Looking back at major talking points in the education sector
Free education policy under scrutiny
Lesotho’s free primary education policy came under the spotlight amid mounting evidence that many under-privileged learners are forced to drop out after completing Grade Seven.
The free primary education policy which was introduced in the year 2 000 to offer education for all children. It was also meant to increase literacy among Lesotho’s young population.
It was however evident in these article that most children had an easy ride for most learners in Quthing to go through primary school due to the introduction of the policy, many learners find it hard to proceed to secondary schools due to disturbing lack of funding to cater for their school needs such as tuition fees, books and uniform.
A disservice to learning
The harsh and untenable conditions of learning in marginalised rural communities once again came under the spotlight with the recent revelation that pupils at Molatjeng Primary School at Semonkong some 114km south-east of the capital Maseru, are forced to flock in a derelict hut that serves as a classroom.
This after the construction of classrooms meant to accommodate learners in a conducive facility, was abandoned midway by a contractor in 2010.
The school has a total enrolment of a measly 53 pupils who take turns to use the makeshift classroom. It has only two teachers.
Poor children depend on school for food
The 254 students attending Ha-Ramokotjo Primary School at Korokoro are forced to learn under harsh conditions as there is a shortage of food at the school.
Most of the learners leave home to attend classes on empty stomachs as their parents are unemployed and can hardly fend for their children.
Students endure cold baths after bungled procurement
The students accommodated at the hostel of Nthamaha Combined High School at Ketane, in the Mohale’s Hoek district are forced to bathe in cold water due to a non-functional solar energy equipment which is part of substandard maintenance work.
The solar energy facility was installed at the school for the purpose of heating water used by students accommodated at the hostel.
Big solar panels can be seen on the roof top of the kitchen/dining hall but are not useful as the battery does not provide any power.
School high on drugs
Lekokoaneng LECSA High School is one of the schools in the Berea district which for many years has faced the challenge of substance abuse among learners.
Although Lesotho does not have clear data on substance abuse in schools, the ministry of education and training admits that the situation is deplorably rife in these education facilities and needs to be addressed with urgency.
Illegal mining
Illegal miners’ families plead for help
Families of the illegal miners (Zama-Zama) whose bodies were found in two different places in Orkney, South Africa in June pleaded for help in the repatriation of the bodies to Lesotho.
South African Police Service found 20 bodies, 11 of which were identified as Basotho illegal miners, outside an old and disused mine shaft ventilation in Lawrence Park, Orkney while14 more decomposed bodies were found along Ariston Road near a railway line in Orkney.
‘Govt to assist illegal miners’
At least 371 Basotho illegal miners who came to the surface voluntarily were set to return home. The miners were illegally working at a closed shaft at the Vaal Reefs, South Africa.
According to reports, it was believed more Basotho diggers are still working at the shaft which was closed some years ago.
Harmony decries illicit mining
Harmony Gold mine in Welkom, South Africa, says it is ‘deeply perturbed’ by illegal mining practices which it claims negatively affect the social fabric of the mining communities.
According to the mine, some of its employees are alleged to dip their hands into allowing illegal miners to access mine shafts. It claims that some of its workers supply food and other items to the illegal diggers.
On September 2019 the LHDA awarded the northern access road (NAR) rehabilitation contract to the HSP Joint Venture.
The tender, which is the fourth Phase II road construction contract, is estimated to be worth M284million.
Human trafficking
Last year, the government of Lesotho – according to the United States 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report (Lesotho) – did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Lesotho was therefore downgraded to Tier 3 on countries that are unable to fight trafficking in person. Lesotho was eventually upgraded to Tier 2 watch list in July this year.
The report shows that the government made key achievements during the reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity and even though the country does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
Lesotho looking to end trafficking
Lesotho is crossing its fingers that it will be upgraded to Tier One on the watch list soon after showing signs of rooting out human trafficking through its ministry of home affairs.
It was just in July when the country was upgraded to Tier Two in the 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report for taking concrete measures to eliminate trafficking even though the country did not meet the minimum standard to that status.
But the ministry leading the exercise of eliminating human trafficking is optimistic the kingdom will be further upgraded to the higher level in a very short period of time.
Cannabis industry
Cannabis firm cheating us – villagers
The community of Ha Letsoela in Berea was up in arms, with field owners demanding that Highlands Pure, a cannabis company operating in the area, to increase the fields rental fees from M200 monthly to M5 000 per hectare of land.
The people in this village are in a 60-year contract with Highlands Pure to allow the company to grow cannabis, and the contract set to be reviewed in every 10 years.
‘Rural development is the art of teaching the rural folks to live in the countryside without money,’ experts say
Rural community forgotten
The failure of respective Lesotho governments to provide basic services to communities that live in undeveloped remote rural parts of the country is being described as a gross violation of such communities’ constitutional right to life.
Ha Mokoboke is one of the villages in the rural setting of Lesotho in the Maseru district which looks desolate due to lack of developments in the area.
The inhabitants there have never in their whole live tasted the experience of having access to clinics and hospitals, water and sanitation, road developments into and out of the village, electricity and many other developments.
Kabi takes a dig at LHDA
The communities of Ha Koporale and Ha Tšiu in the Thaba-Tseka district are crying foul over Lesotho Highlands Development Authority’s (LHDA) failure to compensate them for loss of property especially on land.
The communities were relocated to new settlements when the multi-billion Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) was implemented to transfer highlands water to the South African Province of Gauteng through a network of tunnels.
But the residents in the affected areas are bitterly complaining that their lives are not getting any better since they were relocated when the Mohale Dam was built.
Ex-miners’ woes continue
Tshiamiso Trust has come under fire from various quarters for supposedly dragging its feet when facilitating the processing of claims by gold miners who suffered silicosis and tuberculosis while working in the South African mines.
theReporter this year spoke to Justice For Miner’s Executive Secretary Booi Mohapi who indicated that ex-miners and their dependants frequent his offices requesting the organisation to intervene in order to fast track the processing of claims for pay-out to beneficiaries.
Abused women’s shelter broke
A safe haven for abused women from all over the country based in Maseru is in dire need of financial assistance as reports suggest that women sometimes are sent back home before their disputes are resolved, just because the shelter is unable to provide for their needs.
The shelter was established in 2014 after reports on gender based violence increased significantly. It is meant to provide safety for nursing mothers, women, girls and boys under 12 years of age. They are accommodated there for safety.
The centre is solely run by the ministry of gender, youth sports and recreation and gets support in the form of donations from Lesotho’s development partners and non-governmental organisations.
‘Ghosts’ haunt public purse
Unlawful recipients of social grants should brace themselves for the full brunt of the law if government’s threat that it is devising means to clamp down on them and rid the scheme of pervasive systematic rot, is anything to go by.
Since its inception in the year 2004, some chiefs, officials of the finance ministry and some of the next of kin of the beneficiaries continue to unduly benefit from the social grants, resulting in the state losing millions in irregular payments.
Some of those linked to the scam, have already face the full might of the law
Mokhotlong grannies’ struggles
The plight of elderly people who are forced to take care of grandchildren continues to come under the spotlight after it emerged that numerous frail old women in Mokhotlong are looking after kids who are left behind by their parents.
The parents of the children are said to have migrated to the neighbouring South African provinces of Kwazulu Natal and the Eastern Cape in search of employment. This is compounded by the rampant poverty levels that have gripped the district. The grandmothers are then left to provide for their children including those who are HIV/AIDS positive, and have to bear the brunt of poverty experienced in many households.
Netcare’s exit from QMMH hailed as ‘a good riddance’
In March, the government’s announcement of its intention to sever all ties with Tšepong (Pty) Ltd which manages Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH), stakeholders have welcomed the move as a long overdue one which will go a long way to saving taxpayers’ money and restoring Basotho’s faith in the country’s health system.
In the publication’s next article in July ‘Tṧepong makes an exit’. The article showed that the Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) which was operated by Tṧepong will officially be operated by the government of Lesotho from Wednesday next week.
This was disclosed by QMMH public relations officer Thakane Mapeshoane in an interview with theReporter this year. She said the staff were informed by their boss that the hospital is now to be run by the government.
Child prostitution at Polihali
The past two years have seen a dramatic spike in prostitution in Mokhotlong where young girls, some underage, swell the Polihali construction site on a daily basis to engage in sometimes covert sex-for-money activities with older men.
This at some point even prompted the local councillor and the District Administrator to enlist the help of the police in searching the camps and retrieving underage girls who were believed to be selling sex to construction workers.
Govt leaves road unfinished
The ministry of local government and chieftainship has decided to abandon the Maputsoe Road Networks project which was only 80 metres from completion, following disagreements with some residents over compensation packages.
The M214million 16.3km long road upgrade project was undertaken by China Geo Construction in 2018 and is meant to relieve traffic from Sir Seretse Khama Road and to develop the ever-growing town of Maputsoe.
Oil exploration takes off
The imminent oil exploration at Mpshatla in the Mafika-Lisiu area bordering northern Butha-Buthe and Qwa-Qwa is set to reveal whether there is sufficient oil for drilling.
This after a new Lesotho-based company was given a thumps up to explore the area for possible oil deposits.
There is ample, documented and as-yet-undisputed evidence of the existence of crude oil deposits in Lesotho but, for reasons ranging from double-dealing foreign companies to lack of political will on the part of government, their presence has remained cloaked in secrecy for a better part of the last century, and this mineral has never been tapped.
M3.5 billion missing from govt accounts
The acting Auditor-General, Monica Besetsa, has revealed this week that M3.5-billion in government funds is missing from its bank accounts and the accountant general does not know how much money the government of Lesotho has in various banks both locally and internationally.
Besetsa said this is the outcome of the audit for the year ending March 31 2020. She said the financial statements showed that the government had 372 accounts totalling M5.311 billion while the consolidated statement of cash receipts and payments reflect that government had cash of M8.724 billion. These resulted into an unexplained difference of M3.474 billion.
Local farming knowledge still ‘useful’
Many Basotho who depend on subsistence farming continue to believe in the use of indigenous knowledge to adapt to climate change and optimize harvests.
theReporter this year spoke to a Quthing subsistence farmer who revealed how he has managed to consistently get good harvests despite the severe droughts and floods experienced in the past years.
The farmer, John Hlalekaya, is convinced that Basotho believe – perhaps too much – in western farming methods, in the process abandoning age old indigenous approaches.
Villagers, chief in unending conflict
The chief of Ha Ramatṧeliso in Thaba Tseka, a district 170km from Maseru, Likupa Letsie, is living in constant fear due to an intermittent flare up of incidents between himself and a highly volatile section of his subjects that is hell bent on criminal activities.
The 36-year old chief told theReporter that it is only a smaller portion of the community that obeys his lawful orders and instructions. He said these citizens approve of his lack of tolerance to the unbridled criminality in the community, because they themselves do not approve of the anarchy that that accompanies it.
