THE Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) is being pressured to hire some politically connected people when it is struggling to pay its mounting debts and other critical obligations. Investigations by thepost have revealed that the pressure on the LEC’s management is from the Principal Secretary of Energy, Tankiso Phapano, who allegedly wants the power company to hire some people close to him.
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One of those people is Makhetha Motšoari who Phapano allegedly wants to be employed as public relations manager. Motšoari was the LEC’s Public Relations Manager on a three-year contract that ended in September 2022.
Phapano is now allegedly pushing for his return in the same role. One of Motšoari’s political masters is said to be one of Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s advisers who also happens to have close relations with Phapano.
Sources said Phapano started leaning on Mohlomi Seitlheko, the LEC’s managing director, to accommodate Motšoari three months ago.
Seitlheko is however said to have been reluctant to parachute Motšoari into the company without following recruitment procedures. There were also budgetary constraints.
thepost can now reveal that after much back and forth, efforts are now underway to pave Motšoari’s way back into the LEC. The plan, according to several sources, is to go through the motions of advertising the job and then hire Motšoari after sham interviews.
“The plot is to manage the whole thing after the interviews. That way it looks like a genuine and transparent process yet it would still be rotten,” said a source.
The source said those pushing for Motšoari believe “it’s smarter to claim discretion after the interviews instead of a naked political appointment”.
The source said the LEC started making preparations for the “recruitment process” this week amid claims that the position has to be urgently filed because it is critical.
Several sources who spoke to thepost this week said Motšoari also had political backing when he was hired as public relations manager in September 2019.
“That time the pressure was coming from someone at the very top of the Alliance of Democrats (AD) who was very close to Motšoari,” the source said.
“It was a well-known fact that he was being aided by someone senior in the AD.
“He came for that interview when the job was already his.”
thepost can reveal that the LEC this week hired Tlhabeli “Capito” Mojapela, a former Basotho Action Party (BAP) youth league leader, on a six-month contract in the marketing department.
Phapano was allegedly behind that recruitment, according to several sources.
The source said what makes Mojapela’s hiring curious is that the LEC had stopped filling all temporary positions to keep the lid on costs.
There are also questions why Mojapela, who is vociferously pro-Phapano in his running battles with Energy Minister Professor Nqosa Mahao, is being hired to a position that doesn’t have a budget to carry out activities.
They have suspended marketing activities because there is no money but are hiring people to do those activities. It’s illogical.
Motšoari this week said he had no interest in going back to the LEC because he was happy working at a private company.
“It is not true that I have been offered a job at the LEC as the Public Relations Officer,” Motšoari said.
“I am working for a company and I am satisfied working there. I have no interest in returning to the Lesotho Electricity Company.”
Mojapela confirmed that he had been hired but said it had nothing to do with politics.
“Yes, I have indeed been offered a job as a temporary staff member,” Mojapela said.
“It is not true that I was given that job by anyone, I have undergone all the necessary processes taken when recruiting a temporary employee.”
“People should not mix my employment with politics.”
Staff Reporter
