About 20 officers and ex-officers have not received their compensation for injuries sustained on duty since 2008, owing to conflicting legislation governing such matter.
This was revealed yesterday by the Lesotho Defence Force’s (LDF) Major General Ramanka Mokaloba when he appeared before the Portfolio Committee on the Prime Minister’s Ministries and Departments, Governance, Foreign Relations and Information Cluster.
He was responding to a claim filed by ex-private Katiso Cheka who is partially disabled after he was shot by a fellow colleague on the right arm while on duty in 2009.
Cheka who resigned in 2019 sought intervention from the committee after unsuccessful efforts to get his dues. The LDF only paid his resignation benefit of M78,900.01, he says. The total compensation will be determined after the army assesses the degree of his injury.
Major General Mokaloba explained that the LDF Act and the Pension Fund Act used by the army to give out compensation were at odds.
He said that the Pension Fund Act has created a bottleneck, making it difficult for the LDF to process compensation claims.
“We are committed to compensating our injured officers, but the Pension Fund has tied our hands. If the Pension Fund law hadn’t intervened been introduced in 2008, these officers would’ve been paid by now.
“The LDF Act has been hijacked, and we’re powerless to act. We urge this honourable committee to help us resolve this crisis. These officers and their families are suffering, and some have dead without receiving their rightful compensation,” Major General Mokaloba noted.
He explained that military personnel used to be catered for under the LDF Act, which allows them to only pay compensation for partial disability to employees who sustained injury at the workplace. However, the Pension Fund currently being used only pay for fully disability. This means some applicants are left out.
“According to the LDF Act, such employees should follow some procedures, including providing disability decree, which ex-private Cheka did,” he added.
The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1977, provides a separate framework for compensating employees, including army officers, who suffer work-related injuries or occupational diseases. This law requires employers to provide compensation for accidental injuries, occupational diseases, and death resulting from such incidents, operating independently of the pension fund system, which focuses on retirement or disability benefits.
Cheka, one of the three soldiers who were shot by a fellow colleague, one private Panyane, while on patrol in Mokhotlong district, has told the committee that the LDF failed to provide him with counselling following the incident. His two colleagues died during the shooting, and he was left with a 55 percent injury, arthritis, and a non-functional arm.
Cheka recounted that he was admitted to Mokhotlong Hospital, then transferred to Makoanyane Hospital, and later to Queen II (now Maseru District Hospital), where he was told of the extent of his injury.
He was subsequently transferred to the army’s human resources department, where he worked until his resignation, citing that he was no longer fit for the job.
Portfolio Committee on the Prime Minister’s Ministries and Departments, Governance, Foreign Relations and Information Cluster member, Katleho Mabeleng, asked if the transfer was intended to reduce his workload. Cheka responded, “I believe that was the purpose, but still, I felt working at the HR office was a workload, especially with the nature of how the job is done at the LDF.”
Cheka expressed frustration that he has not received his compensation, stating that the LDF had not informed him why.
Committee members expressed that the army had reportedly failed to provide counselling for Cheka and other soldiers involved in the incident, which might instill fear in young recruits.
Machesetsa Mofomobe, a committee member, noted that this portrays as if the LDF does not care about its current and former employees.
Mofomobe added that the LDF was “cruel” for not buying Cheka out and retiring him.
The committee has resolved to engage relevant ministries to solve the matter.
The LDF’s response to Cheka’s claim has shed light on the need for legislative clarity to ensure that army officers receive the compensation they deserve.
