Lesotho’s assets seized
MASERU – LESOTHO’s international assets are being seized to pay off an M855 million claim by a German company accusing the government of breaching a contract.
The contract with Frazer Solar was signed by former minister Temeki Tšolo in September 2018 when he was a Minister in Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s office. Frazer was to supply Lesotho with solar water heaters, solar lanterns and LEC lights.
Tšolo has however denied signing the contract and says he suspects his signature was forged.
The government has said it’s investigating what happened.
But while the government is battling to get a handle on the issues, Frazer Solar is moving fast to impound Lesotho’s assets.
Driving economic growth
Maseru-EVEN at a young age, Relebohile Sefako has always been fascinated with the concept of making money.
His father, who went on early retirement as a police officer, ran a grocery store in Ha-Thetsane in the 1980s. And so at very close range, he would see how his father would buy goods in large quantities and sell for a profit.
It was a decent family business that ensured they enjoyed an average life in the city.
But beyond maintaining the family, the venture planted a seed in young Sefako – to run his own businesses later in life.
MASERU-ABOUT 25 employees from the SCLC joint company sub-contracted at the multimillion maloti Polihali Dam have been grounded at home since December last year
weekly newspaper.
Communities living within sight of Lesotho’s two biggest dams endure a daily struggle to get safe water because the “white gold” they can see but cannot reach is destined for neighbouring South Africa.
The landlocked country has earned a total of 11.2-billion maloti ($746-million) for selling 16,401.3 million cubic metres of clean water to its bigger, much wealthier neighbour from 1996 to 2020, according to the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), the project’s implementing agency.
In 2020 alone, Lesotho earned 1.03-billion maloti (about $69-million) when it sold about 780 million cubic metres of water to South Africa, according to the LHDA.