mahase and phoofolo did not constitute the jsc quorum to make a recommendation for the appointment of the judges. according to mahao, the time has come for the judiciary do away with the traditional way of appointing judges and jsc should be strengthened to include institutions such as the law society. mahao adds the appointment of substantive judges should be held in abeyance until a! er the implementation of the judicial reforms process. as the minister responsible for justice, he notes, he was never informed that the jsc would sit to select judges. the judiciary hit back at mahao, saying government has no business in the appointment of judges which they say is the sole responsibility of the jsc as stipulated in the constitution. “plaintiff had to endure great prejudice and suffering as the government failed to provide an enabling environment to enable the plaintiff to work while he employs a total of 11 employees and has seven dependents who depend on plaintiff for daily bread,” molati states in an affi davit. he further notes that despite failing to act in the scope of their duties, government offi cials were earning their respective salaries yet he (molati) suff ered damages amounting to three million maloti. government, through the minister of justice, is liable to pay him damages he incurred as a result of the offi cials’ failure to appoint commercial court judges where he would be able to represent clients. he says he had initially issued a statutory notice demanding payment from government but there was no response hence the decision to approach the court. for that, molati is asking the court to order that he be paid m3 million damages. the payment, he says, should be paid at 18.5 percent interest rate from the date of summons to the date of fi nal settlement. ’maseforo mahase, had on august 20 met with attorney general haae phoofolo in their capacities as members of the judicial service commission (jsc) and selected deputy attorney general tsebang putsoane, advocates mokhele matsau, moneuoa kopo, tšabo matoane and ’maliepollo makhetha as high court judges. t h e i r recommendations are yet to be assented to by king letsie iii, who has so far not appointed the candidates as judges. h o w e v e r , instead, law and justice m i n i s te r, p ro fe s s o r nq o s a mahao, has publicly opposed t h e a p p o i n t m e n t s s a y i n g advocate molati argues the the then acting chief justice, lipam withholds results over fees arrears kananelo boloetse maseru – lesotho institute of public administration and management (lipam) has refused to issue examination results to students whose fees are overdue, public eye has learnt. this has le! 320 debt-ridden students in a catch-22 situation as they can neither go back nor forward. the institute, which is wholly owned by the government, has only issued results to students whose fees accounts have been fully settled, according to the students representative council (src). “we h ave a p ro b l e m o f students who cannot access their results as they are unable to pay tuition fees. about 87 percent of the students have not received their results,” src president, tumane nyeoe, told public eye on tuesday this week. “initially, we were helped by the manpower (national manpower development secretariat) to pay for our education but when we changed civil servants started coming to school here in great numbers,” nyeoe said. he, however, indicated that things have changed now and civil servants were no longer going to lipam in great numbers. “students have been struggling to fund their studies since last academic year (2018/2019). i am saying this because the dropout rate was about 29 percent and our management seems unconcerned about this crisis,” he said. “some students have to supplement some modules to proceed to the following year, but how can they know which modules they have to supplement if they have not seen their results! that is why we even pleaded with the management to at least notify those that have to supplement,” he added. another student ’mabohlokoa nthabeleng moorosi, who is also member of the src, told public eye on monday that they were not sponsored by the government and have always had to fend for themselves, but emphasized that funding their studies this year was not so simple due to the coronavirus pandemic. the economic crisis wrought by covid-19 is unlike anything in the modern history of lesotho, africa and the rest of the world. the worst effects of the crisis are falling heavily and disproportionately on the most vulnerable people in the country, e s p e c i a l ly p e o p l e wh o a re unemployed, those in informal work followed by those living from paycheck-to-paycheck. people have had their salaries cut while some have lost jobs and are unable to pay rent and buy food. in the midst of this crisis, paying tuition fees is the last thing a family worries about. in light of this ongoing global emergency, some countries made immediate changes to their fees and fi nes policies to ensure fees and fines are not a barrier to people’s basic needs throughout this emergency and to promote the resilience of their communities. “i make part of the lipam src and earlier this year we approached the ministry of public service requesting some assistance with regards to our tuition fees. “however, we were sent back to the school to request them to present the proposal to the ministry - not sure why and frankly they (lipam management) did not bother,” she said. she added: “now the final results are out with a staggering 85 pending due to non-payment of tuition fees”. the institute’s registrar thuto lebina and director academic aff airs, ’mamolise phakisi, told public eye this week they were not in a position to speak to the media on behalf of the school and referred this reporter to the institute’s director general, koena tlalajoe. tlalajoe would not respond directly to the students’ allegation that their examination results were withheld. “the institute falls under the ministry of public service and only that ministry can respond to your questions,” she said. when contacted, ministry of public service’s principal se c re ta ry, t h a b o mo to ko, expressed surprise that the school referred media questions to the ministry and promised to call tlalajoe and instruct her to respond to this publication’s questions. motoko did not pick his phone when public eye called him again yesterday. m a ny h i g h s c h o o l s a n d universities deny students access to their examination results if they have not settled their fees. this, however, is considered unfair by some observers. in january 2019, chabana chabana, said the vice-like grip on graduate certifi cates by universities frustrated not only the graduates but also their entire families. in an op-ed titled: universities should not withhold certifi cates from impoverished graduates published by the daily maverick, chabana said the certifi cates, to black families, represented a break with generational poverty. “ t h e d o c u m e n ts a re a n inspiration to their siblings, hence they are hung on the walls in our homes as a reminder and motivation that hard work pays off . 2 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news govt slapped with m3 million suit relebohile tsoamotse his law fi rm. maseru - government is facing a m3 million lawsuit over its failure to fi ll vacant positions of judges in the commercial division of the high court of lesotho. the deaths of two and only commercial court judges earlier this year forced closure of the court, leaving cases unsolved and the backlog of cases in the court piling up. justices lebohang molete and lisebo chaka makhooane passed away between june and july, but replacements in their positions have not been made - four months later. prominent maseru lawyer, advocate letuka molati, is accusing government of failing to execute its constitutional mandate by ensuring that the commercial court is in operation. by failing to ensure the court’s operation, he argues, the government acted wrongfully and unlawfully yet at all times, there have been office bearers mandated to protect and uphold the constitution. “the lesotho government while having structures in place and offi ce bearers to protect and uphold the constitution acted wrongfully and unlawfully by failing to ensure that there are judges doing judicial work in the commercial division of the high court,” he argues. molati further says failure to ensure the court’s operation resulted in him suff ering “damages as he could not ply his trade by representing clients in the commercial court.” he tells the court in an affi davit that he could not mitigate his damages by practicing in the neighboring south africa where he is admitted as an advocate because government had not put in place mechanisms for covid-19 testing at a government operated health institutions at a reasonable cost to the public. the situation, he alleges, resulted in him f inancially suffering which has affected not only his family but the 11 employees he has hired through public eye we’ve got news for you p.o. box 14129, house no. 14a3 cnr princess margaret/mabile rds old europe, maseru- lesotho tel:+266 2232 1414 | fax:+266 22310614 | www.publiceyenews.com news tips tel:+266 2232 1414 fax:+266 2231 0614 e-mail: editor@publiceyenews.com advertising: +266 2232 1414 /+266 6202 1414 / 58871414 e-mail: marketing@publiceyenews.com subscriptions +266 2833 2121 help us get it right distribution distribution@plogistics.co.ls public eye newspapers: © all materials in this newspaper are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced without editorʼs consent whereupon the appropriate accreditation should be made. public eye is committed to reporting news that is accurate, free from bias, and truthful at all times. we do our best to research and cross-check our stories. but mistakes do happen. if, as the reader, you spot any mistakes, please point them out to us so that we can correct them.

4 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news govt shares blame for delays: nra reasons for his disqualification even though the nra act of 2019 states that the process of appointing nra staff shall be transparent. on wednesday tšoana said: “it should be noted that in terms of human resource principles and practice, a technical body contracted to assist the employer with technical expertise cannot replace or usurp powers of the principal.” a raf t of constitutional, legislative, security and civil service reforms that would prevent lesotho from sliding back to political instability and violence were recommended by the sadc-funded commission of inquiry that was established in 2015 to consider the core and contributing factors of the lingering political instability thoroughly. progress in implementing has, until recently, been scant and the united states of america in 2018 indicated that the future of us-lesotho relations and the future of the united states government-backed programmes in this country hinged on those reforms. t h e l e s o t h o n a t i o n a l reforms bill was passed by the country’s upper house, senate, in august last year, paving way for its royal assent to legitimize it. the passing of the bill was commended by the southern african development community (sadc) summit held in dar es salaam, tanzania on august 17, 2019. the heads of states and gove r n m e n t we l c o m e d t h e enactment of the legislation and called upon all stakeholders in lesotho to remain committed to the reforms process. in his address to the summit, t h e t h e n p r i m e m i n i s t e r motsoahae thabane, emphasized that the law would guarantee nra to carry on the reforms process in a transparent manner without interference by the government or any stakeholder. kananelo boloetse maseru – the national r e f o r m a u t h o r i t y (nra), established in 2019 to manage, coordinate, and lead the reforms process, has placed some of the blame for its slow progress squarely at the feet of the government, in a report released on wednesday. nra was inaugurated in february this year, but has since been plagued by criticisms that it is moving too slowly with a series of scathing attacks on the authority by high ranking government offi cials having made headlines in recent weeks. “the nra has projected to begin implementing the plenary ii decision of the reforms during the fi rst week of november, 2020. however, that is not the case as government failed to release the required resources,” read the report. presented to the media sector on wednesday, the report, compiled by nkoale oetsi tšoana, the media representative in the nra, was presented to the media sector on wednesday this week to illustrate the authority’s progress to date. the report presents a list of milestones the organization has achieved. these include the appointment of the chief executive offi cer and deputy chief executive officer, and appointment of committees “ r e s p o n s i b l e f o r d ra f t i n g contributions to the subordinate law (regulations) and also the rules of procedure, in line with the nra act and last batch of three ad hoc committees. the report also points to start-up issues, delays caused by the coronavirus lockdown that was announced by government in march “and lasted for almost two months”, and obstacles in establishing the nra secretariat. “the letter off ering advocate m a f i r o a n e m o t a n ya n e a n appointment was written to him on 28 september 2020, and he has accepted the appointment and is already functional in the office even though we still have a challenge of the non- determination of the secretariat structure which would facilitate the signing of his employment contract and taking of an oath of offi ce,” tšoana noted in the report. “the letter off ering mr tšiu kathibe appointment was written to him on 6 october 2020 and he has accepted it even though he still has a challenge of signing the contract like adv. motanyane because of the problems inherent t o t h e s e c re t a r i a t s a l a r y structure,” he added. he said what the appointment of motanyane and khathibe meant was that “now the road to the implementation of the national reforms is certain”. law minister prof nqosa mahao the chief executive offi cer and his deputy, he further said, are going to immediately embark on the process of the recruitment of the staff of nra. he, however, told public eye yesterday that the nra regulations were forwarded to the minister of law, professor nqosa mahao, in august for publication in an offi cial gazette as per the nra act, but have not yet been gazetted. “proposals by the nra, dealing with recruitment of authority staff members other than the chief executive offi cer were also forwarded to him for consideration but nothing has happened to date. “this means the reforms process is held back by government with its minister of law,” tšoana said. efforts to get a comment from mahao and his ministry’s principal secretary (ps), lebeko sello, were unsuccessful yesterday as the former was unreachable on his mobile phone while the latter’s phone rang unanswered. the appointment of the nra chief executive offi cer was challenged in court by lebohang thotanyana. a former minister of mining, thotanyana, was reportedly disqualifi ed by the nra selection panel before the interviews, despite being shortlisted by institute of development management (idm) – a professional consultancy fi rm that was contracted to spearhead the recruitment process. he argued he was not given any soldiers’ lawyers face time in jail relebohile tsoamotse maseru - lawyers representing some members of the lesotho defence force (ldf) detained at the maseru central correctional institution (mcci) could be jailed a! er failing to appear in court. high court justice charles hungwe has called on the lawyers to show cause why they cannot be committed to jail for failing to represent their clients when they appeared before court on monday. advocates karabo mohau kc, napo mafaesa and lintle tunke were absent when their clients appeared before justice hungwe on monday and none of the soldiers were in a position to explain the whereabouts of their lawyers to the court. monday had been set as the trial date but it could not go ahead because the lawyers did not show up which prompted judge hungwe to call on the lawyers to show cause why they cannot be jailed for their failure to appear in court. the judge said the defence lawyers failed to notify either the court, the registrar of the court and even the prosecution about their absence from court since such failure to notify the court amounts to contempt of court. “it is contempt of court if a lawyer does not show up at an appearance without notifying the court, registrar, or the crown,” he said. advocate mohau represents major pitso ramoepane, mafaesa represents corporal mohlalefi seitlheko, while tuke represents capatain litekany nyakane. t h e o f f i c e rs a re fa c i n g attempted murder and malicious damage to property charges in relation to the 2014 bombings that happened at the residence of former prime minister, thomas thabane’s wife, ’maesiah thabane and the then commissioner of police, khothatso ts’oana in moshoeshoe ii and ha-abia respectively. retired army boss, lieutanant general tlali kamoli and one seargent malefane heqoa, who both appeared with their lawyers, have been charged along with the three offi cers. the judge questioned the three accused about the unavailability of their legal representatives before inviting the lawyers to show cause why they cannot be jailed. before issuing the order, justice hungwe asked the suspects where their lawyers were, why they were not in court and whether they had been in communication to which all replied that they do not know where the lawyers are. justice hungwe advised them to inform the registrar of the court about the challenges they may have with their legal re p re s e n ta t i o n s o t h a t t h e registrar makes arrangements to ensure they are represented. “advocate mohau is ordered to show cause within 48 hours why he should not be committed to prison for a period of seven days for contempt of court arising from failure to appear in court to represent interests of accused number 2 (pitso ramoepane,” justice hungwe said. the same order was issued against mafaesa and tuke. the lawyers had not presented themselves at the lapse of the 48- hour period (wednesday) but only fi led affi davits to oppose judge hungwe’s move to jail them. judgment has been reserved to monday.

6 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news the late ramakatane cited in land dispute sekhonyana theko maseru – the late jessie ramakatane, the man who made headlines after he was accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt of april 2009, is at the centre of a land dispute. ramakatane, together with thabiso mahase and motlatsi r amantsoe were suspected of engineering military-style attacks on the homes of several government ministers during the 2007 post-election upheavals. ramakatane and mahase were also fingered as the suspected brains behind the 2009 state house attack and attempt to assassinate former prime minister pakalitha mosisili. m a h a s e , r a m a n t s o e , ramakatane and several others went into exile and were labeled persona non grata for their role in the alleged attacks. the row, presently in court, has seen ’masenei molibeli, a mosotho female acting in her capacity as the heir to the estate of the late letsopa jeroboam molibeli, fighting for her legal right to a site under lease number 30074-001 held in title by the late molibeli - per ministerial grant title dated july 29, 1986. the court application is necessitated by two disputes over the site, the fi rst being against the first respondent and the second dispute involving the second respondent. t h e f i r s t r e s p o n d e n t is ’mantsoaki monyamane, a mosotho female adult of phaphama in butha-buthe and the widow of heir of the late tšeliso monyamane, while the second respondent is glennold khauli ramakatane, a mosotho male adult who is the son of jessie ramakatane. the third respondent is the land allocating authority, botha-bothe urban area while the fourth respondent is the land administration authority, a statutory body established in terms of the land laws of lesotho. a lease to the site was also issued in favour of letsopa molibeli on december 4, 1986. according to court paper fi led by the applicant, ’masenei molibeli, in the first instance it appears that while the late letsopa molibeli was legal title holder over site number 30074- 001, this same site was reallocated to one tšeliso monyamane, who is now late, and succeeded by the first respondent and by the fourth respondent. this reallocation was eff ected per form c2 dated april 15, 1989, some three years a! er the site was registered in letsopa’s names and confirmed by a letter from the butha-buthe urban council as land allocating authority in the botha-bothe urban area. a lease was subsequently registered by the council in favour of tšeliso monyane on january 3, 1990. the applicant argues: “the reallocation by the 3rd respondent was wrongful and unlawful in that the said plot had already been allocated to the late letsopa jeroboam molibeli as a residential site at the time it was purported to be reallocated to the late tšeliso monyamane. the reallocation to tšeliso monyamane is, therefore, null and void and the lease emanating maseru bridge (file picture) lesotho, sa in bilateral talks ndumiso mlilo jo h a n n es bu rg - so u t h africa and lesotho will hold a joint bilateral commission of cooperation (jbcc) in maseru today to discuss matters of mutual interest, said south africa’s department of international relations and cooperation (dirco) yesterday. the south african delegation will be led by international relations and cooperation, dr naledi pandor. dirco spokesperson lunga ngqengelele said the ministers of defence and military veterans, police, deputy ministers of trade and industry, industry and competition, state security and cooperative governance and traditional aff airs will be part of the south african delegation. “the council of ministers is convening in maseru to consider the report of the senior offi cials meeting and to appraise progress made in the implementation of joint programmes which covers fi ve areas of co-operation namely; political and strategic cooperation, defence and security, good governance as well as economic and social areas of co- operation,” ngqengelele said. the jbcc is a structured mechanism through which the bilateral cooperative engagements between the two countries are cordially conducted. the meeting is expected to discuss matters aff ecting the two countries like cross border crimes, trade and bilateral relations. n g q e n g e l e s a i d : “ t h e council of ministers will sign a g re e d m i n u t e s t h a t w i l l contain decisions and endorsed implementable actions that will further strengthen bilateral co- operation and enhance the bond of friendship which exists between the people of the two countries.” lesotho and south africa share historical and cultural relations. from it similarly is rendered null and void.” she tells the court in the s e c o n d i n s t a n c e , j e s s i e ramakatane’s son and, glennold khauli ramakatane, is currently in possession and control of site number 30074-001. she continues: “the second respondent (glennold khauli ramakatane) alleges that he bought the site from the late letsopa jeroboam molibeli by deed of sale possession of the third respondent (butha-buthe council). the site, therefore, registered in the names of glennold by virtue of this deed of sale according to the third respondent.” evidence presented before court by the applicant indicates she is the niece of the late letsopa jeroboam molibeli, being the daughter of letsopa’s brother. both letsopa and the applicant’s father, mareka molibeli are senei molibeli’s children. senei molibeli had a sister called ’mapalo who got married into the family of ramakatane where jessie ramakatane, the father of the second respondent was born. when their father senei died, letsopa and his brother mareka who were children then were subsequently raised by their aunt ’mapalo and their father’s property was also left under the care of their aunt and the ramakatane’s. mareka molibeli predeceased his brother letsopa who was married and had children. “around 1987 until his death in 1993, however, letsopa had become gravely ill and was being taken care of by the second respondent’s father. during this time, the extended family of letsopa molibeli led by his cousin teboho molibeli had sought to take possession of his properties on the basis that are no male issue from neither letsopa’s family nor his father senei. letsopa then was the only remaining heir of senei and his illness suggested to teboho and his family that the position of heir to his estate was open and they pursued same. since the children of letsopa molibeli were under the care of the ramakatane’s, it was sought that the properties including the site in casu (in this case) be registered in the names of jessie ramakatane and glennold to protect them from teboho and his family so that the children of letsopa molibeli are able to benefi t therefrom when they grew older,” ’masenei molibeli claims. jessie ramakatane was always of the position that he transferred the site in dispute and another close to it being site no 30074- 006 in his and his son’s names in order to protect them from the access of the molibeli family in favour of the children and heirs of letsopa molibeli who were girls, according to the applicant. further, in his life time, jessie ramakatane talked about arranging for reversion of title to the benefi ciaries and the executrix of his estate has acknowledged the arrangement. jessie’s wife and mother to second respondent, upon his death duly returned site no 30074-006 to the heirs of jeroboam molibeli. the second respondent, on the other hand, refuses to return the site and is adamant that letsopa molibeli sold him the site in his lifetime, she adds. the position of glennold k h a u l i r a m a ka tsa n e, a s a respondent in the case, is severely untenable in that during the time of the alleged sale between himself and letsopa the latter had suff ered a stroke and was so sickly that the only word he could utter was “jerrrr”, according to the applicant. “he was, therefore, not in a state of mind to enter into a contact which would divest him of the title to his land. the deed of sale purported to have been signed thereat is therefore null and void and of no effect whatsoever.” ’masenei molibeli further contends that at the time letsopa allegedly sold and transferred the site in dispute to jessie ramakatane’s son “he was a minor of sixteen (16) years and could not legally hold title to land without assistance. it is doubtful if he even had the means at the time to purchase site.” d e s p i te, d e m a n d o f t h e return of site no 30074-001 to the rightful heirs, glennold khauli ramakatane refuses to do so. the court has been told that “mediation in the matter facilitated by 3rd respondent has also failed to yield a resolution in this dispute. wherefore, applicant prays for an order of court in the following terms: firstly, canceling lease no 30074- 01 registered in the names tšeliso monyamane or his successor in title, secondly, canceling and an endorsement on lease no 30074- 001 in favour of the glennold khauli ramakatane.” another remedy being sought is for the court to declare the purported sale between letsopa jeroboam and glennold khauli ramakatane as invalid and no force and effect; and again evicting the him from the site no 30074-001. the court is asked to order glennold khauli ramakatane to produce the fi le of the site to court on the date of hearing and ordering the respondents to pay costs of this application. lastly, granting the applicant such further and alternative relief as the court may deem fi t.

8 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news analysis news clause 10 evokes widespread condemnation relebohile tsoamotse maseru - while the constitution guarantees equality before the law, the 2018 agreement between political elites intended to shield their peers from prosecution ahead of talks to reform key n a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s h a s attracted widespread public condemnation. the second thomas thabane- led regime and the opposition c o b b l e d t o ge t h e r t h e l aw ostensibly to remove obstacles to the smooth organisation of the sadc-inspired national reforms geared at ending political instability. this move, however, drew howls of protests from civil society, academics and constitutional l a w y e r s w h o a c c u s e d t h e politicians of bending the law to suit parochial interests, while screwing ordinary citizens. according to clause 10 of the memorandum of understanding (mou) thrashed out by the politicians, lesotho congress for democracy (lcd) leader, mothetjoa metsing and “similarly placed persons with him” shall not be subject to prosecution d u r i n g o n g o i n g n a t i o n a l reforms. the agreement was also endorsed by the southern african development community (sadc) facilitation team to lesotho head, justice dikgang moseneke. moseneke said in march 2020: “no political leaders should be charged or prosecuted until the dialogue and reforms process in the kingdom of lesotho has been duly and fully completed.” this was despite the fact that clause 10 of the mou had been declared unconstitutional by the high court (sitting as the constitutional court) in november 2018. the clause was nullif ied for being inconsistent with the constitution. at the time of moseneke’s averments, there was parallel litigation challenging the validity of the mou on the back of metsing and mochoboroane’s legal troubles. moseneke confi rmed his move followed realisation that metsing and mochoboroane were facing treason charges. despite its nullif ication, politicians continuously used it as a bar against prosecution, arguing the government and its institutions were bound by the mou. clause 10 only refers to metsing and “similarly placed persons with him” but moseneke’s letter to thabane made it clear that the clause covered “politicians” in general. t h e “ s i m i l a r l y p l a c e d persons” are not explained in the mou. me ts i n g a n d move m e n t for economic change (mec) leader selibe mochoboroane recently argued that the mou is a sadc treaty and formed part of international law. but the court dismissed the argument on the basis that the mou had not been signed by any sadc offi cial. the applicants had been trying to convince the court to cancel its earlier judgment on the matter. metsing and mochoboroane had used the mou to sidestep the director of public prosecutions (dpp)’s decision to indict them on treason charges. they argued that government and its institutions are bound by the mou because of the commitment it made in 2018. the mou was signed when metsing was in self-imposed exile in neighbouring south africa. the mou was a sealed to facilitate metsing’s participation in the national leader’s forum, a precursor to the reforms. he was seen as a major player in the reforms. the directorate on corruption and economic off ences (dceo) had been investigating him for corruption at the time. the then dceo director g eneral, borotho matsoso, revealed in 2018 that corruption investigations against metsing were complete and that he would be formally charged upon his return to lesotho. the government at the time was also on the verge of applying for metsing’s extradition but this was abandoned after the mou was signed. the dceo still has not formally charged metsing of any crime although the dpp has since levelled treason charges against him. he has cited the mou as his defence. this time metsing was joined in the dock by mochoboroane. the pair was fi rst scheduled to appear in court in february but was not charged after invoking clause 10. they petitioned the concourt to cancel its earlier judgment on the matter saying they had not been aware of the initial application, additionally, they had not been cited despite having direct interest in the case. rescission, they argued, would assist them to prove that the mou was legal and was done in a good spirit adding that it is a binding document. they asked the court to allow them to be joined as parties and cancel its earlier judgment. concourt judges molef i makara, ’maseforo mahase and semapo peete (now retired) last thursday refused to overturn their earlier judgment but allowed the applicants to intervene as parties. the judges maintained their earlier stance that the clause is unconstitutional adding the mou had not yet been endorsed by parliament and as such was not enforceable. the court said it did not re c og n i s e c l a u s e 1 0 a s a n international treaty (sadc) as per the complainants’ request as it was not a sadc instrument. delivering judgment, justice makara explained that lesotho is a dualist state and that for international law to be executable or to create rights and obligations, it must fi rst be adopted through an act of parliament. “ un d e rsta n d ab ly, i f t h e mou was to be taken as sadc document, a sadc offi cial ought to have signed it and even if the mou qualifi ed as a treaty under international law, it would still need to be indigenized by an act of parliament,” he said. metsing and mochoboroane have now appealed against the judgment but in terms of the law, the clause 10, which is the crux of the mou, is contrary not only to section 19 of the constitution but section 18 (1) which articulates that no law shall make a provision that is discriminatory either to itself or by its eff ect. sub-section 2 of 18 states: “no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public offi ce or any public authority.” if the mou was made law through an act of parliament, clause 10 would insulate metsing and “similarly placed persons” with him from prosecution, while participating in the reforms. t h i s i s d e s p i te t h a t i t contravenes section 19 of the constitution which guarantees equality before the law. the act would guarantee metsing and similarly placed persons with him immunity from prosecution during the reforms, while the rest of the citizens continue to be prosecuted. the clause invited a lot of criticism when the mou was fi rst made public in 2018, resulting in a series of litigation about it. former army boss, lieutenant general maaparankoe mahao’s family and mokalekele khetheng’s family challenged the validity of the clause and argued that the clause was unconstitutional. a mafeteng businessman, tebello senatla also argued that the clause places politicians above the law and above other citizens. in his court application, senatla said he was similarly placed with metsing in that they both had cases to answer and should therefore receive the same treatment. the court in 2018 agreed with him that the clause was discriminatory and that it was unconstitutional. the court said: “in principle, the court cannot compromise the exercise of powers by the director of public prosecutions (dpp). the same applies to the arresting powers assigned to the police by law and those entrusted upon the directorate on corruption and economic off ences (dceo).” the court further outlined t h a t i t ca n o n ly i n te rve n e through a review against abuse of such powers or where there are unconstitutional acts. the judgment meant that the dceo was at liberty to formally charge metsing. senatla stood trial and was a fortnight ago convicted of fraud and money laundering. high court judge justice charles hungwe sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. meanwhile, metsing and mochoboroane are yet to have their day in court. economists, labour unions sound alarm to govt mathatisi sebusi maseru - economists and t ra d e u n i o n s h ave wa r n e d the government to act on the ultimatum by the united states of america or risk losing the largesse from that country. us has repeatedly urged l e s o t h o to a d d re ss p o l i c e brutality, gbv and trafficking in persons, failure which the country could direly lose economic opportunities. us ambassador rebecca gonzales is on record as having said if lesotho does not address the issues above, it could lose the second compact of the millennium corporate challenge (mcc) and even risk losing access to us markets that it currently enjoys through the african growth opportunity act (agoa). gonzales has passed laws restricting the us from assisting governments that do not act against traffi cking in persons. she revealed lesotho has until february 2021 to address t ra f f i c k i n g i n p e rs o n s a n d investigate allegations of offi cials’ involvement in human traffi cking. gonzales further expressed concern over lesotho’s eligibility to agoa, noting the country’s access could be threatened if it does not address the matter. however, she clarified that agoa is not necessarily a foreign assistance programme but the us may choose not to give trade access to a country whose government does not protect human rights. it is after these disclosures that the national clothing, textile and allied workers’ u n i o n ( n a c t w u ) , t h e independent democratic union of lesotho (idul), the united textile employees’ (unite) and economists have urged the government to address the ultimatum on agoa and mcc as both agreements have a direct impact on the country’s ailing economy. the trade unions note that the agreements signed and entered into by the government were part of attempts by us government to boost lesotho’s economy by securing jobs, addressing basic human needs and availing free trade that will see lesotho reclaiming its presence in the global market. they noted that due to the government’s failure to address human trafficking and police brutality, these rights and opportunities are under threat. general secretary of national clothing, textile and allied workers’ union (nactwu), sam mokhele, said they are also worried about incoherent policies in relation to workers’ rights. “we are worried about the labour code amendment dra! bill that has been put on hold since 2006, lack of urgency to gazette the minimum wage increments and the ineff ectiveness of the justice system,” he said. lesotho exports most of its products to usa and south africa through agoa enacted in 2000 and sacu respectively. a c c o r d i n g t o u n d p assessment report on the socio- economic impact of covid-19 on lesotho released in june, the manufacturing sector is the second largest formal employer, a! er the government with approximately 46 500 workers. the sector is reported to have contributed 14.2 percent to gdp and made up 16.4 percent of all formal jobs in 2019. c h a r t e re d ac c o u n t a n t , a n d c h a rte re d g ove r n a n c e professional robert likhang said human traffi cking, gender- based abuse (physical violence or emotional violence), and police or army brutality are unfortunate social ills which, his opinion, are under-reported. likhang noted these are o! en results of social and economic degradation. to page 10

10 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news analysis news why a lawyer’s duty to the court matters teboho khatebe molefi when last friday justice onkemetse tshosa, presiding over a case in which fi ve soldiers are charged with the murder of police sub- inspector mokheseng ramahloko, warned defense lawyers who failed to come to court when a matter is set down to commence he not only threatened those involved in this case but also reminded all lawyers that their duty to the court relates to their status as professionals who serve, not only clients, but also the public interest. history tells us that in the legal professional lawyers have always been distinguished from mere tradespersons by a public declaration – which today is demonstrated by the oath taken on admission to the bar. “to serve others and devote their intellect and eff orts to the public good.” justice tshosa voiced great concern over the continuous absenteeism of defence lawyers in court, a tendency he said hampered proceedings and forced regular postponements. the judge was unapologetic, saying: “a defense lawyer who is confident about his defense will always want the case to proceed. lawyers are guided by a code of conduct, one of which is professionalism.” this case was postponed to november 23 in order to allow the prosecution to join in two other accused following the fi nalisation of a constitutional case that could see prominent political leaders former deputy prime minister mothetjoa metsing and movement for economic change (mec), selibe mochoboroane joined. metsing is also the leader o f t h e o p p os i t i o n l e s o t h o congress for democracy (lcd) while mochoboroane is the current minister of development planning. the duo faces charges of treason in relation to august 30, 2014, putsch attempt and events that surround the murder of ramahloko. the high court of lesotho this week again saw justice charles hungwe threatening to jail defense lawyers for failure to show up in court to represent their clients – in a separate trial. advocates karabo mohau kc, napo mafaesa and lintle tunke were absent when their clients appeared before justice hungwe on monday and none of the accused was in a position to explain the whereabouts of the lawyers to the court. this prompted judge hungwe to call on the lawyers to “show cause why” they could not be hauled to jail for contempt their failure to appear in court; and without notifying either the court, the registrar of the court or even the prosecution about their absenteeism from court. “it is contempt of court if a lawyer does not show up at an appearance without notifying the court, registrar, or the crown,” he said. advocate mohau represents major pitso ramoepane, mafaesa represents corporal mohlalefi seitlheko while tuke represents captain litekanyo nyakane. the accused soldiers also include former lesotho defence force commander, lieutenant general tlali kamoli, along with lance corporals motloheloa ntsane and leutsoa motsieloa. in light of this worrying drift on the part of the legal practitioners, it is not difficult to agree that lawyers owe a duty to the court and defi ning those duties in a comprehensive way may not be a simple task. this diffi culty relates, at least in part, to the number of concepts that inform or are informed by a lawyer’s duty to the court. these concepts include: duties to the public interest, the profession’s independence, the limits of eager representation of a client and the consequences of failing to uphold a lawyer’s duty to the court. this was best described by ew roddenberry in his 1953 article ‘achieving professionalism’ in which he states: “it was probably inevitable that certain occupations requiring public avowals of faith or purpose should become known as professions”. originally, there were three: medicine, law, and theology. they were dignif ied by that title and set apart from other o c c u pa t i o n s b e c a u s e t h e y were more than a livelihood; they represented a calling to some higher satisfaction than a commercial gain. “ a l t h o u g h r i g o r o u s asceticism was seldom required doctors, lawyers and clergymen demonstrated enough selfl essness down through the years to gain general respect.” so, as roddenberry suggests, dedication to serving the public good is not a matter of blind self- sacrifi ce but a foundation upon which lawyers earn the confi dence of the community and, as a result, are able to play their essential role in the administration of justice. justice hungwe, therefore, struck at the very core of this ra m pa n t c o n d u c t by l e ga l practitioners when he ordered for a convincing explanation from the absconding lawyers, a n d t h rea te n e d t h e m w i t h imprisonment. “advocate mohau is ordered to show cause within forty- eight hours why he should not be committed to prison for a period of seven days for contempt of court arising from failure to appear in court to represent interests of accused 2 (pitso ramoepana),” justice hungwe said. the same order was issued against mafaesa and tuke. the lawyers had not presented themselves at the lapse of the 48- hour period (wednesday) but only fi led affi davits opposing hungwe’s move to jail them. judgment was reserved for monday. hungwe’s stance, in the interests of justice, is not merely an academic exercise. i t g o e s i n t o a b e t t e r understanding of a lawyer’s duty to the court, and having this understanding is meant to serve very practical ends - to help identify and address the confl icts between diff erent duties that may arise over the course of a career in law. this duty to the court should be considered very important to lawyers because there are consequences for lawyers who do not uphold it, as the high court judges are demonstrating presently. t h e re s h o u l d b e s eve re penalties attached to civil and criminal contempt. raising questions in the same vein should be the role of the law society’s rules and disciplinary processes in relation to this; whether there are adequate mechanisms for the enforcement of a lawyer’s duty to the court. t h a t s a i d , ke y i n t h i s profession is respect for the court, lawyers must respect the court. – preparedness and timeliness are a major aspect of consideration. being familiar with the facts and law applicable to one’s case and knowing their client’s position is, according to legal writers, the most fundamental display of respect for the court process. this duty to the court is, in effect, an overlapping duty of competence lawyers should have to the clients. adjournments of cases, such as the ones that have irked the high court of lesotho bench, can cause disruption to court sittings, and inconvenience the accused and witnesses. in essence, adjournments drain court resources. not appearing for court is a common failure of a lawyer’s duty to the court. i t i s n o t a n i n f re q u e n t occurrence when a lawyer does not appear before the court because the client has so instructed the lawyer. however, despite a client’s instructions, it is a lawyer’s duty to appear before the court if he or she is counsel of record. this respect comes in all forms judge hungwe economists, labour unions sound alarm to govt from page 8 “lesotho has compromised its moral values hence the upsurge in violence and deprivation of human rights from national level to the household level throughout the ages. it is time that both church and politicians come together to address these challenges. “it is also threatening that us has placed solving these issues as a precondition for continuation with support under mcc and agoa. “mcc has created many job opportunities for basotho and improved infrastructure, especially health facilities. this has happened at this time of growing health challenges particularly infl uenced, to a great degree, by relentless poverty, for which not enough attention is given to it, rather there is growing corruption and ineff ective use of national funds. “agoa has provided jobs over the years to around 45,000 basotho and these jobs have also increased investment in residential properties while injecting more money into the economy,” likhang said. he noted it is unfortunate the governments have never had a clear plan to replace the foreign- owned factories with basotho- owned enterprises, hence any decision by america could cripple the economy seriously. “however ‘all is not lost’, our government has to give priority to issues being raised, putting in policies and laws with serious penalties, and providing strong legal and financial support to national institutions in particular d c e o, po l i c e c o m p l a i n ts authority, director of public prosecutions, lmps, ldf, etc. “these institutions and o f f i c e s s h o u l d h ave t h e i r integrity protected from abuse of politicians, and appointments of their chief executives should be made by parliament. “in the likely event that work to satisfy the us is not given serious attention, we will be faced with serious social and economic consequences which include increased crime, prostitution, and poverty of proportions never experienced before,” he said. tlalane mabitle, representing lesotho exporters, observed that if lesotho is kicked out of agoa, the manufacturing industry will not be the only sector to suff er. she said if more people lose jobs, banks that prof it from the workers getting paid through their structures will lose business, lesotho revenue authority (lra) will lose tax revenue, the taxi industry would also lose business while street vendors that sell items to factory workers would also lose their livelihoods. “these are just a few of the companies and sectors that will be aff ected if lesotho gets kicked out of agoa. there are also suppliers to the factories and many others who immensely contribute to the country’s economy in that chain,” she said.

nobel prize winning wfp deploys new director th e u n wo r l d fo o d 12 public eye friday november 20, 2020 interview news p r o g r a m m e ( w f p ) h a s a n n o u n c e d t h e a p p o i n t m e n t o f au r o r e rusiga (wfp) as its new representative to lesotho. rusiga presented her letters of representation to the minister of foreign aff airs and international relations, ’matšepo molise- ramakoae, at qhobosheaneng on october 10. she joins un lesotho from burkina faso where she served as wfp deputy country director from 2016. over a career spanning 25 years with wfp, she has progressively served on a variety of assignments in zambia, senegal, malawi as well as her home country burundi and succeeds kenyan national mary njoroge who has completed her tour of duty. p u b l i c e y e r e p o r t e r mathatisi sebusi (pe) engaged the new director on several issues that include the organisation’s recent receipt of the 2020 nobel peace prize. pe: as the world’s largest h u m a n i t a r i a n o rg a n i s a t i o n addressing hunger and promoting fo o d s ec u r i t y , wh a t s p ec i f i c programmes do you have in lesotho? wfp: in lesotho, where wfp has been present since the late 1960’s, our programmes reflect the deep and cross-cutting nature of our work with the government and our lasting partnership. i n o u r c u r re n t c o u n t ry strategic plan 2019 to 2024, we have programmes where we: • provide cash and/or food transfers to populations aff ected by shocks. • support government in evidence-based planning, design, management and implementation of social protection programmes, including by handing over the home-grown school feeding programme. • strengthening the capacity of the government in early warning, food and nutrition security, monitoring and vulnerability assessment and analysis. • p r o v i d e c a p a c i t y strengthening to the government of lesotho and other actors in multi-sectoral coordination, planning, evidence-building and implementation of nutrition policies and programmes. • support the design and implementation of nutrition- sensitive assets to improve and diversify the livelihoods of vulnerable communities and households affected by climate change and land degradation. • provide technical support to smallholder farmers and other value chain actors, particularly w o m e n , i n c l i m a t e - s m a r t agriculture, food quality and safety, marketing of nutritious foods and fi nancial services. • provide expertise and services on supply chain and aurore rusiga, le! with minister of foreign aff airs and international relations, ’matšepo molise-ramakoae cash-based transfers on behalf of government and partners. pe: in 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the un’s sustainable development goals and the wfp is its primary instrument for realising this goal, but there has been a general perception in recent years that the situation has taken a negative turn. does the organization hold a similar view? wfp: in today’s world where we produce more food than the global population needs, there should not be any reason for any child to go to bed hungry. and yet the reality is that hunger is aff ecting more people today than yesterday. despite real gains in defeating hunger over recent decades, food insecurity is rising in an alarming number of countries. it is estimated that there are some 690 million hungry people in the world. to d ay, w i t h c ov i d -1 9, we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe with millions of people, including women and children, being pushed to the brink of starvation and many households being newly overtaken by the food poverty line. pe: in 2019, the wfp provided assistance to nearly 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger, how was lesotho a! ected? w f p : t h e c o u n t r y experienced a late onset of rains, coupled with high temperatures and resultant late planting. as a result of planting late most crops did not reach maturity stage before frost set in. in the highlands planting was done on time but prolonged dry spells resulted in poor germination and crop conditions. crops were further affected by hailstorms and pests. c ro p e s t i m a te s s h owe d a declining trend over two consecutive years (2018, 2019). production of maize declined by 70 percent compared to 2018, which already had a 36 percent decline compared to 2017, sorghum production declined by almost 98 percent, while wheat production increased by 18 percent compared to 2018. a significant drop in crop production in two successive years resulted in low or no household food stocks, as a result of the lean season starting earlier than usual. l i ve l i h o o d a n d i n c o m e sources, especially for households which depended mainly on agricultural labour activities, were reduced. prices of staple food remained higher than the 2018 levels in some areas (12-16 percent). reduced income sources, coupled with high staple prices, le! many households with less purchasing power. around 30 percent of the population (over 430 000 people) remained food insecure. pe: reports further indicate that in 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years. what were the major contributing factors for the surge? wfp: confl ict. confl ict is the single biggest driver of hunger in the world today. then there is extreme weather. climate change is another leading cause of global hunger, causing m o re f re q u e n t a n d i n te n s e extreme weather events. over 80 percent of the world’s hungry people live in disaster- prone countries. lesotho is among those countries that are very vulnerable to impact of climate change. women and hunger: in nearly two-thirds of countries around the world, women are more likely than men to suff er from hunger and malnourishment. that’s because in many cases women eat last and least. food waste: also, nearly one-third of all the food produced globally each year is lost or wasted. if we could recover all the food we waste, we could feed every hungry person on the planet twice over. today, the world’s hungriest people are facing the coronavirus pandemic on top of all this. ending hunger is the greatest challenge of our time, but together it’s solvable. ending hunger isn’t about supply. the world produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet. the problem is access and availability, both of which are disrupted by things like extreme weather, food waste, one’s gender and – worst of all – confl ict. pe: the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world. can you give global, continental as well as regional statistics? wfp: a toxic combination of conflict, climate change and covid-19, threatens to push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. famine remains a terrifying possibility in up to three dozen countries. fortunately, since wfp started sounding the alarm around a hunger pandemic back in april, the world really listened. donors and leaders all over the world responded and acted. countries, both large and small, took extraordinary measures to save the lives of their citizens and support their economies, spending us$17 trillion (about m260 361 800 000 000) on fi scal stimulus and central bank support. the imf and the g20 nations threw a lifeline to the poorest nations by suspending debt repayments. that made a huge impact. donors stepped up with advanced funding so we could pre-position food and move cargo earlier, while supporting with additional life-saving d o l l a rs . w i t h o u r d o n o rs ’ help, the global humanitarian community launched a huge and unprecedented global fi ght-back against the coronavirus. along with our partners, wfp is going all-out to reach as many as 138 million people this year – the biggest scale-up in our history. already, in the fi rst six months of 2020, we’ve reached 85 million people. wfp is doing what we do best - adapting and innovating to meet the unique demands of the pandemic by launching new food and cash programmes to support the hungry in urban areas. this also entails supporting over 50 governments to scale up their safety nets and social protection programmes for the most vulnerable and getting nutritious food to millions of school children shut out of the classroom during lockdown. every day, we are succeeding in keeping people alive and avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe. but we’re not out of the woods. this fi ght is far, far, far from over – the 270 million people marching toward the brink of starvation need our help today more than ever. pe: in the face of the pandemic, lesotho in particular, would you say the wfp has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its e! orts? wfp: wfp has initiated urban and rural response interventions in order to save lives and reduce the compounded impact of the drought and covid-19. urban response started in august 2020 and will end in january 2021. it is targeting 8 500 food insecure households in the urban councils of qacha, quthing, mohale’s hoek, mafeteng and maseru. the targeted households are provided with cash through vodacom’s m-pesa platform to the value of m831 per month. the rural response is targeting 6 300 households in the rural community councils of mokhotlong and thaba-tseka from october 2020 to march 2021. the targeted households are provided with a commodity voucher valued at 811.000 per household. the vouchers are redeemed at wfp contracted retailers within the councils. wfp has intensified resource mobilization eff orts to reach more people that have been aff ected. between january and june 2020 wfp assisted 18 000 drought aff ected people through commodity vouchers in qacha’s nek. each household received a commodity voucher worth m755 per month. the support which was initially meant to address drought became very useful when the situation

public eye workplace november 20, 2020 & (cid:32) top jobs for top people (cid:32) positions wanted and positions vacant (cid:32) notices and tenders (cid:32) studies and courses careers tel: +266 2232 1414 cell: +266 5811 1414 email: workplace@publiceyenews.com or marketing@publiceyenews.com lec donates to quthing communities thabiso ntaote quthing the – electricity lesotho company (lec), in partnership with the government of lesotho and councilors, donated food parcels to 200 households in 14 villages here on thursday last week. this was part of e!orts to find ways of alleviating su!ering in the fight against covid-19, which has taken its toll on the lives of basotho, accelerating poverty not only among the elderly but also among the youth. for many villagers, it was blessing but some will have to wait for their turn to benefit from these grocery vouchers which include wheat flour, maize meal, cooking oil, beans as well as both sunlight powder and solid soap. social distancing was strictly observed during the distribution of the hampers in line with world health organization regulations. public relations manager for lec, mr makhetha mots’oari, said after requesting the prime minister’s office, to come and donate since covid-19 hit even the big companies in the country, the electricity company decided to visit quthing. “lec recently visited and donated to itjareng school for vulnerable children, beautiful gate and help lesotho in hlotse. we are trying to make sure we take care of our customers and we plead with the quthing community to look after lec property and welcome our e!orts in fighting poverty in this country,” mr mots’oari said. according to the quthing councilor, there is still a long way to go in fighting poverty in the country, especially after being disappointed to see youths being part of the problem instead of being a solution to go out there and work. the councilor said there are agricultural fields close to rivers that could be used smartly to produce food for the community in addition to projects such as raising poultry. in minister the prime minister’s office, mr seepa pitso handed over the food parcels continues to page 2 kingdom of lesotho ministry of health expression of interest ministry of public works acting on-behalf of ministry of health hereby invites locally registered consulting firms/companies to submit expression of interest for: the design of mass concrete mixes, construction and supervision of proposed new radiotherapy- lepereng maseru for ministry of health as follows: interested companies must: • have worked on mega projects such as dams, bridges, silos, bunkers etc where mass concrete was used • have been involved in mass concrete works over a period of at-least thirty-five years • assemble both highly qualified and experienced key staff who have worked on mass concrete projects • be a registered member of an accreditation authority • express desire to provide training to construction supervising team. a preference margin shall be granted in accordance with the lesotho procurement regula- tion 2007 nb: your are advised to note that consulting firms to lesotho government, are expected to be in compliance with their tax obligations. consultant must attach to their bids, valid copies of income tax and vat clearances, certified at the source. fees bid amounts must be inclusive of 15% v.a.t. terms of reference terms of reference and related documents for respective consulting services will be made available for collection to only those who have obtained a minimum score of 80/100. site visit the site visit will be conducted upon request. you are required to make arrangements with mr m. thatho at the following details: cell no: +266 5708582 date and time for submissions the submission of 1 original and 2 additional copies of the proposal bids in the sealed envelope marked expression of interest bids for the proposed newradiotherapy facility- lepereng; maseru, lesotho must be deposited in the tender box 1st floor ministry of public works, cnr. lepoqo and senate roads, opposite browns cash and carry on wednesday the 18th november, 2020 on or before 12:00hrs for public opening at 12:30 hrs the same day. evaluation criteria the number of points to be given under each of the evaluation criteria are: points specific experience of the consultants related to the assignment 30 company’s profile 30 qualifications and competence of the key staff for the assignment 40 team leader /concrete technologist (pr) 20 concrete technologist 15 technician 5 total points: 100 the government of lesotho reserves the right to accept or reject any or all tenders/bids. for any further inquiries please contact: director building design services ministry of public works and transport,, p. o. box 330, moshoeshoe road maseru 100 lesotho. telephone number: +266 22311362, fax number: +266 22323596 ______________ principal secretary government of lesotho – ministry of public works

workplace& careers public eye friday november 20, 2020 3 lesotho freight and bus services coporation request for expression of interest tender number - lfbsc roi no: 1 / 2020 lesotho freight and bus service cooperation (lfbsc) invites interested locally registered bus operators, companies and or associations to express their interest in partnering with the cooperation to provide transport services in the routes it operates in. evaluation and selection criteria description pdf pro photoshop network monitoring tool the evaluation of the rois shall be done by a panel selected from the lfbsc management and the microsoft power bi pro ministry of transport. this panel will consider the following points in evaluating the rois: • experience in the industry by number of years • the proposed approach to route operation • funding • sharing ratio bidders must meet the regulatory and tax regime requirements of the lesotho government. detailed requirements for this tender that indicates how bidders must respond and submit their bids can be collected at no cost from lesotho freight and bus services cooperation offi ces situated at old windows 10 operating system backup tape drive request for proposals supply of ict software and peripherals the road fund wishes to enhance its ict services to all stakeholders. to achieve this, the fund requests proposal from suitably qualifi ed companies with the capacity to supply and deliver the tools listed in the table below: quantity specifi cation 1 1 1 3 acrobat pro dc photoshop solarwinds network performance monitor sl100 (up to 100 elements) - annual maintenance renewal hp • prodesk 400 g5 desktop mini pc (6ge68av) • intel® core™ i7-9700t processor (2.0ghz, up to 4.3ghz w/boost, 12mb cache, 2666mhz, 8 core, 35w) + intel® uhd graphics 630 • windows 10 professional • 8gb (2x4gb) ddr4-2666 sodimm memory • 35w sata drive bracket • 512 gb m.2 pcie nvme ssd • intel® dual band wireless-ac 9560 802.11ac (2x2) and bluetooth® m.2 pcie®, non-vpro™ • hp hdmi port • 24 inch monitor with hdmi port hp displayport cable windows 10 professional volume licensing exabyte vxa-320 package loader 1x10 1u autoloader 10 x 5tb tapes and tape cleaner mots’oene road, industrial area ,private bag z111, maseru 100. for further information please contact mr. moea, m. at +266 63622560 or on the following email address. raymondmoea@gmail.com the deadline for submission of expression of interests to the address above is friday the 11th december 2020 at 12:00. opening shall be done the same day at 12: 15 in the presence of bidders who chose to attend. bidders are expected to adhere to the following requirements: 1. bidders should be compliant with their tax obligations, hence a valid company/ tax clearance certifi ed at source must be submitted; 2. a copy of a valid trader’s licence, which is certifi ed at source must be submitted; 3. they should indicate delivery period from time of receiving the offi cial order. sealed bids clearly marked “tender for supply of ict software and peripherals” bearing no identifi cation of the bidding company should be deposited in the tender box located at the reception area of the road fund offi ces on or before 27th november 2020 before or at 13.00hrs. kingdom of lesotho ministry of health invitation to vendors who wish to register on ministry of health piu vendor data base southern africa tuberculosis health system support project (satbhss p155658) lesotho nutrition and health system strengthening project (lnhssp p170278) lesotho covid -19 emergency preparedness and response project (lc-19eprp p173939) issue date: 4th november 2020 1. the government of the kingdom of lesotho has received fi nancing from the world bank towards the cost of fi nancing following projects; • southern africa tuberculosis health system support project, • lesotho nutrition health system strengthening project and • lesotho covid 19 emergency, preparedness and response project. 2. the ministry of health through moh-piu now invites vendors or service providers who wish to be included in the ministry of health piu vendor database for a period of 2021 to 2022 to submit their company profi le with fi lled vendor registration database form. 3. interested vendors should request registration form by sending request to the following email address satbhssles@gmail.com and further enquiries can be directed to mr. m moeketsi to the email provided above or call 2732 3277. 4. an invitation is extended to vendors and service providers regional and nationally to apply for registration on database for the following lines of businesses: • advertising services • assets maintenance and repair service • branding and marketing services • catering services and snack services • cleaning supplies and related services • clearing and forwarding agents • maintenance and related services • medical supplies and equipment • offi ce equipment • offi ce suppliers and consumables • pharmaceuticals suppliers • graphic designs printing, marketing and related services • small construction and related services • courier services • events related services • printing and stationery • protective clothing and uniform • rental / hire (equipment/ transport) services • general dealers • hardware • it & related services • supply of furniture & equipment • travel agencies • laboratory supplies, reagents and consumables 5. the following mandatory documents shall be affi xed to a fully completed vendor database registration form for further consideration. a) traders license (certifi ed at source) lesotho companies, regional companies attach similar registration of the company b) tax clearance certifi cate (certifi ed at source) for lesotho companies, regional companies attached similar documentation c) vat certifi cate (where applicable) d) certifi cate of incorporation (where applicable) e) company profi le f) filled vendor database registration form 6. completed vendor data base form (excel format and pdf format ), company profi le with above stated mandatory documents (pdf format) must be emailed to satbhssles@gmail.com on or before 30th november 2020 12:00hour 7. vendors are advised to comply with above request on line 5 and 6 for their registration form to be considered and vendors are strictly advised to send the forms via email only, hard copies will not be considered. ministry of health, health head quarters, p. o. box 514, maseru 100, conner of constitution road and linare road, ground floor, procurement offi ce contacts +266 2732 3277

workplace& careers public eye friday november 20, 2020 5 vacancy announcement overview baylor college of medicine children’s foundation – lesotho the baylor college of medicine children’s foundation – lesotho, is the result of a public-private partnership between baylor college of medicine international pediatric aids initiative and the government of lesotho, and is a legal, non-profi t/tax exempt organization registered in lesotho. bcmcfl provides free pediatric and family-centred hiv and tuberculosis prevention, care, treatment and support, serving thousands of children and families aff ected by hiv, tb, or other child health conditions. advertisement applications are invited from suitably qualifi ed candidates to apply for the vacant positions below at baylor college of medicine children’s foundation – lesotho. for full details, interested candidates should visit the following website: https://baylorlesotho.org/jobs/ vacant positions project nurses (2) driver (1) duty station qacha’s nek leribe how to apply interested candidates must email applications, including cv with names and contacts of 3 referees and cover letter to info@baylorlesotho.org on or before friday, 27th november 2020 at 12 noon. please quote the position you are applying for on the subject matter. only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. citizens and residents of lesotho are strongly encouraged to apply. kingdom of lesotho ministry of trade and industry-sadc trf project vacancy the ministry of trade and industry under sadc trade related facility (trf) project invites applications from suitably qualifi ed candidates for the position of project accountant. interested applicants may access additional information on the job from the offi ce of human resource based at the ministry of trade, 2nd floor, lndc, kingsway road, maseru. background: the government of lesotho through the ministry of trade and industry has received fi nancial grant amounting to 2.6 million euro under the eu-sadc trade related facility (trf) to implement two projects namely “formulation of a national trade policy; development of institutional capacity for standards and quality infrastructure; improving capacity for trade and tariff administration; and “improving capacity for trade facilitation; upgrading of sps and tbt facilities; and enhancing the competitiveness of smes in the horticulture sector” over a period of two and half years ending in 2019 with a no cost extension granted for the project to end on 31 march 2021. however, the services of the accountant will be needed up to 30th june 2021 during which he/she will be working on closure of the project. the ministry therefore wishes to engage the services of a project accountant whose terms of reference will entail the following: job summary: under supervision of the financial controller, the overall function of the project accountant will be to assist the financial controller in the discharge of the project’s accounting functions as stipulated below: main duties • handles all fi nancial functions related to grant management; • ensures that appropriate accounting and fi nancial management systems are maintained and that all procedures and controls are implemented; • ensures that all transactions are accounted for; • collects and examines supporting documentation for all expenditure incurred under the project, • ensures that documents and signatures are valid; • prepare payment vouchers, cheques, receive cash and issue receipt appropriately, • prepares payment orders and ensures timely payments to the right persons; • record all transactions on computerised double-entry accounting systems as appropriate; • maintain petty cash fl oat if any; • prepare monthly bank reconciliations for each project bank account; • provide regular budget monitoring reports; and maintain separate fi xed assets registers for fi xed assets bough for trf project. education and experience • a bachelor’s degree in financial accounting or equivalent qualifi cation from a recognised institution plus two years working experience with donor funded projects. • minimum two (2) years of experience in working for a donor funded project. • excellent communication and reporting skills, good organisational, analytical and interpersonal skills. submission of applications: applicants should submit application letters, accompanied by a detailed curriculum vitae (cv), e-mail address and telephone contact details, certifi ed copies of educational certifi cates and three (3) reference letters, one of which must be your last employer and must be delivered to the human resource offi ce on or before 27 november 2020 at 16:00hours. human resources director ministry of trade and industry lndc centre, 2™ floor, kingsway road maseru note 1. it is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that reference letters reach wr offi ce on or before the set closing date, 27th november 2020. 2. incomplete applications will not be considered. 3. late applications will not be accepted. 4. only short-listed candidates shall receive formal communication within two (2) weeks disclaimer: the ministry of trade reserves the right to appoint or not appoint any of the applicants. kingdom of lesotho kingdom of lesotho tender notice ministry of energy and meteorology lesotho meteorological services climate services and early warning system user-needs assessment consultancy tenders are hereby requested from reputable consultants to submit proposals for provision of services to conduct assessment for climate services and early warning user-needs. request for proposals request for proposal (rfp) for this notice will be made available from the 20th november 2020 and can be collected from the submission address below at a non-refundable fee of two thousand maloti (m2000.00). more information on this tender can be obtained from procurement offi ce at 22321034 or early warning systems ii project 22310920. mandatory documents 1. valid certifi ed copy of trader’s licence 2. valid certifi ed copy of tax clearance 3. valid vat certifi cate for vat collectors. 4. certifi cate of bona fide tendering attached should be fi lled and stamped. date and time for submissions the original and three copies of the technical proposal must be placed in a sealed envelope clearly marked “ews user- needs assessment - technical proposal”. similarly, the original and three copies of the financial proposal must be placed in a separate sealed envelope clearly marked “ews user-needs assessment - financial proposal”. the two envelopes containing the technical and financial proposals must be placed into an outer envelope and sealed. this outer envelope must be clearly labelled “ews user-needs assessment consultancy”, the submission address, as well as bearing no company/ consultancy name. if the financial proposal is not submitted in a separate sealed envelope duly marked as indicated above, this will constitute grounds for declaring the proposal non-responsive. proposals should be submitted to the address below, not later than 21st december 2020 at 10:00am. late submissions will be rejected. submissions should be addressed to: procurement unit, ministry of energy and meteorology headquarters, government complex, africa house, planning block, 2nd floor, maseru, lesotho tender opening opening of tender box shall take place at 10:30am on the 21st december 2020, at the following physical address: planning boardroom, 2nd floor, africa house, south wing, cnr king’s way and high court road. disclaimer the government of lesotho reserves the right to accept or reject any or all tenders/bids, or to annul the tender at any time without incurring any liability to any bidder or tenderer. the government is also not bound to accept the lowest or any bid. ministry of finance project management unit specifi c procurement notice invitation to tender country: lesotho name of project: program continuation contract title: procurement of riding gear, sample collection bags, reflective vests and rain suits for bikers itt reference no.: mof-pmu/g/fy3-01 1. the government of lesotho has received funding form global fund to support interventions in the fi ght against hiv and aids and tuberculosis. part of the proceeds shall be used to support the ministry of finance-project management unit to make payments for the procurement of riding gear, sample collection bags, refl ective vests and rain suits for bikers. 2. the ministry of finance-project management unit now invites sealed tenders from eligible tenderers for the procurement of riding gear, sample collection bags, refl ective vests and rain suits for bikers. details are as follows: lot description of quantity 1 2 3 goods riding gear sample collection bags refl ective vests rain suits for bikers 116 58 232 58 estimated delivery period 6 weeks 6 weeks 6 weeks 6 weeks 3. evaluation will be carried out on a “lot by lot” basis. the tenderer shall furnish documentary evidence that it meets the following fi nancial and technical requirement(s): (i) financial capability (a) audited fi nancial statements for the last three years; (b) credit line of lsl 700,000.00 from a fi nancial institution (strictly from the bank). (ii) experience and technical capacity (c) the bidder should have executed similar contracts in the last (5) fi ve years in excess of lsl 500,000.00 with appropriate reference from the clients; (d) business experience of not less than three years in operation or supplying similar type of goods for which invitation to tender was issued. 4. a compulsory bidders conference will be held at the address in 8 above (4th fl oor boardroom) on the 26th november 2020 at 10:00hrs. all interested bidders are expected to send their representatives. 5. tendering will be conducted through competitive procurement using an invitation for tenders (itt) as specifi ed in the lesotho “public procurement regulations 2007 and public procurement (amendment) regulations, 2018 and is open to all eligible tenderers as defi ned in the public procurement regulations. application of domestic preference shall be used. 6. interested eligible tenderers may obtain further information from the ministry of finance-project management unit or email mr. ntsibolane hlabi and ms. emily monyama at the following addresses hlabin@mofpmu.org.ls monyamae@mofpmu.org.ls. 7. the tender document in english may be obtained by interested tenderers at the address in 8 below from 18th november 2020. 8. submission of bids: the sealed envelopes containing bids clearly labelled “supply and delivery of motorbikes riding gear, sample collection bags, refl ective vests and rain suits for bikers” and the inner envelopes must clearly indicate the lot number and name. submissions must be deposited in the tender box situated at the reception area at the address below on or before 10:00hrs 12th january 2021. electronic tendering will not be permitted. late tenders will be rejected. tenders will be publicly opened in the presence of the tenderers’ designated representatives and anyone who chooses to attend at the address on 10:30hrs 12th january 2021. ministry of finance project management unit 4th floor, mgc offi ce park, corner pope john paul ii and mpilo boulevard, maseru 100 it is entirely the responsibility of the bidder to ensure that its bid is submitted to the correct address indicated in clause 8; disclaimer: pmu is not bound to award the contract to bid with the lowest price or any price. pmu reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids and or to cancel this procurement process at any time prior to contract award if the circumstances so requires.

workplace& careers public eye friday november 20, 2020 7 lesotho millennium development agency (lmda) procurement notice cancellation and relaunch of procurement processes for specialised medical equipment- dental (hfm-e-005-21) and autoclaves (hfm-e-006-21) equipment maintenance and repair in 155 health centres, 17 hospitals and botsábelo complex country: lesotho city/locality: maseru reference no.: (hfm-e-005-21) and hfm-e-006-21) assignment name: specialised medical equipment – dental (hfm-e-005-21) and autoclaves (hfm-e-006-21) maintenance and repair services in 155 health centres, 17 hospitals and bots’abelo complex section: hard facilities management funding agency: government of lesotho buyer: lesotho millennium development agency (lmda) re: cancellation and relaunch of two procurements for specialized medical equipment- dental (hfm-e-005-21) and autoclaves (hfm-e-006-21) equipment maintenance and repair services in 155 simlex construction health centres, 17 hospitals and bots’abelo complex 1. service providers are hereby informed of the cancellation of two procurements for –specialized medical equipment- dental (hfm-e-005-21) and autoclaves (hfm-e-006-21) equipment maintenance and repair in 155 health centres, 17 hospitals and bots’abelo complex in accordance with paragraph 19 (for dental equipment maintenance) and paragraph 20 (for autoclaves equipment maintenance) of the letter of invitation (loi) and section p1. a.2.77 of the lesotho millennium development agency (lmda) program procurement guidelines. lmda is cancelling these two procurements due to non-responsiveness of bids; none of the bidders’ s proposed autoclaves equipment maintenance and repair terms of references fully met lmda’s requirements. lmda is therefore cancelling and intent to relaunch the procurement with diff erent procurement method (international competitive bidding-icb). 2. additional information on the subject matter may be obtained from the address given below (emails will also be accepted): keketso chalatse (mr.), chief executive offi ce lesotho millennium development agency 5th floor, kingsway road, post offi ce building, maseru, lesotho, email: moum@lmda.org.ls with a copy to sefalis@lmda.org.ls simlex construction is selling the following: 1 nissan 6 cub tipper body + subframe m18000.00 , 2 block making machine + 6 inch form m55000.00 and 3 pan mixer 240 l m57000.00. hino 6 cub tipper body + subframe m15 000.00, merc 1113 fl at bak body m10 000.00 and isuzu fl at bak body (8 ton) m10 000.00. for more info contact:+266 58699206 / 68796879 children’s foundation - lesotho advertisement overview: baylor college of medicine children’s foundation – lesotho the baylor college of medicine children’s foundation - lesotho (bcmcfl), is the result of a public-private partnership between baylor college of medicine international pediatric aids initiative and the government of lesotho, and is a legal, non-profi t/tax exempt organization registered in lesotho. bcmcfl provides free paediatric and family-centred hiv and tuberculosis prevention, care, treatment and support, serving thousands of children and families aff ected by hiv, tb, or other child health conditions. bcmcfl is looking for highly qualifi ed candidates to fi ll in the following positions available under expanding hiv/tb clinical services (ethics) project on a full-time, contract (renewable) basis. 1. hiv clinical nurses x 3 based in butha-buthe and mokhotlong d uties and responsibilities w orking with other health facility staff under the direct supervision of the district medical mentor, nurse mentors and health facility nurse-in-charge, the clinical nurse’s primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to: • provide direct patient care to: o hiv positive patients in the art corner o anc, pnc, mnch and u5 clients o tb client co-infected with hiv o adolescent and male friendly services • provide technical support and direct service to their assigned facility to ensure that cervical cancer screening for wlhiv, pmtct and tb co-infected patients with hiv receive high quality integrated services. • ensure proper counseling is being provided to women on pmtct, art, prep or tb on the importance of prevention of cervical cancer through screening is carried • provide appropriate management or referral and feedback for women in need of further services such as confi rmation of cervical screening results, treatment of pre-cancers of the cervix) and or referral of women with invasive cancer of the cervix • ensure strict infection control measures are carried out, including appropriate medical waste management • ensure timely blood monitoring and review of relevant results (e.g. viral load) and ensure appropriate fi lling of client results and fi les • work with staff in pmtct, tb and art clinics to strengthen tracking of clients missing their follow up appointments/provide referrals and facility referral feedback • administer urgent medications and procedures • submit monthly summary reports regarding clinical and programmatic activities • perform any other project duties as may be assigned by the administration e ducational qualifi cations, work experience and key competencies • diploma in general nursing and midwifery • current valid registration with lesotho nursing council • postgraduate qualifi cation in hiv/aids with expertise in hiv care and treatment would be an added advantage • good report writing, training and computer skills 2. district nurse mentor x2 the district nurse mentor will be part of a district team in either butha buthe or mokhotlong. duties and responsibilities working with other district level team members, under the direct supervision of the senior advisor; care and treatment and district medical mentor, the nurse mentor’s primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to: • provide focus on the components of hiv, tb/hiv care and srh services, including direct service delivery, mentorship, documentation and follow up • in close collaboration with the dhmt and other clinical implementing partners, train, mentor, and supervise healthcare professionals on hiv and tb/hiv care and treatment and srh services • provide clinical review of complicated hiv and hiv/tb cases • provide data review and mentorship of hiv cascade for all patients • provide technical support to assigned health facilities to ensure integration of cervical cancer screening in services in hiv and tb/hiv services • ensure that proper counselling is being provided to women receiving pmtct, art or tb treatment on the importance of prevention of cervical cancer through screening • coordinate contact tracing of patients diagnosed with tb • identify patients with treatment failure and provide clinical and pss follow up until virally suppressed • communicate regularly with supervisor regarding implementation of activities • ensure prompt and proper reporting of project activities • p erform any other project duties as may be assigned by the administration educational qualifi cations, work experience and key competencies • diploma/degree in general nursing and midwifery • current valid registration with lesotho nursing council • postgraduate qualifi cation in hiv/aids with expertise in hiv care and treatment would be an added advantage • good report writing, training and computer skills interested candidates must email applications, including cv and cover letter to info@baylorlesotho.org on or before friday, 20th november 2020. please quote the position you are applying for on the subject matter. only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. citizens and residents of lesotho are strongly encouraged to apply.

e y e c i l b u p friday november 20, 2020 (cid:32) &life style weekly magazine as nations come out of covid . . . lesotho jazz festival beckons

public eye you can’t take his soul out of the kitchen lehlohonolo lebiletsa friday november 20, 2020 3 style focus maseru - he carefully arranges food on the plate, ensuring nothing spills to spoil the visual appeal he strives for. his food presentation is so appealing that one feels hungry and can “taste” of the food even before eating the food. he is a chief chef at cuban linx, a prime lifestyle club in downtown maseru which off ers night life experience and space for creatives to share ideas and bring them into reality. his passion is teasing party goers’ taste buds with his tasty and creative dishes. themba gladson sydyiyo, a 28-year- old chef was born and bred in bloemfontein but has since moved to maseru to work as chief chef at cuban linx. he studied at ladybrand primary and high school before he moved to pretoria to pursue a career in project management, before he went on to study bookkeeping. however, while he was studying bookkeeping, the young chef says he realised he was not inspired to give his all to his studies due to his love for food, which kept occupying his mind. “every time i was in bookkeeping class, i was always thinking about my next meal since i’m a huge lover of food and that had a negative impact on my studies because i barely concentrated,” he says with a chuckle. it was at this stage that he felt he was not following his passion and he needed to do something else. he already knew what he wanted but he had to convince his family that he was done with bookkeeping. sydyiyo says he is fortunate that his family showed him undivided support during the time he decided to quit bookkeeping and start a career as a chef. to capsicum culinary studio to become a professional chef. this is the second best chef school in south africa and is also internationally recognised,” he said adding that was the beginning of his journey. “i quickly moved speaking about his passion for food, sydyiyo says cooking has always been the love of his life. he used to watch his mom cook in the kitchen and then imitate exactly what he saw, until he turned into the little chef of the family. by then he was roughly around 12. “i remember some days when my mom would give me and my older sister money for us to buy some goodies for dinner. i would convince my sister that i will cook a decent meal so that we shared the money,” he reminisces. his passion for cooking was again proven when he continued to outperform his colleagues during his time at the chef school. during his time of internship at premier hotel in pretoria, sydyiyo was the only one out of 10 students who was off ered a job. “i remember vividly when the executive chef called me and ordered me to be at the hotel the next morning. mind you, i didn’t even have a single penny with me at that moment,” he states. that was only the beginning of the journey for the young decorated chef. he moved from one job to another from time to time as he was always in demand. his career was clearly rapidly taking shape. around this time, he started getting a lot of side gigs in pretoria and in the outskirts of the city even as far as lesotho. though this earned him a lot of extra cash, it was slowly tempering with his job as he was still working at a hotel at or tambo at the time. “now i had to choose between my personal gigs (which almost tripled my salary) and my job,” sydyiyo states. he decided to quit his job and start pushing gigs but things didn’t turn out as expected for the young chef as he struggled to get gigs. a" er refl ecting on his moves, he decided to come to lesotho in 2018 because he used to get a few gigs from time to time. things started to shape up again for him and he got a few jobs in the country before he decided that it was about time he started his own project. this lead to the birth of his company named soul kitchen, which name he says is derived from his passion for food. “when i am in the kitchen, i cook with my soul,” he explains. it was this time when he started a partnership with cuban linx (clx) early this year and currently works as the chief chef at the restaurant, one of its kind in the country. the successful chef says his unique style of cooking stems from the fact that he does what he loves and is passionate about. “if you do what you love, you will never, even for a second in your life feel like you are working,” he advises. he says there are a lot of cooks in the country but not a lot of chefs so he encouraged everyone who is passionate about cooking to pursue a career in the fi eld as there is still a huge gap. though he has achieved a lot for his age, he still has dreams of establishing a huge restaurant in the country where people can enjoy the best meals.

public eye friday november 20, 2020 5 style focus mohahlaula airlines back in the sky plans individual and family joy flights lesaoana sekete is back airlines operation a! er maseru - mohahlaula in the carrier was grounded following government’s declaration of the march 29 national lockdown in the wake of the global covid-19 pandemic. the airline was just a month in operation when it was grounded, with plans to operate scheduled passenger fl ights countrywide having secured its air operator’s certifi cate (aoc) the lesotho department of civil aviation (dca) in february. from mohahlaula airlines operate daily planned fl ights from its maseru base to to mokhotlong, semonkong, and qacha’s nek. khotso marumo, the company’s commercial manager told life&style this week that the airline has opened its doors to the public again. “the covid-19 pandemic has taught us two sides to this business, one being the lower demand in fl ight bookings and the other being how best we, as an airline operating within the same platform as our competitors, can improve our standards,” said marumo. “the coronavirus hit at a critical time when the company had just taken off and it was hard for us, speaking in terms of the survival of the business for our and regarding jobs employees. but we are yet to give the best of our service post covid-19,” he added. revealed marumo families, adding that coming back into business the company has introduced joy fl ights for their clients and their that “there is much joy to come with mohahlaula as we are working on the re-launch of the airline which failed to see the light of day due to the pandemic.” the local company has further pleaded with government on the improvement of infrastructure to enable the development of the aviation business, and to invest more on basotho owned companies. “vast amounts of money are fl ying out of the country foreign to companies; infrastructure should be an ideal consideration to those in power as it is devastating the industry. airstrips in the districts have been abandoned, lights are only available at the moshoeshoe i airport making it impossible to fl y to other districts at night - this means aviation business cannot be conducted at night. again the meteorological services of the country don’t cooperate well with airlines in giving out information on the forecast lamented marumo. in time,” mohahlaula airlines has three business avenues, chartered fl ights that are rental planes mostly for corporate fl ights entities; scheduled which run across the country and abroad to the neighbouring countries and seasonal fl ights that are long term chartered fl ights catering for businesses people. bohlokoa backed by the privately- group, owned mohahlaula airlines currently (single wet-leases a cessna grand turboprop) caravan, (msn zs-svp 208b-0573), from resilience aviation (lanseria) alongside a beech (twin turboprop) king air 200. 208b the carrier has leased a hangar at moshoeshoe i airport with its ticket sales, reservations and check-in desk located at the main terminal of the same airport. kwaito legend mshoza has died j o h a n n e s b u r g superstar - kwaito nomasonto ’’mshoza” maswanganyi (pictured le! ) has died at the age of 37. the southern african music rights organisation (samro) confi rmed the news in a tweet. “yet another loss to the music industry. it is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of kwaito star nomasonto m a s w a n g a n y i , aff ectionately known as mshoza”, posted the organisation. mshoza’s manager, thanduxolo jindela, also released a statement kwathole facebook confi rming her on the conexion page death. the post reads: “sad passing of the queen of mshoza johannesburg 19 november 2020. “it is with great sadness to announce the ultimately death of nomasonto “mshoza” maswanganyi. kortes “the hitmaker succumbed peacefully in the early hours of this morning. she was 37. “she will be deeply missed as an ultimate entertainer who loved being on stage. ” not only did she radiate star quality, mshoza was a media darling.” the star’s death comes as a shock to many of her industry friends and fans. social media users have taken to social media remember the mother of two and kwaito veteran. to media personality and friend, khanyi mbau took to instagram to post about the passing of the kwaito star. “rest in peace, my love. i am tired 2020”, said khanyi in a caption along with a picture of mshoza. -iol

public eye friday november 20, 2020 7 style focus

public eye leaders friday november 20, 2020 editorial comment the irresponsible lawyer: an amoral profession a man walks into a bar, the joke goes. he looks upset. the bartender, concerned, asks what the problem is. “all lawyers are jerks,” the man replies. “hey, i take off ense to that!” another man, sitting a ways down the bar, pipes up. “oh, you’re a lawyer?” the fi rst asks. “no, i’m a jerk!” says the other guy. lawyers are the punch lines to many jokes, though most are capable, ethical and responsible. nothing like the stereotype of greedy, irresponsible scoundrels o! en portrayed in everyday jokes. there are exceptions. a minority of them do not live up to the high ethical and professional standards set by the bar or their law societies. however, they remain fellow members of the highly esteemed legal profession. so resultant from emerging public discontent and cynicism with lawyers it may be worth revisiting the writings of fredricks a scott on problems that stem from the moral irresponsibility of lawyers. scott contends that current legal education, legal ethics, fi rm practice, and the modern attorney-client relationship all contribute to this lack of responsibility. he is interested, more than anything, on the underlying moral refl ection and moral accountability to which individual lawyers hold themselves. here are article excerpts from his writings: “…the morally responsible lawyer views his professional conduct in moral terms. “in other words, he understands the moral values expressed in his professional conduct. “in contrast, the morally irresponsible lawyer views his conduct in amoral or morally neutral terms. that is, he divorces himself from moral refl ection regarding the means or ends to which his technical profi ciency is put. “therefore, it is not the conduct, per se, that defi nes the irresponsible lawyer; rather, it is the way he views and understands his conduct. “first, it causes the lawyer to forsake or ignore the moral norms of his community, causing understandable feelings of outrage and disgust. “likewise, this abandonment of personal responsibility drives a wedge between the lawyer and his own sense of right and wrong. “in pursuit of professional goals and values dictated by others and o! en at odds with his own, the lawyer suff ers internal doubt and skepticism about the very profession of which he is a member. “in contrast, placing the focus on personal responsibility will invigorate the lawyer’s soul and restore the public’s confi dence. “rather than practicing in an amoral profession, divorced from one’s own values, the responsible lawyer will be empowered to practice law as a full moral agent capable of ethical decision making. “this responsibility will call the lawyers to account when his actions are not consistent with the moral standards of the community and will limit the means employed and ends pursued in his own practice. responsibility has a price, but is it one the public and the profession seem willing to pay? …the legal profession is under assault from all sides. the law plays a larger role than ever in the lives of individuals and society. “as a result, the conduct of lawyers is under increasing scrutiny. rather than increase public trust in legal institutions and rituals, this scrutiny has only furthered public cynicism and distrust of lawyers. shakespeare’s famous quote would likely garner more public support in modern society than ever before: “the fi rst thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” the everyday conduct of lawyers is one aspect of the public criticism. another is the sense that the profession rarely serves any interest but its own.” it is official, lesotho is a pseudo-democracy! part 2 “fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, random bring them up in the training and instruction of the lord.” musings 4.0 (ephesians 6:4, niv) mothepa ndumo true to pseudo- democratic form, the highly disproportionate response of the state machinery to the #bachashutdown has resulted in the eleven youths who spent last weekend in detention exhibiting signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd). i have it on good authority that these eleven youths require intensive psychotherapy. has anyone in government thought about the psychological impact of the shockingly brutal police response, not only on these eleven youths but, on all the youths involved in this movement? in my column for this paper’s sister publication last week, i highlighted a central bank of lesotho report which warned about some of these outcomes way back in 2012. titled, “the economic impact of high unemployment in lesotho” the report states, “if young people are le! with no alternative but unemployment and poverty, they are more likely to join a rebellion as an alternative way of generating an income. unemployment among the youth is associated with an increase in crimes such as robbery, drug related off ences and murder.” not only are these crimes on the rise, not only is the spirit of rebellion on the rise, but suicide among youths is also on the rise, hopelessness and helplessness are also on the rise. the report may as well have been titled, “the psychological and economic impact of high unemployment on lesotho’s youths, families and broader society.” the devastating impact on the mental and emotional wellbeing of our young people is not even up for debate. we see, smell, hear, taste, and touch this reality daily. youth unemployment undoubtedly produces numerous scarring eff ects which will have long-term consequences for this country. we are dealing with young people who are scarred by this long-term breach of the social contract. yes, the unwritten social contract that has been reinforced by all our social institutions since their infancy. since they were infants, the terms of the social contract they have been socialized in were that they must just study, obey all the rules and regulations, and upon graduation, they would get jobs and other opportunities for advancement. the other psychological impact we are not paying attention to is the fact that youth unemployment discourages even those still pursuing their tertiary studies or those who are ejected by the post-school system a! er their form 5. these young people observe the fate that awaits them post-graduation and it demotivates them. we in higher education deal with the fallout every single day. take it from us, these young people are demotivated, and they are angry! there are two african proverbs that i would like to draw upon to drive some of my points home. “it takes a village to raise a child” implies that every single mosotho child belongs to all of us, correct? let us start by talking about the children of the honourables in parliament and the executive. when your biological children initiate a dialogue with you about their genuine and heartfelt concerns, do you light it up with teargas, arrests, detention, rubber bullets and beatings? of course not, you make time to sit with them and listen to them air their legitimate grievances. you then strike balanced deals with them and, if you are enlightened enough, you even apologise because you are not above apologising to a child where you have erred. here is another african proverb for you to think about honourables, it goes something like this, “the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” last week i sought out the president of the transform lesotho initiative (tli), mr. tšolo kabane to hear more about #bachashutdown. mr kabane shared the list of demands with me and, right there at the end is the telling paragraph about how disaff ected and alienated the youths of lesotho truly are. it states, “these are just a few of the many social and economic ills that have rendered the youth of lesotho feeling rejected and dejected by their own country.” the child is not feeling embraced by the village and is now in the process of, metaphorically, burning it down to feel its warmth. lest i be misconstrued, we all know that the #bachashutdown participants were unarmed and i would never endorse violence. by all credible accounts, the youths were disciplined and did not cause any mayhem whatsoever except to march sans permit. the only thing that they were armed with was a list of very reasonable demands. and our impeccable response is to teargas, unleash rubber bullets on them and detain them. *mothepa ndumo is a legal academic at the national university of lesotho, industrial sociologist and certifi ed executive coach. www.higherselfcoaching.org public eye public eye editorial: editor@publiceyenews.com editorial: editor@publiceyenews.com advertising: marketing@publiceyenews.com advertising: marketing@publiceyenews.com distribution: distribution@ plogistics.co.ls distribution: distribution@ plogistics.co.ls

vaccine news outweighs surging infections worries stocks gained and bonds making money make sense leonard nyambuya which could help shore up a fragile global economy. s o m e m a r k e t participants are still leery about the future of the crude market in the short term, especially after opec ratcheted down its projection for global oil demand as the renewed spike in coronavirus cases in key economies is stifling the crude demand recovery. opec projects anaemic oil demand recovery could continue into 2021 causing the cartel to limit its estimate for global oil demand next year as well. swathes of funds are piling into emerging markets assets in double digits following u.s president donald trump’s election defeat and last week’s coronavirus vaccine breakthrough. poor economies that rely on natural resources, cheap manufacturing and tourism set to benefi t from a recovery in global trade and travel, as well as a more predictable white house. i n v e s t o r s a r e p l a c i n g big bets on the currencies of china, mexico, brazil, south africa, colombia and russia. bets are also on a longer list of hard currency debt ranging from ukraine’s growth linked sovereign bonds to corporate bonds. there is a plenty of liquidity trying to fi nd its way into risk assets now with reduced uncertainty. it is not only the vaccine and us policy hopes that are feeding the frenzy, but also the traditional lure of higher interest rates at a time when many developed economies now have either virtually zero or negative rates, resulting in a yield diff erential, which will result in emerging currencies strengthening. the yuan firmed last week as the dollar pulled back on tempering optimism about a covid-19 vaccine, and as china’s recovering economy and high yielding assets continued to attract inflows. fundamentals and fl ows are driving the yuan, china continues leading global economic recovery and yuan retains its yield advantage over the dollar. china has made a rapid recovery from a deep coronavirus induced slump early in the year, with resilient exports and manufacturing activity, though so! infl ation data released last week revealed that some upstream demand remains tepid. initial optimism that an experimental vaccine developed by pfi zer and biontech was more than 90 percent effective had boosted the dollar, but investors took a cooler view later in the week as logistical issues around the vaccine’s distribution became clear even it wins regulatory approval. the yuan also received support from the election of joe biden as us president, this will continue to give the currency upside support. investors will continue to keep tabs on developments in washington as trump refuses to concede defeat, while launching legal challenges after claiming massive voting fraud. last week’s back and forth between value and growth stocks induced rotation is set to continue this week. bad headlines will lead to growth stocks doing well and good headlines will result in value stocks outperforming. until next week enjoy making money on capital markets. thinking of raising capital (issuing shares or bonds), listing shares on the securities market, buying or discounting bonds, treasury bills, equity trading and capital markets news and information? contact us today. leonard nyambuya katleho securities, (member of maseru securities market) +266 27002418, 53230700, 68730055 lnyambuya@katleho.co.ls, securities@katleho.co.ls, www. katleho.co.ls leonardnyambuya@yahoo. com expect to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. the world population is estimated to be around 7.5 billion and there is likely to be wrangling over which countries receive the vaccine fi rst, although some european countries, the uk and the u.s have already bought millions of doses. the vaccine must be shipped and centrally stored at minus 70 degrees celsius, presenting problems for countries that lack the necessary refrigeration equipment. as such, it could take a considerable amount of time to mass produce the vaccine and distribute it around the world, it might take a while for the global economy to reach pre-crisis levels. taking a cue from global markets, african markets trade mostly higher, out of the averages we tracked last week, 11 bourses traded higher and 6 registered modest loses. the masi in morocco led the risers adding 0.52 percent for the week. the ngse in nigeria led the fallers, retreating 0.81 percent. commodities and currencies crude oil prices rose last week as the market continues to roar back, bolstered by news of a more than 90 percent eff ective coronavirus vaccine the development catalysed a rally sending the commodity, above its recent range as it potentially eyes august high. oil has been on a tremendous run since the beginning of the month. oil crept to new two months highs on a sharp draw down in supplies and anticipation of better demand in a post pandemic world. investors see the vaccine as a boon for oil, 16 public eye friday november 20, 2020 feature business news dropped last week as news of a working covid-19 vaccine outweighed worries over surging infections, fuelling rotation towards cut price losers from coronavirus pandemic. markets have a memory, they know who benefi ted during covid-19 and it was inevitable that if covid-19 comes to an end, a reversal to that will be the result. investors pivoted to riskier plays in equities, foreign exchange and bonds a! er pfi zer and biontech announced that their vaccine showed a 90 percent success rate in preventing infection during trials. the mood across trading fl oors has been positive for much of the week a! er former us vice president toppled donald trump. however, the rapid spread of the virus and new regime of lockdown restrictions limited gains. last week’s positive vaccine news was a game changer as it allowed markets to look through the recent surge in covid-19 cases to the impending end of the pandemic and broader re-opening of the global economy. financial markets around the world soared since pfizer and biontech announced that their vaccine was more than 90 percent eff ective in protecting people from transmission of the virus in global trials. t h e a n n o u n c e m e n t wa s followed by reports that russia’s own vaccine, sputnik v had shown in trials that it could cut the likelihood of getting infected by 92 percent. howeve r, sto c k m a rke ts struggled in the last trading s e ss i o n s o f l a st we e k a s a week-long rally sputtered, with sentiment split between vaccine hopes and joe biden’s us election win on one side and fears of a coronavirus surge that threatens economic recovery on the other. t h e r i s i n g i n f e c t i o n , hospitalisation and death rates and a bleak outlook in the us and in europe is dominated sentiment and markets recoiled. but most leading averages had already put in a remarkable shift to record huge weekly gains. hopes that a treatment for the killer disease will be rolled out before end of year put a rocket under beaten down stocks which led to a sector rotation. investors moved into cyclical stocks that would benefi t from an economic comeback and dumped technology shares which have held up during the pandemic. much of the action was switching between stocks as investors sold coronavirus winners to buy beaten down equities. the rotation highlighted how skewed positioning was, as investors sheltered in the work from home plays. for names geared towards s o - ca l l e d n o r m a l i sa t i o n o f activity, the rally could continue to play out in the coming weeks. h o w e v e r , mid-week the rotation paused a s t r a d e r s wo r r i e d t h a t rising number of coronavirus cases could hit t h e e c o n o my s i g n i f i c a n t l y b e f o r e t h e vaccine gets wildly distributed. bonds also adjusted to the prospect of a post pandemic world, with the yield on german bunds, a benchmark for euro zone sovereign debt, rising to their highest for two months at -0.456 percent. the yield on the benchmark 10 year us treasuries posted their highest close since march. bonds yields rise when prices fall. a rotation of sorts is also underway in fi xed income markets, as bonds in japan, south korea, singapore and thailand while riskier bonds in higher paying countries like indonesia. the ftse 100 recorded its strongest week since april getting tailwinds from hopes that a coronavirus vaccine can trigger a faster economic revival from the pandemic than fi rst anticipated. the index of leading uk company shares ended the week more than 300 points higher at 6, 316 a rise of 7 percent despite a modest dip on friday as investors bet it would still take time to deploy the vaccine and for the economy to stage a full recovery. the ftse 100 has gained more than 700 points since the start of the month as hopes over a vaccine and biden’s victory over trump in the us elections lifted financial markets around the world. in the us the dow, the leading index of us company shares rose three percent, extending a winning streak a! er its biggest gains since april a week earlier. the announcement last week that an effective coronavirus vaccine had been developed was given a rapturous welcome by global markets. hopes that life and the global economy could get back to normal sooner rather than later got a huge boost last week when us pharmaceutical giant pfi zer and german fi rm biontech announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent eff ective in preventing covid-19. stock markets around the world soared. the optimism around the announcement was tempered with a dose of reality given the likely diffi cult logistics of mass production and transportation of the vaccine, particularly when time is of the essence in terms of saving lives and livelihoods. the pfi zer vaccine requires two doses per person and based on current projections, only 25 million people could be vaccinated by the end of the year. pfizer and biontech

18 public eye friday november 20, 2020 news personality mathatisi sebusi mas e r u - t h e u n world food programme (wfp) has announced the appointment of aurore rusiga as its new representative to lesotho. she offi cially represented her credentials to the minister of foreign aff airs and international relations, ’matšepo ramakoae, on october 10, joining the un lesotho from burkina faso where she had served as wfp programme deputy country director since 2016. in a career spanning 26 years with wfp, rusiga has served in a variety of roles in zambia, senegal, malawi as well as her home country burundi. she succeeds mary njoroge who has completed her tour of offi ce. njoroge began her career with wfp in kenya before working in georgia, wfp headquarters in rome, ethiopia and kosovo. njoroge holds of bachelor of arts in social work, a master’s d e g re e i n m a n a g i n g r u ra l change and a masters degree in population health. her successor, the new country director was born on august 31, 1969, and is a divorcee who speaks english, french, kirundi, kinyarwanda and swahili. b e twe e n 1 9 9 0 a n d 1 9 93 rusiga attended the university of burundi, institute of commerce, and holds a bujumbura university degree in tax systems which she completed in 1994. she majored in: management, public and corporate law, general accounting, public and corporate accounting, corporate audit. of her total of 26 years with the wfp, she spent nine years in burundi and 17 years as an international professional. between 2016 and 2020 she was world food programme, deputy country director burkina faso country office where she was responsible for the overall management and leadership of the wfp burkina faso team. she contributed to the design and implementation of the country strategic plan 2019 to 2023 valued at us$440 million dollars and covering 3,5 million benefi ciaries. aligned to the government economic and social development plan, wfp country strategic plan in burkina faso focuses on emergency responses; building resilience through safety nets and social protection interventions: school feeding, nutrition sensitive and specifi c interventions, food assistance for assets, small holder agriculture markets development; va l u e c h a i n s d eve l o p m e n t , agricultural best practices and knowledge transfers. the strategic plan has also a strong component of institutional capacity strengthening which implies building strong strategic partnerships with the government structures and engaging in multi-sectoral partnerships to build sustainable and efficient systems to enhance disaster mitigation, risks management rusiga joins un lesotho team she provided full-time operational and administrative support to the logistics co-ordination for the cote d’ ivoire and f ive neighbouring countries emergency in 2010 and ensured a sustained support to the sahel emergencies in 2008, 2010 and 2012. this is in addition to a full- time backstopping of the nigeria operation where wfp had no presence. she was later appointed regional logistics training focal point where she was also in charge of capacity building and training planning for the staff in the region. from 2005 to 2008 rusiga was wfp’s deputy head of logistics and supply unit at the malawi country offi ce where she was in charge of the commodity accounting and the operations units. besides the logistics teams’ supervision, she was responsible for ensuring completeness and accuracy of assessments’ data on capacity and infrastructural needs and limitations or bottlenecks of the transport systems. in addition, her portfolio included local supply and warehousing capacity, gathering transport market information, budgeting the capacity augmentation plans based on logistics capacity assessment reports and review and assessment of operational costs of diff erent logistics hubs in the country, as well as logistics and food procurement contracting and invoices analyses. from 2003 to 2004 she worked as the wfp malawi country offi ce’s logistics offi cer (pipeline/ reports), in charge of resources planning, budgets’ allocations and procurement planning. among a host of other duties, she was responsible for supporting the deputy country director in reviewing funding proposals, tracking and reporting of local donations and any other support required by donors or wfp internal departments. from 1997 to 2003 rusiga was the world food programme’s logistics assistant, commodity tracking system manager, at the burundi country office in charge of the overall management of all the activities related to commodity accounting within the country. b e twe e n 1 9 94 a n d 1 9 97 she was wfp’s programme assistant, database management for the burundi country office responsible for commodity accounting, and partnership monitoring and invoicing through data analysis and management and maintenance of systems. her other duties included monitoring of projects outputs, partnerships performance, local projects agreements and related food distributions and losses reporting and analysis of partners’ budgets and related invoices clearance. and preparedness; school feeding and nutrition policies and early warning systems. she has been a key player in seeking and building strategic and operational partnerships; ensuring internal controls and un interagency engagement. btween 2012 and 2016, she was world food programme’s programme and policy officer, purchase for progress (p4p) co- ordinator at the zambia country office where she was in charge of overall management and co- ordination of the purchase for progress (p4p) activities in that country. t h e p ro j e c t fo c u s e d o n promoting (1) group marketing and cooperatives’ good governance, (2) productivity and production, (3) markets development and (4) conducive environment and policy. the project built strategic partnerships with the government, partners, un agencies especially fao and ifad, private sector and communities. through various activities, she and her team managed to transform the lives of participating communities through capacity building, gender mainstreaming in agriculture, access to productive assets and technology, access to markets information and post- harvest losses management as well as engaging the private sector and linked small holder farmers and small traders to sustainable markets. from 2008 to 2012, she was the world food programme’s regional logistics officer for west and central africa based in dakar, senegal. the regional bureau covered 19 countries and she was in charge of the commodity accounting and reporting; logistics funds management including regional special o perations budgets m a n a ge m e n t ; c o m p l i a n c e ; service level agreements, inter agency logistics services package and systems. as the local process expert for logistics execution, she supported 19 countries’ logistics teams. at the onset of emergencies,

20 public eye friday november 20, 2020 world news news coronavirus is airborne indoors why are we still scrubbing surfaces? people are removing masks for lunch or when they get back to their cubicle because they assume their cubicle is their private space mike ivesapoorva mandavilli hong kong — at hong kong’s deserted airport, cleaning crews constantly spray baggage trolleys, elevator buttons and check-in counters with antimicrobial solutions. in new york city, workers continually disinfect surfaces on buses and subways. in london, many pubs spent lots of money on intensive surface cleaning to reopen after lockdown - before closing again in november. all over the world, workers are soaping, wiping and fumigating surfaces with an urgent sense of purpose: to fi ght the coronavirus. but scientists increasingly say that there is little to no evidence that contaminated surfaces can spread the virus. in crowded indoor spaces like airports, they say, the virus that is exhaled by infected people and that lingers in the air is a much greater threat. hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds - or sanitizer in the absence of soap - is still encouraged to stop the virus’s spread. but scrubbing surfaces does little to mitigate the virus threat indoors, experts say, and health officials are being urged to focus instead on improving ventilation and fi ltration of indoor air. “in my opinion, a lot of time, energy and money is being wasted on surface disinfection and, more importantly, diverting attention and resources away f r o m p r e v e n t i n g a i r b o r n e transmission,” said dr. kevin p. fennelly, a respiratory infection specialist with the united states national institutes of health. some experts suggest that hong kong, a crowded city of 7.5 million residents and a long history of infectious disease outbreaks, is a case study for the kind of operatic surface cleaning that gives ordinary people a false sense of security about the coronavirus. the hong kong airport authority has used a phone- booth-like “full-body disinfection channel” to spritz airport staff members in quarantine areas. the booth - which the airport says is the fi rst in the world and is being used in trials only on its staff - is part of an all-out eff ort to make the facility a “safe environment for all users.” s u c h d i s p l a y s c a n b e comforting to the public because they seem to show that local officials are taking the fight to covid-19. but shelly miller, an expert on aerosols at the university of colorado boulder, said that the booth made no practical sense from an infection- control standpoint. viruses are emitted through activities that spray respiratory droplets - talking, breathing, yelling, coughing, singing and s n e e z i n g. a n d d i s i n fe c t i n g sprays are o! en made from toxic chemicals that can signifi cantly affect indoor air quality and human health, dr. miller said. “i can’t understand why a n y o n e w o u l d t h i n k t h a t disinfecting a whole person would reduce the risk of transmitting virus,” she said. a ra n ge o f re s p i ra t o r y ailments, including the common cold and influenza, are caused by germs that can spread from c o n ta m i n a te d s u r fa c e s . so when the coronavirus outbreak emerged last winter in the chinese mainland, it seemed logical to astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine shows promise in elderly kate kelland, alistair smout london - astrazeneca and oxford university’s potential covid-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response in older adults, data published o n t h u rs d ay s h owe d , w i t h researchers expecting to release l a te - s ta ge t r i a l re s u l ts by christmas. the data, reported in part last month but published in full in the lancet medical journal on thursday, suggest that those aged over 70, who are at higher risk of serious illness and death from covid-19, could build robust immunity. “ t h e r o b u s t a n t i b o d y and t-cell responses seen in older people in our study are encouraging,” said maheshi ramasamy, a consultant and co- lead investigator at the oxford vaccine group. “we hope that this means our vaccine will help to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society, but further research will be needed before we can be sure.” late-stage, or phase iii, trials are ongoing to confi rm the fi ndings, researchers said, and to test whether the vaccine protects against infection with sars- cov-2 in a broad range of people, including people with underlying health conditions. results of those trials should defi nitely be known by christmas, the oxford vaccine group’s director, andrew pollard, said, adding it was too early to know whether and how well the vaccine works in preventing covid-19 disease. “we’re still waiting to get to the point where we can do the analysis to just work out how well the vaccine can protect people, and we’re getting ever closer to that,” he told journalists. “we are optimistic that we’ll be able to do that before christmas, and obviously we’ll share that with you as soon as we can at that point.” the oxford-astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine candidate, called azd1222 or chadox1 ncov-19, had been among the front-runners in global efforts to develop shots to protect against infection with the novel coronavirus, or sars-cov-2. but rival drugmakers pfizer inc pfe.n, biontech 22uay.f and moderna inc mrna.o have in the past 10 days edged ahead, releasing data from late-stage covid-19 vaccine trials that shows more than 90% effi cacy. “we’re not in a rush. we and it’s not a competition with the other developers,” oxford’s pollard said, adding that astrazeneca would release headline effi cacy data before it was published in an academic journal. oxford university has set a target of 53 infections to start the interim analysis of its late- stage trial results, though “lots of cases” in its trial arms in britain, south africa and brazil mean the exact number of infections reported could diff er. unlike the pfizer-biontech and moderna shots, both of which use new technology known as messenger rna (mrna), astrazeneca’s is a viral vector vaccine made from a weakened version of a common cold virus found in chimpanzees. the phase ii trial reported in the lancet involved a total of 560 healthy volunteers, with 160 aged 18-55, 160 aged 56-69, and 240 aged 70 or over. volunteers got two doses of the vaccine or a placebo, and no serious side eff ects related to the azd1222 vaccine were reported, the researchers said. astrazeneca azn.l has signed several supply and manufacturing d e a l s w i t h c o m pa n i e s a n d governments around the world. -reuters assume that these so-called fomites were a primary means for the pathogen to spread. studies soon found that the virus seemed to survive on some surfaces, including plastic and steel, for up to three days. (studies later showed that much of this is likely to be dead fragments of the virus that are not infectious.) t h e w o r l d h e a l t h organization also emphasized surface transmission as a risk, and said that airborne spread was a concern only when health care workers were engaged in certain medical procedures that produce aerosols. but scientific evidence was growing that the virus could stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhaled - particularly in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation. in july, an essay in the lancet medical journal argued that some scientists had exaggerated the risk of coronavirus infection from surfaces without considering evidence from studies of its closely related cousins, including sars- cov, the driver of the 2002-03 sars epidemic. “this is extremely strong evidence that at least for the original sars virus, fomite transmission was very minor at most,” the essay’s author, the microbiologist emanuel goldman of rutgers university, said in an email. “there is no reason to expect that the close relative sars-cov-2 would behave significantly different in this kind of experiment,” he added, referring to the new coronavirus. a few days a! er dr goldman’s lancet essay appeared, more than 200 scientists called on the w.h.o. to acknowledge that the coronavirus could spread by air in any indoor setting. bowing to enormous public pressure over the issue, the agency acknowledged that indoor aerosol transmission could lead to outbreaks in poorly ventilated indoor places like restaurants, nightclubs, offices and places of worship. s o m e e x p e r t s s a y t h e y are especially concerned that coronavirus droplets could spread through air vents in offi ces, which are crowded because the city has not yet developed a robust culture of remote work. “people are removing masks for lunch or when they get back to their cubicle because they assume their cubicle is their private space,” said yeung king- lun, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the hong kong university of science and technology. “but remember: the air you’re breathing in is basically communal.” * mike ives reported from h o n g ko n g, a n d a p o o r va mandavilli from new york.

22 public eye friday november 20, 2020 sport news from the terraces nthako majoro good news for football lovers football lovers were worried with the fact that they are not going to be allowed at stadiums when top-fl ight football returns to action next month. however, the good news now is that negotiations are at an advance stage for the premier league games to be streamed live. this is a good initiative ever, and of course a good start of better things to come. we all have to commend the new premier league management committee (plmc) under the leadership of chairman mosa seoli. of course, this is all because of the covid-19 pandemic and for us to respond to the challenge we need brains of football technocrats in the administration level. this is since no country is immune to the pandemic and it is only when we have the right people at the top management of football that we can survive. imagine if all our games are played without fans at stadiums and all the complains from the clubs’ fans. so for the fans it is no longer a worry. their problem is sorted and all they will need is to load their cell phones with data for them to be able to watch games live. this is great news indeed and a sign that in the near future our games will be live on television like it is the case with other leagues in the world. in fact, it is about time that our only television (lesotho tv) has to be improved and furnished with necessary equipment and staff for live coverage of sports in general. that’s the only option going forward for our sports to attract potential sponsorships. you can see that covid-19 is slowly pushing us there and it is up to us whether we take that positively or not. this is also very crucial for professionalising our sports as it has always been everyone’s wish, and to realise that we need to have good leadership from clubs level upwards. again, our sports administrators have to work day and night if we are to be professional in the near future. we need committed people who can change the way our sports have been run in the previous years. gone are the days when an athlete used to work somewhere for a living and a! er work hours go for training, tired and bored with dull offi ce work all day long. i mean this is one of the reasons why we are the whipping boys of the region. the recent example is the humiliation losses our women senior national team mehalalitoe suff ered at the hands of zambia (8-0) and malawi (9-0) respectively in the recent cosafa women’s championship in south africa. though it might sound silly, we need to admit that it is our entire fault that at this age we are still amateurs as local sport is concerned. why likuena’s good play is nthako majoro encounters. maseru - likuena’s home draw against benin on tuesday has blown away their chances of qualifying for the 2021 africa cup of nations (afcon) competition scheduled to be hosted by cameroon. thabo senong’s charges were held to a goalless draw at setsoto stadium by visitors benin who last saturday used home advantage to beat likuena 1-0 in benin. that was likuena’ second defeat in the qualifi ers a! er a 4-2 loss to nigeria at home in november last year. tuesday’s draw was also their second draw following a 1-1 stalemate away to sierra leone in the opening match of the group l qualifi ers. these are the four games likuena have played so far and in which they haven’t tested any victory and are remaining with two matches to go, one against sierra leone at home and the other against nigeria away from home. mathematically, likuena are still in the race, despite having just collected two points from the four encounters and currently tailing the group l. they are behind sierra leone on third position three points, benin on second with seven points and nigeria on pole position a! er collecting eight points, all from four matches. top two teams from each group qualify for the afcon tournament and likuena must beat both sierra leone and nigeria in order to intensify their chances of qualifying for the tournament, as that will see them collecting eight points in total. but that would not be enough for likuena and senong, unless benin and sierra leone could drop points in their remaining two matches, since nigeria has already collected a total number of points likuena are looking to garner. going by the performance displayed by likuena on tuesday, one is not really convinced the lesotho team could even win one match from the two remaining football experts are among those who doubt that senong and the boys can fi nally make it to the afcon competition at the end of the day. former captain and current coach of lifefo fc (one-time premier league side and currently campaigning in the b division) kenny mohoanyane, said the problem with likuena on tuesday was the players’ selection and formation which coach senong used against benin. “the problem with the formation by coach senong on tuesday was the selection of the players, who according to me was not perfect for the intended results on the day,” said mohoanyane. “for example, we were playing with three players upfront (nkoto masoabi, motebang sera and tšepo seturumane) but the problem of those three players was that they made the team to be imbalanced. it was a wrong selection, according to me.” mohoanyane said this was while masoabi was supposed to be a good match for the defence of the benin team considering his height as the centre forward and who his strength is connecting with the high balls. “masoabi was good because of his height and body structure, for him to compete with the benin players who were physically good and sera was a perfect choice for him. “but on the other side, we did not need seturumane for him. we needed a player like jane thabantšo (who was introduced in the second half to replace seturumane), my point being that we needed a player with a pace and comparing jane with seturumane you will realize that jane is quite fl exible and much better in terms of speed.” mohoanyane said even on record, goals scored by thabantšo per season are always more than the goals scored by seturumane. “so if we started with jane on the le! and sera on the right and then masoabi as the centre forward i think we could have played better.” mohoanyane further complained about the defence of likuena. “again, we did not play well from the back. we were always pumping the balls forward and that made one to ask what was the plan by coach senong on the day. “our defence played two passes and kicked the ball forward despite the fact that our strength is knocking the ball around, which is something we never did on the day, and instead we pumped the ball forward and most of the time were high balls.” mohoanyane said the problem of high balls is that they are anybody’s balls, and it is a matter of who will get the ball fi rst. “i mean chances that a long ball from the back to your teammates or strikers are very much that it is unlikely not to end up at your feet. “and my point exactly is that the fact that the benin players were tall and physically good made it tough for our players every time when it comes to high balls.” this is while mohoanyane said the disadvantage of lesotho players was the height, which he said however it should have not been an excuse. “but we could have used that to our advantage because players with good height in most cases do not have speed and as a result, our players even though they are small in stature could have knocked the ball down and beat those physically good opponents with pace and short passes.” mohoanyane also did not understand why senong only made two substitutes against benin on tuesday while he had a chance to make fi ve changes during the game. senong brought in thabantso in place of seturumane in the second half and litšepe marabe in place of masoabi very late in the game, while benin made four substitutes. “at same point, one has to ask himself why we did not make as many substitutes as we could even a! er we saw that whatever play coach senong had did not work for us. “and remember that during this time of the covid-19 fifa has allowed teams to

public eye public eyesport there’s someone to rely on in lesotho public eye friday november 20, 2020 24 news why likuena ‘good play’ is still a loss story on pages 22 & 23 premier league premier league fans await ‘big fans await ‘big fans await ‘big announcement’ announcement’ nthako majoro who buy data to watch them. the clubs, he said would be compelled to play double- maseru-lesotho premier league games are likely to be streamed live when the 2020/21 season kicks-off next month. premier league management committee (plmc) spokesperson qamako mahao revealed to public eye this week that negotiations are at an advanced stage for the league’s games to be streamed live for the fans to able to watch their favourite teams in the new season. mahao said this would be the only option for anyone who is interested to watch local top-fl ight games since fans are still not allowed at stadiums due to the covid-19 pandemic. “we are already negotiating with telecommunication companies (in lesotho) to have our games streamed live and we are making headway,” said mahao in an interview on monday. according to mahao, plmc is also in negotiations with econet with the renewal of the league sponsorship a! er their contract expired at the end of last season. econet bounced back to sponsor lesotho’s top-fl ight league in 2017/18 season with a three-year contract. the telecommunications giant bankrolled the league to the tune of m6 million, m2 million for each of three seasons. econet replaced vodacom lesotho as the sponsor. mahao said they were not looking for partnerships for the live streaming but sponsorships. “w h e n o u r ga m e s a re st rea m e d l ive, s u c h telecommunication companies will benefi t a lot as people “but that doesn’t mean we are looking for partnerships. we want sponsorships and we are talking to all potential sponsors.” mahao further said: “we are still in negotiation with econet as their contract has expired and now it is about renewing the contract with new terms following the prevailing conditions.” premeir league, mahao said would patiently wait for the government and lesotho football association (lefa)’s greenlight for fans to be allowed back at stadiums. “we have to apply all protocols and we should fi rst protect our players, offi cials and fans. “everybody should be safe and watch football on their phones.” mahao said even the clubs could not aff ord all the measures for the covid-19, such as having players and offi cials tested from time to time. he said the m80 000 each premier league club recently got from lefa as fifa relief fund is not enough to cover up all those compulsory covid-19 measures. the proposed 2020/21 season kick-off is december 5, with mahao saying this is despite that the proposed fi xtures leaked even before they met with the clubs to discuss it. “we have a dra! that has leaked out. but we confi rm that it is indeed our dra! . headers and also play in midweeks. “it is going to be compelling for the teams to play double-headers and since we are already behind the schedule, we have no option but to also play in midweeks.” mahao said this is also to push for the league to be fi nished before the winter period. as to whether the 2020 lesotho national insurance group (lnig) top 8 semi-fi nals will continue or not, mahao, who is an employee for the lnig said he was not in a position to answer that since the agreement he had with his colleagues was not to be involved in anything concerning his company his capacity as the employee so as to avoid confl ict of interests. “so i don’t address anything concerning lnig. the chairman (mosa seoli) is the one who can answer that,” he said. in fact, mahao made it clear from the beginning that he did not want confl ict of interests, and nearly withdrew his candidature for the plmc’s public relations offi cer’s post. he was asked by the premier league clubs not to withdraw, promising him that they would make sure that there would not be any confl ict of interests on his side. the 2019/20 econet premeir league (epl) had to be ended prematurely in july this year due to the covid-19 lockdown since march, which in the beginning caused the league to be suspended indefi nitely. “although it might diff er here and there, and not that because it has leaked but because we are a kind of an administration that believes in discussing with the clubs,” mahao said. as a result, log-leaders bantu were declared the league champions with no relegation while a division log-leaders manonyane from the south stream and ccx fc from the north stream were promoted to the premier league.