LNDC paid SPT Construction M545,238 for a comprehensive renovation of its Hlotse Residential Outestate. A Certificate of Practical Completion was signed. Less than two years later, the corporation’s own task team found nine major items from the paid scope of work had never been delivered.
This is the first part of a three-part investigation into maintenance expenditure at the LNDC Hlotse Residential Outestate in Leribe. Parts Two and Three examine a second contractor whose payment was reduced without clear explanation, and the procurement process that brought in a third round of service providers in 2022.
Maseru — In July 2020, an official of the Lesotho National Development Corporation signed a Certificate of Practical Completion confirming that renovation work at its Hlotse Residential Outestate had been carried out to the satisfaction of the corporation. The contractor, SPT Construction (Pty) Ltd, had submitted an invoice for M545,238 inclusive of VAT. The paperwork was in order. The approvals were obtained. The money was processed.
Less than two years later, an LNDC task team dispatched to assess the same property in preparation for its use as a regional office found a building that could not host a meeting. The team had to find an alternative venue.
Their internal report, dated February 2022 and reviewed by the Lesotho Tribune, lists nine major items from a prior contractor’s scope of work — each marked, in the corporation’s own words, as “Not done.”
| Line item (from paid scope) | Amount paid |
|---|---|
| Change all plumbing work including manholes and conservancy tank | M18,500 |
| Replace external tiles, rustic pattern brown 350×350mm | M45,500 |
| Roof covering — seal joints, replace damaged timber | M7,000 |
| Electrical work — all internal and external faults, circuit breakers, lighting | M20,800 |
| Carpentry and joinery — replace hardwood doors including frames | M17,500 |
| Repair built-in wardrobe and apply varnish paint (side of gate) | M750 |
| Brickwork — repair kitchen opening, install aluminium sliding with frosted glass | M4,500 |
| Construct veranda with translucent roof covering and brick support piers | M19,100 |
| Rainwater disposal — 100×125mm eaves gutters and brackets | M4,200 |
| Total undelivered (from LNDC internal report) | M137,350 |
Source: Final Hlotse Office Readiness Report, February 2022, LNDC Corporate Services Unit. All items listed with status “Not done.”
“The basic analysis done by the team based on the scope of work for the previous contractor revealed that a lot of items listed on the scope were not done, which is of great concern.”
LNDC task team site visit notes, 10 February 2022That observation appears in the task team’s own site visit notes, written by LNDC representatives who attended the inspection. It is not an allegation from outside. It is the corporation’s internal assessment of its own procurement record.
SPT Construction’s Invoice No. 53, presented under Purchase Order 2543 and dated 1 June 2020, covers 38 line items ranging from internal paintwork and ceiling replacement to plumbing, roof work, floor tiling, electrical repairs, glazing, carpentry, brickwork, and landscaping. The total, inclusive of VAT at 15 percent, is recorded as M545,238. The payment processing approval, signed by the PMO, PM, and GM-PDM, was authorised on 15 July 2020. The Certificate of Practical Completion was signed by the maintenance clerk identified as Ntlamelle, the leasing officer, and SPT Construction’s representative on 22 July 2020.
Yet the February 2022 task team — led by the GM for Corporate Services and comprising officials from across the corporation’s units — found the same structural deficiencies that the 2020 renovation was contracted to address. Exterior plastering with cracks. Rotten and patched rafters stained with black varnish. A sliding door improperly installed, letting in air. A leaking reception ceiling. A major roof leak in the manager’s office. Old and outdated electrical switches that could not be replaced. Uneven wall plastering. External steel cable tubing, described in the report as “an old way of electrifying the building.”
The task team did not mince its language. It noted that the office “was below standard” and recommended an immediate visit by the corporation’s executive committee, led by the CEO, so that leadership could “appreciate the work needed to be done on the building.”
A further anomaly sits within the SPT Construction file itself. Weeks after the Certificate of Practical Completion was signed, the corporation processed a second, separate payment to the same contractor. Under Purchase Order 2576, Invoice No. 54, SPT Construction submitted a claim for roof paint at the Hlotse Residential Outestate, dated 12 July 2020. The work described — scraping old paint, applying liquid cleaner, primer coat, and high-quality roof paint in three coats — attracted a total of M33,200.
The Lesotho Tribune has reviewed both invoice versions. Same invoice number, same date, same contractor — three different totals. LNDC has not responded to questions regarding the discrepancy.
The Lesotho Tribune has submitted questions to LNDC regarding the discrepancy between the two invoice versions, the basis on which the amount processed differs from both, and what oversight mechanism, if any, was applied to verify that the 38 items in Invoice 53 had in fact been completed before the Certificate of Practical Completion was signed.
The corporation’s maintenance clerk, Ntlamelle, whose signature appears on multiple completion certificates and payment processing documents across the contracts reviewed by this investigation, is central to the paper trail. The Tribune has asked LNDC whether the clerk was the sole verifier of completed works, and whether an independent inspection was conducted before any payments were released.
What the documents establish, without ambiguity, is that LNDC’s own officials visited the property in February 2022 and found it in a condition inconsistent with the completion certificates signed in mid-2020. The corporation’s internal records do not account for this gap.
The questions raised by Part One are straightforward. If the work was completed to the satisfaction of the corporation in July 2020, why did the same structural deficiencies persist in February 2022? If the work was not completed, who authorised the Certificate of Practical Completion and on what basis? And what happened to the more than M137,000 worth of line items that the corporation’s own task team subsequently found had never been done?
“The service providers’ findings have shown that if the LNDC continues to refurbish the office without attending to the identified structural deficiencies, then the items like the office furniture, materials and equipment will continue to be damaged as a cost to the corporation.”
ChurchBoy Creations assessment report, submitted to LNDC, February 2022That warning was written not by a journalist or an auditor but by one of the interior design firms invited to assess the property for yet another round of renovation work. By that point, the building had already absorbed the better part of M600,000 in maintenance expenditure. A second contractor would soon absorb more.
The Lesotho Tribune has written to LNDC seeking comment on the findings set out in this article. The corporation had not responded at the time of publication.
“`
