The Big Covid Looting Scandal

(MENAFN- The Post) An academic hired to lead the National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) racked up a M900 000 hotel bill that the government is now struggling pay.

Dr Catherine Lephoto, a Mosotho microbiologist allegedly headhunted from her base in South Africa, was also paid M120 000 per month.

Her salary, benefits and hotel bill cost the government a staggering M1.6 million over six months.

The details of her seemingly living large when other Basotho were on lockdown in their homes and others were losing their jobs were revealed during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)'s hearing on Tuesday.

The revelations can be seen as further evidence that Nacosec was a trough for frenzied feeding rather than an institution to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are already reports and allegations of grand looting through rigged tenders as well as hugely inflated prices of goods and services supplied to the now defunct secretariat.

Reatile Elias, who was NACOSEC's human resources manager, told the committee that Dr Lephoto moved into Avani Lesotho after rejecting two rented houses offered by the government.

Elias said Dr Lephoto rejected the houses for“safety and security reasons” and insisted on staying at Avani Lesotho with her two children.

“We had to place them at the Avani hotel because there is free Wi-Fi for the children's online classes,” Elias said.

The government however still had to pay rent for the two houses because it had already signed leases with landlords.

Elias said Dr Lephoto was headhunted by Thabo Khasipe, who had been seconded from his position as commissioner general of Revenue Services Lesotho to be Nacosec's chief executive.
He said Khasipe made a presentation to the cabinet, arguing that he urgently needed Dr Lephoto to help NACOSEC contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I was instructed to make preparations to fetch her from Johannesburg to Maseru and I did,” Elias said.

Asked by 'Machabana Lemphane-Letsie, the committee chairperson, if he had Khasipe's cabinet presentation, Elias insisted that his role was to follow instructions.

''I was instructed to facilitate her coming to help combat Covid-19 and that was sufficient to me at the time,” he said, adding that Khasipe's email was“clear that we should provide her with accommodation”.

Dr Malitabe Litabe, the Ministry of Health's director of health services, told the committee that Dr Lephoto's services and expertise were not required at NACOSEC.

“We needed nurses and doctors at the time and not a PhD holder,” Dr Litabe said.

She said at one point she wrote Dr Lephoto a“show cause letter” after she stopped coming to work while claiming to be working remotely from South Africa.

Dr Litabe said Dr Lephoto's response was to instruct her lawyers to demand some money from her.

''I then wrote her a letter to explain why she could not be expelled. Instead of responding, Dr Lephoto engaged her lawyers who demanded a M14 000 taxation fee from me. I also went to court to counter it,” Dr Litabe said.

It is not clear what Dr Litabe meant by“M14 000 taxation fees” and what it was for.

Mpontšeng Pama-Letsoela, the Ministry of Health's deputy human resources manager, told the committee that Dr Lephoto's hiring was“a waste of money” because NACOSEC needed“nurses who work on the ground”.

Pama-Letsoela said Dr Lephoto used to clash with some employees“who sometimes refused to give her results because she is not a nurse”.

She said Nacosec could have used the ministry's staff instead of“wasting money” by hiring Dr Lephoto.

“They could have recruited someone among us and given them an allowance of at least M30 000 for risking their life and working extra hours”.

“Civil servants would not want a M120 000 salary and that extravagant accommodation”.

Committee member Montoeli Masoetsa described Dr Lephoto's salary as“an act of corruption”.

Napo Moshoeshoe, another member of the committee, said the previous government should take the blame for allowing Dr Lephoto to stay at a hotel for six months“just so that she could have access to free Wi-Fi”.

Although NACOSEC was supposed to fight Covid-19 there have been allegations that it became a vehicle for plunder, with senior officials allegedly tinkering with procurement rules to benefit themselves and their cronies.

More evidence of the alleged chicanery is likely to be revealed as the PAC's hearings continue.

Nkheli Liphoto

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