A national disgrace
By Scrutator
|
I |
n her few years on this earth Scrutator has seen and heard things that have shocked her.
Some things have made her cry while others have induced laughter.
You know that laughter that comes from the belly.
Some have shaken her faith in human nature while others have reinforced her belief that human beings are generally good. Some things have angered her and others have pleased her.
Scrutator has mourned, moaned and marvelled.
But nothing could have prepared her for the shock she got this week when she heard news that Masupha Sole, that former Lesotho Highland Development Authority boss, had been rewarded with a plum job despite being a celebrated crook.
At first her curvaceous body went numb with pain then, after some time, she cried. And when she ran out of tears she had a very long laugh.
By the time she started writing this Scrutator’s eyes were welling again.
The appointment of Sole is probably the sloppiest decision this government has ever made since it stumbled into power 13 years ago.
For the first time someone has done things that Scrutator’s vocabulary cannot precisely capture.
For those not yet in the know, Sole is the man who made our little-known kingdom popular in the world.
Until Sole was caught for receiving bribes with astounding exuberance Lesotho was just another poor African country run down by its own leaders.
Then some time in the 1980s someone innovative decided that Lesotho has more water than it needed and came up with the idea to build dams to supply water to South Africa.
International companies, some of whose chief executives did not know Lesotho from a bar of soap, rushed to get the contracts on the water project.
The contracts ran into billions of maloti.
Sole entered the LHDA offices as it chief executive in November 1986 and he seemed to have quickly decided that he was going to partake in the looting.
Like someone suffering from kleptomania (a recurrent urge to steal without regard for need to profit) Sole went on the rampage receiving bribes like the world was about to run out of bribers.
His offshore accounts in Zurich and Geneva were always full to the brim with money flowing in from consultant companies that were paying homage to him, the kingmaker.
Before Sole’s zealots start alleging malice Scrutator would like to put it on record that all the things she is mentioning here were in a court judgment that is accessible on the internet.
By the time he was caught Sole had received nearly M5 million in bribes.
The court ruled that he was too dangerous to remain in society and jailed him for 15 years.
But Sole was no ordinary convict.
In the ninth year of his term, he was freed.
You would think that after such a disgraceful episode he would sink into oblivion and wallow in poverty.
But that is not Sole’s style.
He knows people that know people.
That is why he is now having the last laugh after being appointed as chief technical advisor to the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission (LHWC).
Remember the LHWC is the organisation that supervises the same projects he used to line his pockets through bribes.
|
S |
crutator is flabbergasted and disgusted by the whole affair. It’s now official: we are a country that rewards thieves and frowns upon honest men and women.
We are a country that has no regard for honesty.
While honest citizens of this country toil every day to feed their families the crooked ones are plundering this country’s meagre resources with impunity.
This is the only country in the world where honest people are considered “silly and pathetic”.
This is the only country in the world where it is considered unwise to be sincere.
Where else in this world would you have a man who was slapped with a total of 57 years in jail for fraud and bribery being appointed to a national project?
Have we run short of heroes that we have to revere a man who embarrassed this country by insisting on living on bribes for nearly a decade?
|
F |
or quite some time now Scrutator has watched in horror as this country lowers the moral standards to accommodate misfits and delinquents.
But on Sole I think we have taken it too far.
When Samuel Makhakhe, the principal secretary in the prime minister’s office, got off lightly after being convicted of corruption Scrutator thought we had seen the last of this tomfoolery.
Little did she know that more devious things were in the offing.
For how long shall we continue to reward corruption in this country?
For how long should we allow corrupt characters to operate with impunity?
Crooks are plundering the little that we have while we ululate.
By the time we come back to our senses this country will be worth nothing. It will be nothing but a shell.
There will be no treasury to talk about.
The corruption in this country is mindboggling.
The complacency of its people towards this scourge is saddening.
|
A |
fter much soul-searching, Scrutator has come to believe that perhaps it’s time we seek divine intervention. We must pray for this country before it degenerates into another ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’.
We are marching towards that status.
Our leaders have clearly shown they have neither the will nor the zeal to deal with this scourge.
Ache!
Comment by Lefefooane on 11 August 2011:
Scru, I agree with you on Sole. I am very very very dissapointed. This LCD government is such a bunch of confused and corrupt idiots. This clearly shows that LCD is not serious on corruption, in fact is clueless on how to govern. Ka molimo LCD e re isa ka lengopeng. E tjena taba ha ke eso e bone.
Comment by Batho on 11 August 2011:
“Ka molimo LCD e re isa ka lengopeng. E tjena taba ha ke eso e bone.”
Re se ntse re le ka lengopeng already.
Revolution must come, by the bullet, the ballot or by the gun, freedom must come in Lesotho. This is an embarassment to this country of Moshoeshoe I.
Comment by Batho on 11 August 2011:
“Now you kill I today,you cant kill I tomorrow, today for you… tomorrow your sorrow, Revolution for the poor, a change mus come
either by the bible, the ballot or by the gun,any which way, freedom mus come”
Muta Song !!!
Comment by Vocalist on 11 August 2011:
Scrutator wena haele hantle ha ona content,u r just an emotional overzealous some1 who writes before giving an issue a deep thought.i need not waste my energy and time by commenting on you mediocrity journalism.phew.sole haene ele ntatao ka ha ha ona hlooho u wud be singing praises to the government.
Comment by Mmanako on 11 August 2011:
Vocalist, just shut the hell up if you don’t know what to say. Solo ke ntatao?
Comment by Thabo on 11 August 2011:
@vocalist, who ever told you that scrutator is a work of journalism lied to you. a column is not journalism my dear. It is an opinion of the writer who is under no obligation to follw the ethics of journalism. You can pick anyone from the streets to become a columnist as long as they write well. Nxa. Where do we get illiterates like Vocalists who cannot tell the difference between a story and a column?
Vocalist you are an empty vessel indeed. we are in the 21st century and you dont know the difference between a column and a story.
Its sad.
Comment by Sugar on 11 August 2011:
Kea ipotsa hore nna ke mang ea molato hore ebe ho tjena ka hare ho naha eana ea lesotho.a ke le nthuseng hleng,ke mang ea molato.
Comment by boitu on 12 August 2011:
win Lesotho hee this time ma LCD a re bolaea
Comment by Selomo on 12 August 2011:
Ipuelelle Mor’a Masupha! Basali bana ba u roakile ho sa lekane kgilik!
Comment by Lobengula on 12 August 2011:
Ntja e ja mahe a likhoho. O e fasa ka lerapo o e isa motebong. Ha e khutla o e koalla ka serobeng sa likhoho tse behelang hore e li lebele. Hantle ho etsahalang Lesotho?
Comment by Masupha Sole on 12 August 2011:
Ruri ruri kea its’ehela. Ekaba le ntsekisa eng?
Comment by stebo on 12 August 2011:
ho thata Lesotho
Comment by Sebonoang on 13 August 2011:
Re tla busa ho fihlela le tloela. Ha e fofe!
Comment by Mokoma on 14 August 2011:
“At first her curvaceous body went numb with pain then, after some time, she cried.” Oa imaketa na ha o ngola ntho tse jee pampiring? aku tlohele ho itlontlolla scrutator. Hela! Thlohelang LCD e iqetele hleng besong.
Comment by kati on 14 August 2011:
Nna ke thabile hore ebe taba tsa babusi ba Lesotho ba shortsighted ba bileng ba ichebang mekhubu ea bona feela li etsahala ka bobolu mme li etsahala nakong eeo naha tse nahanang hore lia khora e bile li etelletse pele lefaatse li tsoereng mathata le li riot ka baka la puso ea batho ba ichebang bo bona at all costs le barui ba bang feela. ke se supo sa hore baikhohomosi ba linatla ba ea oa le bona. mmuso oa lcd ha o ithute letho ka bo bolu. Ba etsa ntho tse tsoileng taolong ka bo bolu and li tlo fahla bakhethi ha ba lokela ho khetha nonyana next year. Sole eena ke motsoaretse ebile aka fumana mosebetsi empa the corrupt nature of lcd must get out
Comment by Lenonyane on 15 August 2011:
Hona ke bomalimabe boo re tobaneng le bona. Ea re re bolella Mccd hore haldi o mo hula ka nko a hana a ikutloisa bohloko mona a re eena o khona ho etsa liqeto a le mong. Ha haldi a fihla a bua Sole ho eena a re oa mo hira Mccd o itseng? Na sole ke eena feela Lesotho moo ea tsenabg ka engeneering. Na ke `nete hore Sole o na qosoa ka nepo? Na ha se `nete hore sole o na e jao tjotjo le haldi?
Banna oee, he ekh’ona bontate, hantle Mccd o entse joang? Litima-mollo li hlile li bone hantle hore ache, Mccd ke Pm but haldi ke monga `muso. Hona ke tlontlollo eo re so e bone Lesotho mona.
Limkomkwin e qeta ho fana ka khau haufinyane, na e be e khotsofetse ho etsa fana ka khau ea Doctrate of Corruption? Nxa.
Comment by Monyane Moleleki on 15 August 2011:
Polihali e na le chelete e ngata hoo ha nka hloka motho ea kang Sole, ke tla tsoa ka noto. Ha ke na taba le lon ale ha le ka bua mehlolo. Ke mo hirile ke phetho ke tu. Ke ne ke tla fumana tjotjo joang kaha joale emtolong mca e ntimme monyetla oa ho hira mosotho ba beile letsoa ntle. Ke sito ho ja mca mono. LHDA teng ke tla ja ka sole le be le thole. Kke tletse chelete mona e seng papali. Hape ke ne ke thusa sole hore a mpe a fumane tse ileng tsa mo lahlehela.
Ke rata sole haholo kaha re sebetsa le eena nthong tse ngata, haholo mokotla, ke re chelete. Lona le buisoa le ho koatisoa ke ho se tsebe chelete. Ke sa ea mose ke tla le bona ha ke khutla, empa ha ho hlokahala ke tla bua le lona ke ntse ke le sefofaneng `na moshan’a machache.
Comment by 'Mankete on 8 September 2011:
ache banna! Ho thaata hle banna! Se!