Basotho had strongly expressed the need for the government to be transparent and accountable in all issues, with pressing issues being tackling corruption and mismanagement of funds as well as quickly redefining relations between Lesotho and South Africa among others.
These opinions came out during a national dialogue currently going on in Maseru.
During the question-and-answer session, speaker after speaker demanded that there be transparency when jobs are allocated as well as the need to take action as a result of recent events that have seen many Basotho nationals being attacked and chased out in South Africa.
Questions emanated from amongst others, Principal Chief of Mats’ekha, Peete Lesaoana Peete and Ms. Kemang Maepe of Leaders Network Association.
To this, Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Limpho Tau mentioned that the government fully acknowledges that South Africa is not treating Basotho well, saying this has forced the government to truly demand that relations coming way back between the pair be redefined.
Therefore, he said soon there shall be a forum where relations will duly be redefined as these are ties beyond foreign policies and yet seem to have been forgotten.
“It seems they have forgotten where we come from and the history of these nations, hence the urgent need to attend to the matter,” he said.
Over and above that, he appealed to Basotho to stop with their suggestions that Lesotho be part of South Africa, stating Lesotho is a country on its own, that has seen founding father of the nation Morena Moshoeshoe l leading well with his principles.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Dr. Rets’elisitsoe Matlanyane mentioned that the government uses platforms such as today’s forum to measure how funds are being utilised as well as to ensure that donors funds are not mismanaged.
She added that site visits are being taken while reports of the Auditor general are also used to assess how funds have been used as well as to track performance.
Also answering questions on corruption prevailing in government, Law and Justice Minister, Mr. Richard Ramoeletsi mentioned that DCEO is going to give a holistic report on corruption and measures taken to alleviate it on a last day of the dialogue.
However, he assured Basotho that the government is committed to tackle corruption by formation of committees in different Ministries that would alleviate corruption.
Rwanda experts presented as well as Lesotho used it as an example to benchmark in a bid to promote service delivery.
Source: Lesotho News Agency [LENA]
