By ‘Majirata Latela
The Auditor- General, Monica Besetsa says she has noted that houses meant for refugees no longer serve the purpose of giving exiles accommodation.
This is after she found out that most of houses are occupied or rented to civil servants and other members of the public while the refugees and asylum seekers have no accommodation. There was no documentation or authority availed for this arrangement.
According to Besetsa, the United Nations donated 46 houses managed by the office of the commissioner of refugees, for purposes of accommodating refugees residing in Lesotho. The houses are located in Maseru at Mohalalitoe, which is also used as a Reception Centre. Other houses are situated below the Lesotho College of Education, at Borokhoaneng and Ha Matala.
“The audit further discovered that the ministry did not maintain proper record for the houses; there were no contracts nor any documentation or authority for the rented out houses. Tenants did not pay rent as expected, and there were no follow- ups made and arrears of rent were not reported,
“In cases where revenue on rent was received, it was not accounted for and not traceable. The ministry did not maintain the houses to the extent that the tenants maintain the houses themselves, and some even installed electricity.
“In some places, tenants sell water to the villagers for their own benefit while the ministry pays the bills. There is a risk that these houses are used for personal gain thus resulting into loss to the government on payment of bills,” reads the report.
Speaking to theReporter, the Commissioner of Refugees, Mohlolo Lerotholi, he said when the commission realised that there were fewer refugees to occupy all the houses, they advised themselves to rent out some of them. This was because the commission felt that if the houses were not occupied for too long they could depreciate quickly or get vandalised.
Lerotholi said the commission, therefore, decided to rent out some of the houses to low earning civil servants such as cleaners, transport officers and others. They pay monthly rent of M100.
“As time went by, some officers working at the Parliament building also came and rented the houses. However, after some months, those officers seemed to have made a decision to stop paying the rent.
“When we asked them to pay the required rent, they went as far as lobbying some parliamentarians to take their side so that they do not pay the rent. I was therefore forced to write to the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Law and Safety to inform it about these civil servants who did not want to pay rent while they resisted attempts to get them to vacate the homes.
“Parliament is very much aware of the matter and I will be more than happy to explain what transpired regarding the houses. On the other hand, there was one refugee who I realised was not abiding by the rules of the houses. I was forced, due to his actions, to disable the tap situated outside his house because he was selling water to local residents,” Lerotholi said.
The Auditor General recommended to management to ensure that a proper record of the houses is kept so that they could be included in the government assets register. Where houses are rented, they should be properly maintained and there should be a clear contractual arrangement between the ministry and tenants.
