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Land bill passed

11 Mar 2010

MASERU —  The controversial Land Bill 2009 yesterday moved closer to becoming law after parliament passed it with an overwhelming “yes vote”.
The Bill, described by some critics “as an attempt to sell land to foreigners” will now be passed to the senate next week.
The senate, according to MPs close to the issue, is likely to [...]

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‘Probe scandal’

6 Mar 2010

MASERU — Opposition parties want Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili to probe allegations that some of his ministers benefited from the block farming loan scheme.
The parties say they want Mosisili to investigate allegations that some of the ministers who were appointed as mentors for some farmers who benefited from the government-guaranteed loans from Standard Lesotho Bank [...]

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Farming scandal

24 Feb 2010

Block farmers fail to repay M74m loan
 
MASERU — More than 100 block farmers have not repaid the government-guaranteed loans they received from a local commercial bank over the past four years, the Lesotho Times can reveal.
Some of the farmers had defaulted in the repayment of their loans since as far back as 2006.
Each farming season [...]

Windfall for torture

18 Feb 2010

MASERU — The High Court on Monday awarded M110 010 in damages to a Maseru woman who was tortured by the police while in detention in 2004.
Justice Gabriel Mofolo ruled that the office of the commissioner of police and that of the attorney general should compensate Neo Masupha for unlawful detention, torture, shock, medical expenses [...]

Clash over gays

10 Feb 2010

MASERU — Delegates attending the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) annual general conference last Friday clashed over the association’s decision to help an organisation advocating for the rights of homosexuals.
Matters came to a head after the annual report which was tabled before the delegates revealed that the council had given technical assistance to Matrix [...]

About Lesotho Times

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Woman raped at gunpoint

MASERU – A 26-year-old man from Ha-Molungoa in Maseru appeared in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with rape.
Monyane Rasekoai pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court however heard that Rasekoai had first demanded food from his victim before allegedly raping her at gunpoint.
Sporting a bald head, a black tracksuit and cream white-collar shirt, [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Mosisili under fire

MASERU — Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili came under fierce attack on Friday for his government’s failure to implement a law that requires public officers to declare their assets.
The leader of the opposition Popular Front for Democracy (PFD), Lekhetho Rakuoane, asked Mosisili why the government had failed to force public office holders to declare their assets.
Speaking [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Expelled BNP official slams Lekhanya

MASERU — A former senior executive of the opposition Basotho National Party (BNP) has accused the party leader Metsing Lekhanya (pictured below) of turning the party’s disciplinary hearings into “something like military tribunals” meant to deal with internal opponents and dissenting voices.
Former BNP deputy secretary-general, Mothobi Moholi, who was expelled from the party in January [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 2 comments

Lesotho plans to set up small claims court

MASERU — The government in conjunction with the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is planning to set up a small claims court as part of its legal reform project.
Chief Justice Mahapela Lehohla told a media briefing that there are plans to set up a small claims court to deal specifically with light disputes.
But he did not [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Opposition MPs walk out again

MASERU — Opposition MPs walked out of parliament for the second time on Monday in protest against the tabling of the controversial Land Bill 2009.
The walk-out however triggered a fierce response by MPs from the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party and its political ally the National Independent Party (NIP).
The opposition lawmakers first walked [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 2 comments

Murder suspects claim torture while in police custody

MASERU — The High Court will on April 7 deliver judgment in a murder case which had become a trial-within-a-trial after suspects claimed they were tortured while in police custody.
Thabiso Letsie, 42, Toka Nkaka, 31, and Hlomelang Lebabo, now late, are being accused of murdering Utloang Moholisa sometime in August 2004.
The police found Moholisa’s body [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Church disowns bishop

MASERU — The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) says Reverend Daniel Rantle, the man who claims to be the head of the Methodist Church in Lesotho, is a renegade who was expelled from the church for misconduct in 2004.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday a representative of the MCSA which claims to have jurisdiction [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Inter-party talks set to resume tomorrow

MASERU — Political parties are scheduled to meet again tomorrow as the search for a solution to the country’s bitter electoral dispute continues, the Lesotho Times has learnt.
The parties met again yesterday at United Nations House in Maseru to discuss the way forward following recommendations for fresh talks to break the deadlock after the 2007 [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

Varsity needs overhaul

OUR sister paper, the Sunday Express, this week carried a shocking story about the mess at our premier learning institution, the National University of Lesotho (NUL).
In a candid interview with the Sunday Express, the chairman of the university’s council, Dr Molotsi Monyamane, painted a picture of an institution in terminal decline.
Monyamane said NUL was in [...]

11 Mar 2010 | 3 comments
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