(MENAFN- The Post)
MASERU – THE government has cancelled the work permit for the Engen Lesotho's boss.
Tebogo Mosehla's work permit was cancelled last week, barely five months after he took over as the managing director of Engen Lesotho.
Mosehla, South African, replaced Theodore Molapo who took early retirement in August last year after more than 20 years with the company.
He was granted the permit last December amid howls of protest from some stakeholders in the fuel sector who felt there were Basotho who could do the job.
Others griped that giving Mosehla a permit to replace a Mosotho was a blatant reversal of the government's policy to localise the sector.
thepost can reveal that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Selemo Mangobe, cancelled Mosehla's permit on April 20 and gave him 24 hours to surrender his work permit card to the ministry.
The letter shows that Mangobe, who was appointed on April 7, was merely implementing a decision made by his predecessor, Moshe Leoma, who is now Minister of Local Government.
“The decision was based on our discovery of your failure to disclose material facts which were important for consideration of your work permit application,” Mangobe said in the letter.
He said the ministry had extensive consultations with Mosehla before the decision to revoke his permit. The minister said his decision was based on Sections 166 (3) and 9 (1) of the Labour Code Order 1992.
Section 166 (3) says a work permit“may be cancelled or extended at the discretion of the Labour Commissioner”.
Section 9 (1) gives the minister the authority“to exercise any power authorised by the Code or any other written law”.
Although Mangobe doesn't say what“material facts” were not disclosed in the application, sources told thepost that the decision came after an investigation by the ministry revealed that Mosehla had started working before the permit was granted.
Similar allegations were made on a local radio station weeks before the permit was awarded.
thepost also understands that Leoma, Mangobe's predecessor, was also under immense pressure from labour unions to revoke the permit.
In February, the Lesotho Workers Association (Lewa) wrote to Leoma to complain about his decision to grant the permit.
In a February 14 letter, Lewa said Mosehla should not have been granted a permit“before the Ministry could have conducted due diligence on whether or not there is no local person who can hold the same position”.
The union cited Section 166 (2) of the Labour Code which stipulates that“Before the Labour Commissioner may grant a non-citizen of Lesotho a certificate of employment (work permit), the National Employment Service must certify that no citizen of Lesotho is at that time qualified and available for the employment in question”.
The union said Mosehla's position was not advertised to give locals a fair shot at the job and senior managers at the company were not promoted.
“The company had deliberately not promoted or trained any local person who would hold that position at the time Mr Molapo was leaving the office,” the union said.
Lewa said this was Engen Lesotho's strategy to give the position to a foreigner.
Last December, Leoma told this paper that several fuel dealers had lobbied him to give Mosehla a permit on the basis that he would“help them grow the business in Lesotho to another level”.
Leoma said the dealers were unanimous that Mosehla“should be given a chance”.“It was only after hearing their views that we decided to give him the two-year contract,” he said.
Lewa's letter to Leoma however indicated that the union had another reason for wanting Mosehla out of Engen Lesotho. The union said Mosehla had started harassing union members at Engen
Lesotho immediately after getting the permit.
It accused Mosehla of not appreciating the importance of“harmonious relations between the employee and the employer”.
The union said Mosehla had given several employees“show cause letters” based on allegations of acts of misconduct that happened in June 2020.
It said the fact that Mosehla was only taking disciplinary action against the employees two years after the alleged incidents shows that there is a“hidden agenda and the actual charge was a mere pretext”.
Hlalefang Seoaholimo, the general secretary of Lewa, said the union was thrilled by the minister's decision.
“We consider this a victory as a union because we believe the procedure was not followed when the permit was granted,” Seoaholimo said.
“On top of that, he was targeting employees for disciplinary action over things that happened some years before he was appointed. He clearly could not manage relations between the company and its employees.”
Staff Reporter
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