By Neo Kolane
The cable theft at Afriski Mountain Resort may have adversely affected the livelihoods of almost 60 employees as these cables are vital to the operations of the resort’s winter season.
Afriski has experienced previous cable theft occurrence in May 2020 and February this year, which amount to losses of over half a million Maloti.
Afriski Mountain Resort, one of the biggest tourism attractions in Lesotho, suffered three cable theft attacks since May 2020.
A statement issued by the resort on Monday stated the most recent cable theft attack occurred in the early hours of the morning on March 11. Specialized cables, used for snow making, were cut and removed from the property.
“The resort joined forces with the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), who were accommodated at Afriski to assist with night patrols of the area. In the early morning hours of March 11, LDF and the resort came across suspicious activity on the ski slope, cables that had been cut and a black Audi sedan parked nearby. Thankfully the culprit was caught on Friday, March 12 and will appeared in the Magistrates court this week.”
According to Afriski, shots were fired by the LDF towards the fleeing thieves. One man hurt his leg in the process and ended up at the Letśeng Police Station.
“In the meantime, the incident was reported to the ‘Muela Police Station and thanks to swift communication between the two, the thief was interrogated at the scene and made a full confession to all previous and current cable theft incidents.
“The perpetrator was taken into custody at the ‘Muela Police Station and appeared in the magistrate’s court on Monday, he received bail of M500 maloti and M3000 surety from the court.”
