MASERU – President of the Lesotho Wool and Mohair Growers’ Association, Mokoenehi Thinyane, who faces fraud charges amounting to over M13 million was this week released on a M1 000 bail by the Maseru Magistrate’s Court.
news
Dec. 19, 2019
METRO REPORTER
3 min read
Farmers’ leader in court
Mr Thinyane on Wednesday confirmed both the court appearance and the charge, saying they were related to what the Crown alleged as misdirected dipping levies over the years by the association and South African brokers.
His court appearance follows a spate of accusations by the government, especially the Small Businesses Development Minister, Chalane Phori who contends that despite being collected over the years, the said levies were never remitted to the government of Lesotho.
In recent months, some members of the wool and mohair association have also come forward calling on the government to do a forensic audit of the association’s accounts as they also alleged misappropriation and maladministration of their funds.
In a brief telephone interview on Wednesday, Mr Thinyane could not be drawn to give a detailed account of the alleged crime, only saying he was expected back in court on January 14 next year for remand.
It is therefore still not clear as to whether he faces fraud charges alone or he will be joined by other members of his committee.
The government of Lesotho has since the localisation and regulation of the wool and mohair trade, been accusing SA brokers BKB and the national association of failing to remit millions of Maloti in levies to the state.
In one of his recent presentations before the parliament ad hoc committee, Minister Phori claimed he had evidence to prove that monies were being collected from the farmers, as per their account sale’s slips, adding however, that such deductions were never remitted to the rightful owner, being the government of Lesotho.
The arrest and arraignment of Mr Thinyane has been seen as the opening of floodgates in the ensuing wool and mohair battle which has raged on since the promulgation of the trade regulations in 2018.
Farmers have cried foul of the regulations saying they favoured a Chinese broker who operates from the Thaba Bosiu wool centre.
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But for its part, the government has since opened and approved new licenses with a new amendment to the regulations to be added soon that gives farmers the liberty to sell their produce wherever they wish to, within and beyond Lesotho borders but under the guidance of regulations where export permits and other trade protocols will have to be followed.
Lesotho is one of the top producers of wool and mohair in the world and has over the past 40 plus years engaged in the formal wool trade through South African brokers at the Port Elizabeth auction floors.
The country piloted its local auctions in 2017 and went full-fledged in 2018 where almost 30,000 bales of wool were sold on e-commerce mainly to China, fetching the country over M400 million according to figures published by the Thaba-Bosiu based Lesotho Wool Centre, managed by Chinese merchant Stone Shi.
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