrential rains would spell doom for their properties, and lives.

To stave off the danger some villagers have taken it upon themselves to mobilise the neighbourhood and government to reclaim the donga and save their properties.

Pontšo Tšoeunyane a former resident of Masowe 1 (Maseru South West) is leading a community inspired project devoid of massive funding to educate and get residents caring more for their environment and closing the spaghetti-like network of gullies that have opened up in the area.

“I was renting a duplex in Masowe 1, and they were close to the donga, but by the time I left the place the donga was closer to that place. The donga kept on growing because of the rains, and all because of climate change,” said the former National University of Lesotho (NUL) lecturer.

While there is very little Tšoeunyane can do to persuade the world’s major polluting countries such as the United States and China to lead from the front in controlling toxic industrial gases that are harmful to the ozone layer, she feels she can do a lot more to close the gully threatening her old home.

“This donga has become an eyesore as well as a health hazard. People have turned it into a dumping site including some companies from the nearby industrial area,” she lamented.

“Apart from that, dongas swallow land that could have been used productively for either agriculture or housing. The major thing that compelled me to do this, is that people keep building houses on the very same land.

I have seen it in Roma, where people have now started building homes in dongas and this is very dangerous and can result in tragedy in the event of heavy rains.”

A long chain of garment factories a short hop away from

Gaping Masowe donga . . . as volunteers arrest soil erosion

the periphery of Masowe Village spews poisonous waste and rubbish that owners dump in the donga.

This is despite strict environmental laws that ban this practice because of the damaging impact it has on the environment and ultimately residents’ health.

Lesotho’s vigorous efforts to protect the environment are steeped in the constitution which in Section 36 stipulates that: “Lesotho shall adopt policies designed to protect and enhance the natural and cultural environment of Lesotho for the benefit of both present and future generations, and endeavour to assure to all citizens a sound and safe environment adequate for their health and well-being.”

This provision is given expression in a gamut of subsidiary legislation that aims at enforcing the right of citizens to reside in a clean and pollutionfree environment.

And like most members of the international community, Lesotho is also a signatory to conventions, treaties and protocols aimed at protecting the environment against contamination.

Although this lofty aspiration was part of the country’s Vision 2020 and little seems to have been achieved besides enactment of environmental laws, at least the political will to enforce environmental laws exists.

“We have a challenge since our budget was cut so we cannot work according to our plans. We are starting our land rehabilitation in July though we have minimized the groups that will be working in the constituencies because of our low budget,” said ‘Mamotsie Motsie forestry, range and soil conservation minister.

She noted programmes were tailored to respond to community needs, adding in rural areas the ministry if reclaiming gullies while focusing on pastures in rural districts.

In spite of this, a little help from communities on a self-help

basis would go some way towards reducing the financial burden on the cash-strapped government.

“We are working hard to stop soil erosion as gullies attract crime. People are raped and killed in them.”

Minister of Tourism, Environment and Culture Motlohi Maliehe said a concerted effort comprising government and private efforts together was key to saving the environment.

“Environmental issues like land rehabilitation is our concern but we are working with other ministries like Forestry. Ours is to inform them whenever we see something wrong.

“If you can recall, I was at Forestry before I came here so I was hands on in rehabilitating the gullies. I even hired experts so that they could supervise (communities) how to plant trees, which ones to be planted and plenty of ways to rehabilitate the gullies.

“Environmental issues involve most ministries, it includes the Ministry of health, as pollution affects people living there. This is why we are working on making laws that will restrict the use of plastic bags in Lesotho. Maybe if we can be like South Africa where people buy plastic bags; people would go to shops with their own plastics.

“We will then decide whether to limit the use and production of plastics within the country. There are plastic factories in Lesotho, so we cannot just close the businesses but maybe they should make paper bags. Plastic has got so many disadvantages …plastic has a huge negative impact on the sea as it kills animals…affects the soil, the soil cannot absorb the water hence there were floods recently.”

Maliehe said a dirty environment was detrimental to his ministry’s efforts to coax tourists to come to Lesotho.

“No one wants to visit a filthy house. Tourists won’t come to Lesotho if it continues being dirty

like this. We are working hard to make sure that we meet our Vision 2020 goal that Lesotho should be a clean country by 2020. This needs to start now as the country needs to be cleaned every day. We shouldn’t wait until 2020.”

He stressed: “Lesotho is our only land and we need to take care of it. We should remember that we are going to give birth to children here and we are going to die here.

So, let us make Lesotho a better country to live in.”

This is a huge jump from 1999 when a study by Carl Bro International titled Final Baseline Report on Waste Management in Maseru City, concluded that there was no comprehensive waste management policy in Lesotho, there was very limited legal and institutional framework concerning solid waste, nearly no solid waste management system involving coordinated recycling and there was an insufficient collection system; random and illegal dump sites were used for disposal and limited awareness causing increased littering of solid waste.

To mitigate this, Tšoeunyane and likeminded Basotho are hard at work crafting local campaigns to make their precincts cleaner, livable and more environmentally friendly.

This is a tall order in Lesotho where, according to the Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit, 86 percent of Lesotho’s working-age population resort to subsistence farming although earnings from agriculture are still miniscule.

“This is mainly because Lesotho’s steep slopes and poor soils do not lend themselves to productive farming. The only viable areas are in the western lowlands around the capital Maseru, which are already fully utilised. Young families and returning workers from South Africa who want space to plant crops and graze livestock have to move ever higher into the mountains.

“The mountain farmers establish fields on highly erodible soils of volcanic origin. These are not improved by ploughing, in some cases with furrows running downhill that make the situation even worse. Only about three percent of farmers have access to electricity, so there is widespread felling of highlands shrubs for firewood. This too affects soil stability. Worst of all, Lesotho’s farmers own a combined herd of hundreds of thousands of cattle which are regarded as status symbols and permitted to graze wherever they please.

“This has catastrophic results for any topsoil that remains. When a thunderstorm triggers a cloudburst, exposed topsoil is quickly eroded and washed into valleys, streams and rivers. Fields and pastures melt away as red-brown rivulets.

The result is a barren network of dongas, erosion gullies, sometimes 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep: As a result of this rapid erosion, Lesotho loses up to 2 percent of its vital topsoil every year,” says the Kit. “This problem has loomed for a considerable time and is a chronic, progressively worsening calamity that the Basotho and international development agencies seem helpless to stem. Government and international partners have initiated a number of campaigns aimed at promoting the use of sustainable farming methods, but so far to little avail.”

This gloomy background is what spurs Tšoeunyane on in her efforts to reverse the debilitating effects of soil erosion.

“I am a YALI (Young African Leaders Initiative) trainee and I am a volunteer at heart so I took the initiative to bring change that would impact the lives of people in Masowe, especially the majority and the most vulnerable in Masowe. There are a lot of children in that place and my fear is that they might fall in the dongas as they are always playing there,” said Tšoeunyane in a recent interview.

“Basically, there are some individuals who are taking initiatives to reclaim the dongas.

You will find that some households are using tires, others use old cement bags when the cement company AFRISAM would give people bags of hardened cement to seal the gullies.

“Some houses are already cracking so I thought it would be a good idea to educate these people about climate change and environmental conservation as this is the best way to respond to what is happening around them,” said Pontšo.

After attending a few community meetings called to discuss the dongas, Pontšo decided a more concerted effort was needed.

“I attended their public

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Friday June 15, 2018

nagging reminder gatherings but I felt these were not going far enough to solve the problem at hand so I organised a workshop for those affected by the dongas, particularly those whose houses are cracking.”

The workshop attracted government and humanitarian agencies.

Before that, Tšoeunyane had been sent from pillar to post getting permission from the local leadership to mobilise villagers.

“I went to the local chief asking for permission to rehabilitate the land and educate the people taking part in it and I was referred to another chief.

“I then had to write some proposals to a number of stakeholders like local businesses asking for financial assistance but most had other plans so they could not fund this (project),” she said.

Tšoeunyane had asked for material to use in rehabilitation of the donga.

“For example, we needed to build gabions, so this required stones, lots of them.”

Driven by a never-say-die attitude, Pontšo approached the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation which, however, could not help because

of budgetary constraints.

Tšoeunyane – whose only qualification in environmental issues is an online course in climate change – believes the best way to cure the environment is through an ambitious “no poverty and zero hunger” programme.

“It is through projects like these that communities are able to create employment. (If) we rehabilitated the donga and turn once degraded land into green pastures, we can establish agricultural industries to employ more than 70 percent of the residents who remain unemployed today.”

Tšoeunyane whose spirit of communalism was molded at YALI reckons community buy-in is crucial to making the project a success.

“We had community development presentations (during the workshop) because we wanted to show the people of Masowe the importance of working together; drawing on the Sesotho proverb: ‘many hands make light of a difficult task’.

“The whole emphasis on community development is to try and make sure that people work as a team to build solidarity and a harmonious working

environment,” she said.

“This is a community-based project and we are aiming at bridging social gaps and mistrust that are created by physical distortions of the land by dongas which can divide one community into two. This calls for strong social capital, social cohesion, solidarity and a sense of oneness mounted on Ubuntu and Pan Africanism which are valuable aspects of the Africa We Want, Agenda 2063.

“For me, conflict isn’t just an absence of peace but where there is no ability of communities to work together and live together harmoniously. Creating these strong communities with these attributes of communalism and togetherness will help us achieve peace, justice and strong institutions.

Her imprint and ideology are stamped all-over the Masowe gully reclamation project but, idealism notwithstanding, Tšoeunyane has her work cut out for her.

The dearth of funds and sometimes cynical villagers yearning for immediate results can collapse the project anytime.

She seems unfazed though.

“In order to achieve these goals, we should form an integrated

network from the grassroots level.

This can only start with us in our respective villages - to national level.

“It is high time Basotho personalised all these international goals and strategies that Lesotho has ascribed to and

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start implementing them from community level. Basotho can’t only focus on the government to do things for them and feel helpless, yet they are blessed with unique different talents and competences. Change starts now with me, you and us.”

PUBLIC NOTICE PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE LESOTHO PETROLEUM FUND HAS RELOCATED ITS OFFICES FROM LENYORA HOUSE 190 NIGHTINGALE ROAD NEW EUROPA, TO THE NEW OFFICES SITUATED AT: LESOTHO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (LCCI) OFFICE COMPLEX CORNER ORPEN AND PRINCESS MARGARET ROADS OLD EUROPA

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