Corrupt PS Loses Court Battle Against Phaks JV

Principal Secretary of Energy, Tankiso Phapano, who is allegedly extremely corrupt, has suffered a legal setback after the High Court sitting in Leribe declined to hear the Ministry’s case against Phaks Joint Venture, the contractor at the centre of a controversial energy project. In a judgment delivered on 4 November 2025, Justice Mokhoro ruled that the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter, since the original contract between the parties contains a binding arbitration clause. The court dismissed the government’s application with costs, saying the Ministry of Energy should have triggered arbitration when the dispute first arose. The case, numbered CCA/0006/2025ND, was brought by the Principal Secretary of Energy, the Minister of Energy, and the Attorney General against Phaks Joint Venture. The Ministry had asked the court to intervene following disagreements over a terminated contract, but the judge said the law was clear, the dispute should go through arbitration, not litigation. According to the ruling, an addendum known as “TP 5” confirmed that the original contract remained binding, including the clause that requires disputes to be settled through arbitration. Justice Mokhoro cited...