MASERU
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has ordered the Government Assets Search and Recovery Task Team (GASARTT) to speed up legal action against individuals who were compensated for their land but refused to hand over their original site leases.
The directive follows shocking revelations made by GASARTT during a hearing before the PAC this week. The task team disclosed that some people whose land was taken for the construction of the Maseru Bus Stop, and who received new sites in return, have still not surrendered their old leases as required by law.
PAC chairperson Machabana Lemphane-Letsie told GASARTT that the time for excuses had run out. She demanded that the task team give a clear deadline on when the cases would finally be presented before the courts. “This committee insists on seeing progress. The task team must state exactly when these matters will be taken to court. The law cannot continue to be ignored,” Lemphane-Letsie said firmly.
The committee was told that when the government built the new bus stop in Maseru, it compensated affected residents by allocating them new sites elsewhere. These were mainly in Maseru West and the Stadium Area, locations considered of high value. Major Tankiso Lelosa, representing GASARTT, confirmed that the process had been legal, by proper evaluations conducted before new sites were handed over. But he admitted the recovery of old site leases had become a major stumbling block.
“Some of the beneficiaries have kept their old leases instead of surrendering them. We are now working tirelessly to trace them and ensure they comply. If they refuse, the only option left will be to take them to court,” he explained. The PAC warned that failure to surrender the leases meant individuals were unfairly holding onto government property that no longer belonged to them. This, the committee stressed, was a direct loss to the state and a clear case of abuse of public resources.
Committee members expressed concern that the delay could also encourage others to disregard government agreements in future land transactions. “The government cannot compensate people with valuable land and still allow them to keep their old leases. This is double-dipping at the expense of taxpayers,” one PAC member remarked during the heated session.
The task team was urged to act with speed, as the issue has dragged on for years. PAC members argued that clear deadlines and visible progress would restore public trust in how government assets are managed. Lemphane-Letsie told the hearing that allowing such practices to continue unchecked would only weaken confidence in the government’s ability to protect national resources.
“This is not only about sites in Maseru, but about sending a strong message that misuse of state property will not be tolerated. If the courts are involved, let it happen quickly so the law can take its course,” she said. GASARTT, an 11-member team set up in 2023, has a wide mandate to recover state property misused or fraudulently acquired. Its members are drawn from the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), National Security Service (NSS), the Prime Minister’s Office, and several key ministries.
The task team has already uncovered cases involving illegally occupied government houses, fraudulent land allocations, and abuse of state vehicles. The Maseru bus stop leases now add another major case to its growing list. Major Lelosa assured the committee that the task team would continue tracking the individuals who have failed to surrender their leases. He said they were prepared to push the matter to court if voluntary compliance could not be secured.
“We are committed to ensuring that every single site lease that must be returned is handed back. We cannot allow state resources to remain in private hands unlawfully,” he said. For now, the PAC has made it clear: GASARTT must set a date and fast-track the matter to court. Anything less, the committee warned, would amount to failure to protect public property.
As the government intensifies its efforts to clean up misuse of assets, all eyes are now on whether this case will finally move from endless negotiations to firm action in the courts.
