T’soele, a PS with a spine

MASERU – A dramatic power struggle is unfolding at the heart of Lesotho’s government, pitting the newly appointed Principal Secretary of Local Government, Mpopo Tšoele, directly against his political boss, Minister Lebona Lephema.

The confrontation, which threatens to paralyze the ministry responsible for national security and identity, erupted after Minister Lephema demanded the immediate suspension of a senior official facing serious corruption charges, only to be met with an unprecedented legal wall from his top civil servant.

At the centre of the storm is Mpiko Rafono, the Director of Passport Services, who, alongside former Acting Commissioner of Refugees, Nthatisi Thabane, appeared in the Maseru Magistrates’ Court on January 27. The pair face a raft of charges including fraud, corruption, and abuse of power for allegedly unlawfully issuing refugee certificates and national identity documents to foreign nationals.

In a series of leaked correspondence obtained by this publication, Minister Lephema expressed fury that Rafono remains at his desk.

“Given the seriousness of the charges and the position that Mr Rafono holds in the ministry, which poses harm and threats to the integrity of our travel documents and citizenship, I immediately gave you clear verbal instructions to put him on administrative leave,” Lephema wrote in a letter dated March 26.

The Minister accused Tšoele of ignoring, refusing, or neglecting his instruction. He revealed that a letter placing Rafono on leave was drafted on February 6, but the Principal Secretary refused to sign it.

When additional charges of attempted fraud were filed against the officials on February 12, Lephema demanded action, giving Tšoele a deadline of March 27 to explain his insubordination .

However, in a blistering nine-page legal rebuttal, Tšoele did not back down. Instead, he dismantled the minister’s demands piece by piece, citing Sections 15 and 17 of the Public Service Act of 2005.

“As the Chief Accounting Officer of the ministry, I have a legal duty to ensure that all administrative actions are lawful, procedurally sound, and capable of withstanding scrutiny under the law,” Tšoele wrote.

The Principal Secretary pointed out a critical legal flaw – the concept of “administrative leave” does not exist in Lesotho’s Public Service Regulations of 2008.

“The legally cognisable measures available are suspension or interdiction, both of which require a lawful factual basis,” he stated, warning that any attempt to impose an unrecognized measure would be ultra vires (beyond legal authority) and expose the ministry to costly lawsuits.

Furthermore, Tšoele delivered a stinging rebuke regarding the minister’s reliance on newspaper reports and pending court cases as justification for punishment.

“A media report does not constitute admissible or determinative evidence for purposes of disciplinary proceedings. Similarly, the fact that an officer has been charged does not amount to a finding of guilt,” he wrote, invoking the constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Tšoele revealed that when he consulted the ministry’s legal and human resources officers, they found no “formal complaint dossier, no investigation report, no formulation of charges, and no evidentiary material” to support disciplinary action.

A MINISTER UNDER FIRE

This is not the first time Minister Lephema has found himself in a fiery confrontation over the operations of his ministry. In 2024, Lephema was accused of physically ejecting the Director of Human Resources, Thakane Masupha, from a recruitment office.

Testifying before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the yar, Masupha alleged that Lephema stormed into a room where temporary staff recruitment was taking place, accompanied by Matsieng legislator, Moshe Makotoko.

When Masupha objected to a Member of Parliament (MP) overseeing the hiring of 3 400 temporary workers – process she deemed corrupt – Lephema allegedly “kicked her out” of the office.

“The minister pointed at us and asked where we came from, telling us to go back there. He said I should either follow his directives to the latter or leave,” Masupha testified, claiming that the recruitment process was subsequently manipulated to favour certain candidates.

In a separate recent incident, Lephema was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with fellow MP Mohopoli Monokoane in the National Assembly restrooms over a disputed farming field in Maputsoe, nearly resulting in a fistfight.

THE CORRUPTION SCANDAL

The fraud case at the heart of the current standoff is deeply troubling. Court documents reveal that between July 2024 and July 2025, Thabane allegedly issued refugee certificates to foreign nationals – including Asumani Saleh, Alhaji Karabo, and Besem Arrey – without the required approval from the Minister of Home Affairs.

Prosecutors argue that Thabane then wrote to the National Identification and Civil Registry falsely claiming proper procedures were followed, leading to the unlawful issuance of Lesotho national identity documents to… – Get the rest of this story from Public Eye Newspaper from your nearest store in Lesotho. Copyright – Public Eye News