Tlelai, who owns Victoria Hotel, Lakeside Hotel as well as other businesses in Lesotho and South Africa, was found guilty of disregarding a court order interdicting him from continuing to operate a quarry mine on Mokunutlung plateau in Korokoro village about 20km south-east of Maseru.

The order was issued in June 2009 but Tlelai continued mining until he was brought before the High Court on May 19 for contempt of court.

Mokunutlung plateau is between the villages of Mokunutlung and Hata-Butle.

The case against him was brought by Lehlola Mofoka, the chief of Mokunutlung, who told the court that Tlelai had continued operations at the plateau despite the interdict.

Mofoka has been in a fight with Hata-Butle chief Thaabe Letsie over the ownership of the Mokunutlung plateau on which Tlelai is operating a quarry mine.

The interdict ordered Tlelai to stop operations until the dispute between the two chiefs had been resolved.

Tlelai was convicted of contempt of court by Justice Maseforo Mahase on May 19 this year and has been waiting for sentencing.

She said Tlelai was “in flagrant contempt” of the court.

Yesterday Justice Mahase sentenced him to a month in prison.

“He is accordingly committed to prison for 30 days from today,” Justice Mahase said.

Tlelai, who was in the company of his wife, looked stunned after Justice Mahase delivered her handwritten judgment.

She said he would be in prison until he had proven that he has “satisfactorily” complied with the June 2009 order.

Tlelai sat silently in the public gallery of Court 9 waiting for the warrant of committal before he could be taken to Maseru Central Prison to start serving his time.

Later he turned to his wife and told her that if she wanted to tell him anything she must do so immediately because he was about to be taken in.

And when he left the court room for the loo Tlelai told his wife that she had to remain in the court because the police might suspect that he had run away.

As he emerged from the court a senior police officer trailed him to the loo.

In a desperate bid to save his client, lawyer Ts’abo Matooane tried to approach Justice Mahase in her chambers for a private discussion but the judge was in no mood for negotiations.

She refused to meet Matooane saying such a meeting would not be proper. About an hour later Tlelai was being checked in at the Maseru Central Prison.

The Lesotho Times understands that by last night Matooane was making frantic efforts to launch an appeal against the ruling.

He can either seek a review of the sentence or appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Tlelai opened a quarry mine without the approval of the Mohlakeng Community Council.

He was charged with contravention the Land Act.

The charges sprang from a dispute that Tlelai had with the community of Mokunutlung, a village falling under the jurisdiction of the Mohlakeng Community Council.

The community complained that it had never given Tlelai that piece of land.

The case has been in and out of the courts with each party refusing to back down.

In 2008 the community through their chiefs, Lehlola Mofoka and Ramatsoso Mofoka, won a High Court order interdicting Tlelai from continuing to operate his quarry in their area.

Tlelai lost the case after he failed to produce documents to prove that he had been allocated the land.

The Mohlakeng Community Council gave the land to a company called Mops Civil Construction.

But despite the order Tlelai continued mining the area.

The community then filed a civil suit demanding that Tlelai vacates the land immediately.

High Court Judge Maseforo Mahase ruled in the community’s favour.

Tlelai however still refused to give up the land arguing that it was allocated to him by the Qeme community.

Instead Tlelai launched a legal fight to remain on the land and continue his quarrying operations.

He sued the community council for allocating the quarry to Mops.

Irked by Tlelai’s action Chief Mofoka approached the court in February requesting that the businessman be charged with contempt of court.

In May the business was brought before the court to show cause why he should not be jailed for contempt of court.

His explanation did not satisfy Justice Mahase who proceeded to convict him but postponed the sentencing to September 1.

Yesterday, Tlelai met his comeuppance.

Lawyers’ Voice is a legal insurance company.

Clients pay monthly premiums so that they get legal assistance when they need it.

It operates like a medical aid scheme.

The company holds a traders’ licence from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Co-operatives and Marketing.

It is also registered with the law office as a private company.

But the law society says in order for the Lawyer’s Voice to operate an insurance business it should hold an insurance licence from the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL).

The Law Society of Lesotho’s president Zwelakhe Mda says the society is planning to sue the Lawyers’ Voice for operating an illegal insurance company.

“We have already warned the Lawyer’s Voice against operating an illegal insurance company but it seems they are still continuing with their business.

He said his society is concerned because the company is offering legal services.

“(The) Law Society is the regulating body for the legal profession. Therefore it follows that we (law society) should be concerned when anybody offers legal services unlawfully,” Mda said.

“Now we are concerned because the insurance business conducted here affects the legal profession which we regulate.

“We are now in the process of instituting legal proceedings against the Lawyer’s Voice,” Mda said.

He said the society has already inquired with the insurance companies’ regulating body (Central Bank of Lesotho) on whether the Lawyer’s Voice is licensed as an insurance company or not.

He said the inquiry revealed that the Lawyer’s Voice does not appear on the list of insurance companies registered with the central bank.

Mda said there is no doubt that the Lawyer’s Voice should be taken to task for operating an insurance company without a licence.

“We are aware that they registered their company in 2003 with the main objective of giving legal services.

“They are a legally recognised company.

“But they are engaged in an insurance business without authority.

“Our standpoint is that if you want to provide insurance services you should have authority,” Mda said.

But the Lawyer’s Voice, in a statement this week, denied that it is operating illegally.

In the statement the company said the law society’s attack is not in the public interest.

It says the attack is motivated by personal interest by some of the lawyers at the law society.

“It is our attitude that it is not true that the law society is acting in the public interest.

“It is our feeling that this is motivated by personal interest of some individuals, because, either we do not give them work, or we are offering affordable rates that make legal services accessible and workable,” the statement said.

The Lawyer’s Voice admits that it does not hold a license to operate an insurance company.

But “this does not mean that we are operating illegally.”

It says it has been pushing to register with the central bank but the bank has, on numerous occasions, said it (the bank) was not able to categorise their insurance business.

It further says the central bank has now allowed the company to apply and register as a short-term insurance company.

“Positively, having so consulted, the central bank through its governor (Moeketsi Senaoana) responded to our request through its letter dated 20th August 2010 and indicated as to what has to happen in order to register us as a short-term insurance company if we are still adamant to be so registered.”

The Lesotho Times saw a copy of the letter during the press conference yesterday.

“Our process of registering this way is quite ahead now that ultimately we have been given the green light by the central bank,” the statement said.

The Lawyer’s Voice insists that the law society has no right to sue them under the Legal Practitioners Act of 1983 because it (Lawyer’s Voice) does not operate as the legal practitioner’s chambers that offers legal services.

“Our company is separate and distinct from legal practitioner’s chambers hence why the law society cannot invoke the Legal Practitioners Act of 1983 on our company,” the statement said.

The Lawyer’s Voice further alleges that the law society’s attack against it is just an afterthought because the society did not complain about its business when the company began operating in Lesotho in 2003.

The Lawyer’s Voice has branches in South Africa.

“When we first arrived here in Lesotho we approached the offices of the law society headed by its present president (Mda) through our managing director (Attorney Gideon Phungula) where we informed the said office of who we are and how we operate.

“The law society never objected nor complained about our business,” the statement read.

The statement says the issue between the Lawyer’s Voice and the law society started last year when Phungula wanted a practising certificate from the law society to open his office.

He had applied for the practising certificate to open his own law firm shortly after he was admitted by the High Court as an attorney last year.

The law society could not give him a practising certificate to open the office because the society said he was aligning himself with the illegally operating company.

Members of the Maseru Passport Photos Association (MPPA) and another association named Television and Identity Document (TVID) photographers have been at loggerheads since the passport offices were relocated from Pitso Ground to the old Disaster Management Authority (DMA) offices in May.

The clash started when TVID photographers secured a room in the passport offices where they could take pictures of people who are applying for passports.

This happened despite the fact that the Maseru City Council (MCC) had barred some of the photographers and street vendors from the passport offices.

It also happened despite the passport services director Sello Mokoena’s announcement in May that no one would be allowed to enter the passport offices except for those who have gone to apply for their passports.

Also the passport services information officer, Hape Marumo, in June said no photographers were contracted to work in the premises of the passport office.

“The department has not contracted anybody to take photos for the passport applicants,” she said.

“The passport department director says that the group will be removed from the premises,” she said.

Yet the TVID photographers have remained stationed at the passport offices.

This has angered the MPPA members who are now demanding that they also be allowed to work in the premises.

The fight, MPPA members claim, started when the TVID photographers demanded that they pay M3 000 if they wanted to operate from their room at the passport offices.

They also alleged that the passport services director Sello Mokoena refused to speak to a delegation they had sent to ask him to intervene in the feud.

“We want those photographers to come out of the passport office building and work from the street like the rest of us.

“It is ridiculous as it is that people are left to run their private businesses within government offices.

“Now they are beginning to scare customers away from us. They tell people that our photographs are not of good quality,” said a member of the MPPA who asked to remain anonymous. 

They alleged that even though the government said it was relocating the offices in an effort to curb corruption there was still lots of bribery between the officers and the inside photographers.

“We know that they are still receiving bribes from the people who have come to apply for the passports.

“They share the money with the officers like they used to when the passport office was down at the Pitso Ground office.”

“We know for sure that they are still sharing the bribes. Even though we have differences some of the photographers have confessed to us that they were receiving money from people who wanted to get their passports quickly processed.”

The weekend youth league elections at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre clearly illustrated the factionalism rocking the ruling party.

From Saturday night delegates could be seen huddled in small groups, “plotting” how to wrest power from a rival faction.

On Sunday, time and again a faction would spontaneously burst into song every time results were announced.

The LCD has been at pains to play down divisions within the party.

In fact, the party denies the existence of rival camps arguing it is democracy at play.

But if ever one needed proof about this “suppressed” factionalism rocking the party, the weekend events were enough proof!

The tension, the animosity played out on the convention grounds.

And it was ugly.

The nomination list for candidates clearly showed the existence of two factions that have for long been suspected to be vying for control of the party.

On one hand is a faction understood to be led by party secretary-general and Communications Minister Mothetjoa Metsing.

Metsing is also the MP for Mahobong constituency in Leribe district.

The other faction is believed to be led by Natural Resources Minister Monyane Moleleki.

Both Metsing and Moleleki have in the past vociferously denied leading factions.

Party insiders however insist the two are indeed leading the factions. The songs sung at the conference captured this spirit of the times.

A group allegedly aligned to Moleleki broke into song laden with sarcastic lyrics.

The target of the attack was a rival faction believed to be headed by Metsing.

Although the youths did not mention Metsing by name it was clear the lyrics were targeted at the minister.

Also coming under a barrage of attack was former Taung constituency MP Mpho Malie.

Malie is the chairperson of the LCD elders’ committee, an elite and influential club of party veterans that acts as the party’s think-tank.

The former LCD chairman is also believed to be the godfather of the Metsing faction.

The songs were also targeted at Taung MP Kekeletso Rants’o. Rants’o is the secretary-general of the women’s league.

She is believed to be part of Metsing’s camp.

“Khalema Moetapele, ho tloha Mahobong ho ea tsoa Taung, batho ba ea re tsietsa,” (Our leader, please take action against these people, from Mahobong to Taung.

“They have become a serious problem,” they sang.

In another song, the youths sang: “Helele Bashanyana, lea li bona ketso tsa lona li hlahetse ponts’eng kajeno?

“Khale re le joetsa, malauoa! (Hey, Boys! How does it feel today?

“We told you that someday your clandestine activities would be revealed. How do you feel today?”

As the youth continued singing, senior party officials and several MPs rallied around them while some joined in the song and dance. 

The songs were sung every time it was confirmed that a candidate from a faction had won a seat in the committee.

This continued until results for all nine positions that were up for grabs were announced.

The election process began at 2am on Sunday morning.

The elections committee was chaired by National Independent Party (NIP) MP Lineo Molise who is also the home affairs assistant minister.

The election process was carried out in the auditorium where entrance was reserved only for conference delegates.

There were four polling stations each manned by 20 people “to ensure the smooth running of elections,” according to Molise.

 By 3pm on Sunday the election results had formed a clear pattern.

Candidates aligned to Moleleki were on the ascendancy.

The faction had clinched positions of president, vice-president, secretary-general and treasurer.

The conference which began on Friday was called to elect a new substantive youth league committee to replace the interim one elected last year.

At the centre of the fight were Mojakisane and Mochoboroane the former LCD youth league secretary-general, who were vying for the presidency.

Mojakisane is an employee at Mohlomi Mental Hospital and Mochoboroane is a Bachelor of Education student at the National University of Lesotho.

On Sunday, Mojakisane easily beat Mochoboroane when he garnered 924 votes against the latter’s 569 votes.

‘Matlotliso Lebajoa, who is an MP for the NIP, secured the vice-presidency when she beat Sechaba Monts’o by 902 to 583 votes.

Lebaka Bulane, a member of the disbanded committee, beat Ntsekiseng Mona to grab the secretary-general’s post.

He garnered 851 votes against the latter’s 588 votes.

Another member of the dissolved committee, Thuso Litjobo, also bounced back when he beat Rorisang Mokoena to claim the youth league’s chairmanship.

Litjobo won 810 votes against Mokoena’s 595.

When the full list of 13 members of the LCD youth committee was announced around 7pm on Sunday, the hall burst into song and dance.

LCD deputy leader Lesao Lehohla appeared unperturbed by the deafening whistling and ululations by delegates.

Lehohla was in attendance to officially confirm the new youth committee and officially close the conference.

The conference had been officially opened by party leader Pakalitha Mosisili on Saturday afternoon.

In his opening address, Mosisili acknowledged the factionalism rocking the party and appealed for unity within the party.

The prime minister said he was aware of the existence of party lists drawn along factional lines.

In his closing remarks on Sunday, Lehohla declared the new committee duly elected and expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the elections had been conducted.

“Now that the youth committee has been elected, it should be afforded the respect it deserves. Whatever differences there were should be cast aside because now we are one,” Lehohla said.

“I am so happy to declare today that we have a new youth committee. But you should note that this is only the beginning, tough times lie ahead of you.”

Lehohla warned the new committee to expect huge challenges over the next three years they will be in office.

“Between now and the time your term expires, there are going to be tumultuous storms especially when we approach general elections,” Lehohla said.

“It is through those storms that we will expect you to be the anchor that keeps the ship afloat as the youth of the ruling party. Do not for a second take for granted the responsibility you have.”

Lehohla appealed to LCD members to “nurture and care for the youth”.

“Let us trust them to see us through difficult times and for the stability of the LCD. Let us respect them while expecting them to respect themselves always,” Lehohla said.

Advocate Hopolang Nathane once represented ’Mamatlakala Maphisa in a case in which she was suing one Pule Cheko, Maputsoe Properties (Pty) Ltd and Total Lesotho (Pty) Ltd over a piece of land in Maputsoe.

The land is in Ha-Nyenye in Maputsoe town.

It was developed into a filling station and a business complex by the Maputsoe Properties (Pty) Ltd which had bought it from Cheko.

Maputsoe Properties leased the filling station to Total Lesotho.

But Maphisa challenged the sale arguing that Cheko did not have claim to the land because he had no title deeds.

In an earlier court battle the High Court had ruled that indeed Maphisa was the rightful owner of the land.

The judgment found that Cheko had a lease agreement while Maphisa had a title deed on the same site but this was an error made by the Commissioner of Lands.

Both Cheko and Maputsoe Properties have not disputed this judgment.

Maphisa then instructed Nathane to lodge a claim of M3.5 million against Cheko, Maputsoe Properties and Total Lesotho on grounds that the complex and the filling station were built on her land. 

But instead of taking the matter for trial Nathane negotiated an out of court settlement with Total Lesotho which, apparently, had volunteered to settle the matter to avoid a disruption to their business operations. 

Total Lesotho agreed to pay Maphisa M150 000 as compensation but she rejected the deal saying Nathane had negotiated the settlement without her permission.

Angered, Maphisa immediately ditched Nathane.

Now Nathane has turned against Maphisa and is going to give evidence against her when her lawsuit against Total Lesotho, Cheko and Maputsoe Properties goes to court.

He has since written an affidavit supporting Total Lesotho’s defence against Maphisa.

Total Lesotho will use his affidavit in its court battles against Maphisa.

It is unethical for a lawyer to testify against a former client in the same case they represented them.

This is because the relationship between a lawyer and a client is based on confidentiality and trust.

It is like admitting to a lawyer that you committed a crime and then the lawyer uses that confidential information to testify against you.

Haae Phoofolo, a prominent Maseru lawyer, described such behaviour as “unethical and unacceptable”.

“It is unethical because a lawyer knows all confidential information of a former client and is at a high risk of divulging such information to that other party,” Phoofolo said.

“It is wrong because lawyers take an oath of confidentiality. Such an act is called conflict of interest and it is unwelcome.”

In his affidavit Nathane insists that Maphisa had given him instructions to settle the matter with Total Lesotho out of court.

“I (insist) that in accepting the offer of settlement, I acted with the authority of the plaintiff (Maphisa),” he says.

“As I have explained, while Total Lesotho (Pty) Ltd is not a direct party to the action, it has a considerable commercial interest in the action being the holder of the three mortgage bonds over the property.

“Equally it made commercial sense for my then client, the plaintiff, to settle the matter with an entity which had the funds to do so whether or not it was a direct party to the litigation.

“I point out and respectfully submit that there is no reason why a third party cannot pay the claim of another litigant so as to settle the matter for its own commercial convenience regardless (of) whether or not it is a party to the litigation.”

Nathane declined to comment when approached.

“I am not going to comment because this matter is in the hands of the courts,” Nathane said last Friday.

“I will not comment even if the bulk of your story is on me as a person as long as it is related to the case that is being dealt with by the courts,” he said, adding: “It will be improper.”

Maphisa has since reported Nathane to the Law Society of Lesotho, a statutory body that regulates the professional conduct of lawyers.

Maphisa wants Nathane punished for allegedly settling with Total Lesotho without her consent.

The Law Society is yet to hear the case.

Health Minister Dr Mphu Ramatlapeng last week said the countrywide vaccination programme will be the continuation of the project which started earlier this year after a measles outbreak.

About 31 children died of measles after an outbreak in March.

A total of 1 168 suspected cases were reported in 10 districts across the country with 49 confirmed cases.

Maseru was the highest with nine deaths followed by Leribe with eight, Quthing seven, Thaba-Tseka three, Mafeteng two and Butha-Buthe and Berea with one death each.

Ramatlapeng said the plan is to get every child from the newborns to 15-year-olds immunised during the programme.

She said the ministry was worried that some parents had been reluctant to get their children vaccinated when the mass immunisation programme started last year.

 “It is disheartening that children died of measles when treatment is always available,” the minister said.

“We do not need any more of those unnecessary deaths. This is why we are going to intensify the campaign to make sure that it (vaccination) is available to every child,” Ramatlapeng said.

“We are going to use all means of transport to get to every place in the country. We will even walk if we have to,” she said.

“Every child’s good health is my responsibility. I plead with every parent to take their children to centres which will be announced before the campaign kicks off.”

The symptoms of the infection include skin rash, coughing, fever, a runny nose and red eyes.

Important facts on measles

Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.

In 2008, there were 164 000 measles deaths globally — nearly 450 deaths every day or 18 deaths every hour.

More than 95 percent of measles deaths occur in low-income countries with weak health infrastructures.

Measles vaccination resulted in a 78 percent drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2008 worldwide.

In 2008, about 83 percent of the world’s children received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services — up from 72 percent in 2000.

Measles is a highly contagious and serious disease caused by a virus from the paramyxovirus family.

The virus normally grows in the cells that line the back of the throat and lungs.

It is a highly contagious virus that is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.

The virus remains active and contagious in the air or on infected surfaces for up to two hours.

Measles can be transmitted by an infected person from four days prior to the onset of the rash to four days after the rash erupts.

Measles outbreaks can result in epidemics that cause many deaths, especially among young and malnourished children.

The most serious complications include blindness, encephalitis (an infection that causes brain swelling), severe diarrhoea and related dehydration, ear infections, or severe respiratory infections.

Source — WHO

We look back and rejoice that we had an opportunity to get together to honour women who have made a mark in economic, political, social, cultural, technological and other fields of endevour.

We were happy to retrace their struggle for social justice and their own empowerment.

We at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) have watched with appreciation as the celebratory mood unfolded among women in various sectors around the country.

We want to say bravo to all those who took part in these celebrations.

We want to congratulate our women heroines.

The year 2010 has been an important year for the struggle for the advancement of women.

One can look at the recent declaration by African heads of state of the African women’s decade (2010 — 2020).

We are also celebrating the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and its platform of action.

We are also marking the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

We are also marking the end of the decade of the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

This year has also been significant for women at NUL.

We had the pleasure to witness the appointment of two women academics to the post of professor.

We also saw the historic appointment of the first Mosotho woman professor.

Professor ‘Malillo Matšepo Machobane from the Department of African Languages bore the distinction of reaching the pinnacle of scholarship when she became the first local woman to be appointed full professor.

Together with Associate Professor ‘Manthoto Lephoto, who is also the director of the Institute of Extra Mural Studies, these two women have recently entered what have traditionally been male dominated ranks.

The two have therefore been our “celebrities of the year” at NUL.

Their appointment brings the number of Basotho women professors at NUL to five.

But we can never forget the pioneering role of the late Gwendolene Malahleha who became the first female associate professor back in 1993.

Soon thereafter we saw the promotion of Associate Professor ‘Makali Mokitimi and Associate Professor Franscinah ‘Matelu Moloi in 1997 and 2006 respectively.

We therefore have enough reasons to celebrate this year after we saw the number of women professors rising to five from the single professor that we had 17 years ago.

We want to honour this accomplishment by women.

The recent appointments indicate that it takes an average of between five and six years for women to experience such upward mobility and attain professorial rank at NUL.

This slow mobility is not peculiar to NUL.

Similar trends have been observed at other international institutions.

For Lesotho this is quite strange.

This is so because Lesotho has historically been characterised by a higher female to male ratio in the education sector.

Although NUL is an equal opportunity institution the quantitative situation that pertains shows the country is quite slow in appointing women to professional positions.

The country is lagging behind the 50 percent parity target set in the Sadc gender protocol and the AU protocol on women’s rights regarding the appointment of women into top decision-making positions.

A study carried out in the Netherlands concluded that in Dutch universities women experience blockages at all stages of their career.

The “glass ceiling” is thickest from assistant professor level (senior lecturer stage in the case of Lesotho) to associate professor.

Despite the fewer numbers of women professors the quality of women professors in Lesotho has been remarkable.

In these great women we see scholarship, power, leadership, vision, hard work, perseverance, confidence.

These attributes contributed to the appointment of Professor Machobane and Associate Professor Lephoto’s into the 11th University Council — the university’s highest decision-making body.

Together with Associate Professor Moloi they continue to lecture as well as provide a great deal of professional guidance and community service.

Since her retirement from NUL in 2003 Associate Professor Mokitimi continues to contribute immensely to the needs of society.

The success of these women shows that women do not just see through the glass ceiling but are breaking the glass ceiling.

In conclusion, I wish all women of Africa, in particular Basotho women, good lives that are peaceful, non-violent and free from poverty, inequalities, and HIV/Aids long after the celebration of Women’s Month.

Let us applaud Professors Mokitimi, Moloi, Machobane and Lephoto.

These women professors have set the pace.

We look forward to a future marked by greater achievements by women.

I also believe a NUL women’s movement is needed to empower and transform gender relations.

Such a movement can also play a positive role for young women at the onset of their careers.

NUL must also establish support structures for women and address the discriminatory attitudes against women.

It must ensure more support for female staff to develop their potential.

The recent appointments must bring about change.

They must influence the formulation of appropriate gender-related policies and programmes at NUL.

Matšeliso ‘M’a-Tlali Mapetla is a senior research fellow and co-ordinator of the Gender and Development Research Programme at the Institute of Southern African Studies at NUL.

The union has made a raft of allegations against the government.

Among some of these are that the government is planning to retrench civil servants.

The federation claims the government will specifically target teachers for the chop.

The teachers’ union also alleges that the government plans to freeze salaries for civil servants over the next three years.

The union claims that these austerity policies are being dictated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Finance Minister Timothy Thahane has dismissed these claims as untrue.

What these claims clearly show is a complete breakdown of trust between trade unions and the government.

There is an element of mistrust that could prove costly to both sides if not handled carefully.

Relations between the trade unions and their paymaster, the government, appear toxic.

This is not healthy for both sides.

Honest dialogue between the two sides should be the first step in helping clear the air and restore the element of trust.

If Lesotho fails to do so we could soon be heading towards the South African route post-World Cup.

What a tragedy that would be!

The strike action across our neighbour has caused untold suffering and anguish among the people.

It has also damaged the country’s brand painstakingly built over years in the run-up to the World Cup.

The strike, now in its third week, is said to be costing the South African economy one billion rand a day.

Such a scenario would have devastating consequences for little Lesotho.

But we have a nagging feeling that the trade union has still not exhausted all avenues for dialogue.

The union has given the government an ultimatum to address teachers’ problems by the end of September or face paralysing mass protests.

This could seriously jeopardise national examinations for the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate, the Junior Certificate and Standard 7 examinations that start next month.

In light of Thahane’s denial that there are no such drastic plans against civil servants the onus is upon the trade union leadership to provide proof to support their cause.

We have not yet seen any from the teachers’ union.

All we have heard this week are threats and more threats to shut down the country.

We think the trade union’s arguments advocating a full-blooded strike are premature.

Trade unions should turn to strike action only as a last resort.

We doubt this has been the case.

If teachers decide to go ahead with plans to down tools without exhausting all avenues for dialogue they risk alienating the public whose sympathy they need.

Besides, militancy alone cannot solve worker grievances.

It has its limits.

It is important that our trade unionists do not burn bridges and pursue dialogue in place of confrontation.

This in no way absolves the government of its responsibility to look after its own workers.

We are aware that the teaching profession has become a thankless job notorious for its poor pay.

Teachers are traditionally among the lowest paid civil servants.

As a result we have seen many teachers who would have otherwise remained in the classroom quitting their jobs in protest.

Their gripe is poor pay and atrocious working conditions.

The government must at least acknowledge the immense sacrifices made by teachers by paying them a decent wage.

An acknowledgement of this nature should not be seen as a cave-in.

Rather it is a mark of a responsive government that cares for its own people.

And how much is the membership fee per year?

Well, it’s only M500.

Those lawyers who you see at the courts carrying themselves in those long gowns are so poor that they can’t afford to pay M500 per year.

Most of them are a miserable lot.

I thought M500 was a bit hefty for a membership fee until I realised, after a little arithmetic of course, that the Law Society is only demanding that they pay M1.36 every day for the whole year.

That’s how wretched some of our lawyers are.

It’s sad that they can’t spare M1.36 a day to pay their membership fees.

A lawyer friend of mine tells me that the reason why most lawyers have been reduced to being vagabonds is because of the basic economic law of supply and demand.

You see, for the past three years NUL has been giving birth to law graduates like a pig does to piglets in its prime.

In a few years a swarm of lawyers, mostly incompetent ones, have invaded Lesotho.

But the market has not been giving birth to criminals at the same rate as NUL has been spewing out lawyers.

Because the market is shrinking competence has become a prerequisite for someone getting hired.

People now know the difference between a good lawyer and a pathetic one.

The incompetent ones will have to scramble for the crumbs that drop when the star lawyers are eating at the high table.

It’s such a sad sight to watch inept barristers jostle for morsels.

No wonder why one of them has gate-crashed into journalism.

Scrutator is told that for as little as a 5kg bag of maize-meal you can make a Maseru lawyer work his socks off.

For the price of three cups of hopose you can make a local advocate sweat gallons with work.

I hope you get the picture.

As part of her social responsibility programme Scrutator is now planning to hire only lawyers for any job she can think of.

She wants a head boy for her mother in Qacha’s Nek … a law degree is a requirement.

There will also be an opening for the position of a maid and a gardener at Scrutator’s home but applicants must have a law degree from NUL if they want to be considered.

Scrutator is only doing her part to assist hungry lawyers.

You too can play your part in this noble cause.

Remember a Lesotho lawyer’s time and knowledge gathered over five years of toiling at NUL only costs 5kgs of maize-meal per month.

By the way, Scrutator is also planning to hire a lawyer to sue all those men who look at her curvaceous behind with lust.

If you want to understand that a lawyer is cheap in Maseru you only need to look no further than the current dispute between Ishmael Monare and Moeketsi ‘Chaltin’ Tsatsanyane over that shell of a company called Lesotho Public Motor Transport Company (LPMTC).

Two grown and bearded men have hired lawyers to fight for LPMTC, a company whose monthly turnover is barely worth a few hundreds of maloti.

In their affidavits the men exude shocking pettiness and each week they are filling court applications like they are high on something more potent than matekoane.

“He had at one point in time insulted one Ganchi Javed our tenant fighting for having denied him the use of a toilet after he had left it splattered and unflushed,” says Tsatsanyane in one of his affidavits.

Phew!

Have our courts become so under-utilised that they are now required to adjudicate on people’s toilet manners?

And what does the matter at hand have to do with Monare’s toilet manners?

Unless, of course, Tsatsanyane’s gripe is that Monare scared other board members after he attended a board meeting without “wiping”.

But having said that, Scrutator would like to say she does not condone people who leave the toilet “splattered and unflushed”. 

Rumour has it that parliament might be having similar mishaps with its toilets but you didn’t hear that from Scrutator.

She will deny it with her life. 

Scrutator would like to congratulate Maseru businessman, Tumo Tlelai, on his first day in prison.

The hotelier was sentenced to 30 days “under lock and key” at Maseru Central prison for contempt of court.

Scrutator hears that after the judgment Tlelai’s lawyer tried to approach Justice Maseforo Mahase in her private chambers but the door was literally banged in his face.

Or was he shown the door before he could say “Your Honour”?

Good for him.

Scrutator would like to know from Tlelai, when he comes out, how the food in jail tasted.

How does it compare to the buffet at Victoria and Lakeside?

Mong’aka, do they have single or double rooms at Maseru Central Prison?

Do they offer presidential suites at that “hotel”?

Scrutator hopes those 30 days will be accompanied with hard labour for the businessman.

Apart from helping him reform, hard labour will make him understand how most of the workers in the hotel industry feel when they toil day and night for peanuts.

Speaking of peanuts, did anyone notice how the civil servants’ strike was getting dirtier last week across our border?

The verbal volleys were now being targeted at President Jacob Zuma.

I felt for the man from Mkandla.

“Give R700 to your two wives,” read one poster.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven was forced to make a groveling apology to Zuma over the personal attacks.

But the message had reached home.

The workers are not blind and they know why all the first ladies in that country tip the scale at 120kg or more.

It’s lijo li monate.