‘Mantšali Phakoana
A whooping M185,250 has vanished from the Lesotho Teachers’ Trade Union (LTTU)’s Mpesa Merchant account.
And this has left union members frothing at the mouth.
Part of the money was contributions paid by members for their accommodation during the Association of Non-Aligned Teachers’ Unions of Southern African (ANTUSA)’s annual Sports and Cultural Exchange programme to be held in Mpumalanga, South Africa from March 27 to 29.
Members had each contributed M700 for self-catering and M800 for accommodation and food.
The trip is now in jeopardy following the disappearance of the money.
LTTU sources said the trade union’s accounts clerk, Lefu Motsoaole, was the only one who had access to the account.
When quizzed, Motsoaole allegedly told the organisation’s National Executive Committee (NEC) that he had lent the money to a relative to pay for access into an illegal mine in Mpumalanga.
The relative had allegedly promised to pay the money back before it was needed by the union.
theReporter has learnt that the LTTU leadership has not opened a police case against Motsoaole.
It has also reportedly made it clear to the frustrated members that it does not have money to pay for their accommodation during the Mpumalanga trip.
Union members who spoke to this publication last week in separate interviews accused the LTTU leadership of taking the matter lightly.
They also described the leadership’s failure to report the matter to police as blatant corruption and negligence.
They are also unhappy that the union only told them about the missing money a month after the incident had occurred.
The disgruntled members want the union leaders to resign immediately, citing their incompetence for failing to safeguard their money.
The members’ frustrations have boiled over as the union’s treasurer, Retšelisitsoe Motloi, resigned from his position with effect from February 28 2024.
“Since I have been in this office from January 2019 till today, I have been serving this office to my best level of integrity. Unfortunately, with the currently prevailing circumstances, I found it worthy for me to resign due to my failure to manage the duties of the clerk (Motsoaole) as I was entrusted to,” Motloi’s resignation letter reads in part.
Sources said Motloi and Motsoaole were authorised by the LTTU NEC to operate the union’s Mpesa Merchant account. However, it was later discovered that only Motsoaole qualified to be the operator because Motloi was not in possession of his Identity Document (ID) when they went to open the account.
The matter has left the union’s executive in a Catch 22 situation and with difficult decisions to make.
It either cancels the Mpumalanga trip and reports Motsoaole to police, or the members top up their contributions and the union pays them back later while it pursues the lawsuit. The union is also considering borrowing money from one of the three transport operators they have partnered with, which will later be paid through membership subscriptions.
Despite the LTTU coming up with these suggestions to save the trip, the members are still agitated and accuse the leadership of gambling with their money.
They only agree with the last option which they are not certain will work, they said.
“We entrusted these people with safeguarding our money. They failed to take responsibility. If it is missing, it is their responsibility to ensure that the trip goes ahead as planned. We do not know how; but our expectations are that and nothing else.
“If they tell us to pay more money on top of what we have already contributed yet we still have food and transport to cater for, it would not be fair because that is all we had budgeted for this trip,” said an angry LTTU member.
“All the members cannot suffer because of one person, and that is our money we are talking about. The NEC seems to be very relaxed about this matter, not unless they were in cahoots with Ntate Lefu (Motsoaole) to misappropriate our money,” the member noted.
Some LTTU members said they are now worried about the future of the union as it was their only hope. They blamed the NEC for entrusting Motsoaole, with such responsibility when they could have given the task to the sports office.
Another member said already there were two factions in the union, with some calling for the dissolution of the current committee before its tenure ends. This would pave way for fresh elections to be held.
“I think this incident has made matters worse and it will be very hard for the NEC to regain our trust.
“What is more disappointing is that our president (Mafokane Ramakhula) is just silent and only the general secretary (‘Mamoholoane Folene) is trying to put out the fire,” said another member.
This publication has audio messages from Folene breaking the sad news to members in a WhatsApp Group.
Folene told the members that the LTTU’s Mpesa Merchant Account was left with M11.11 only.
She noted that the union does not have any other money to use to pay for the members’ accommodation during the trip.
According to Folene, the LTTU was still stuck with other debts including paying service providers for previous events including a gala dinner held last year.
She said the leadership was shattered by the incident and well aware that they needed to take legal action against the accounts clerk. However, they could not get him arrested sooner because they needed the money, for the trip to proceed.
Folene pointed out that having him (Motsoaole) arrested would not give him a chance to communicate or even go to his relative to collect the money.
They would only sue him after he has paid back the money, she explained.
“We tried to talk to Ntate Lefu to bring back the money. I personally even asked him to give me the contacts of the person he says he lent the money to, so I could confirm his allegations and plead with him to return the money but he (Motsoaole) said it would be dangerous for me to talk directly with him.
“I, at some point asked him to go to Mpumalanga to collect the money and still he came back empty-handed and promised to pay between 5 and 10 this March.”
Folene said the union never suspected that Motsoaole could withdraw the union’s money without authorisation.
“I only realised that there was foul play when he refused to give me the statement so that we could reconcile figures and process payment for accommodation during the trip,” she indicated.
However, both the LTTU leadership and members are concerned that it will be too late to pay for accommodation by the time the money is returned.
But contacted for comment again this week, Folene sang a different tune, saying the leadership had finally reported the matter to police.
She however, explained that they did not open a case as they were advised to take a different route, which she declined to divulge.
LTTU president, Ramakhula said the trade union would release a statement pertaining to the matter.
Efforts to get a comment from Motsoaole yesterday through the LTTU office were fruitless. He told this reporter that he could hardly hear the phone and asked that she comes to the office for an interview. But upon arrival, she was informed that Motsoaole had rushed somewhere, without providing further details.
Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) public relations officer, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Kabelo Halahala said if there was no case opened, it would be hard for him to confirm that the LTTU reported the matter.
Teachers from ANTUSA unions in the SADC region; LTTU (Lesotho), BETUZ (Zambia), BOSETU (Botswana), PEU (RSA), PTUZ (Zimbabwe), TUN (Namibia) and UPSEE (Mauritius), are expected to showcase their talents in different sporting codes that include soccer, netball and volleyball. They will also participate in traditional dances, poems, and debate sessions.
