Assets recovery team vindicated

MOTSAMAI MOKOTJO

MASERU – Magistrate ‘Marethabile Leseo-Rantja’s judgment  has vindicated the Government Assets Search Recovery Task Team (GASRTT) in a case in which Chief Malimatle Molapo sought to bar the team from investigating the ownership of a prime piece of land in Hlotse.

GASRTT had been accused of Gestapo tactics in their legal tussle with Molapo.

The Gestapo was Adolf Hitler’s official secret police, renowned for using inhumane atrocities against Jews during World War II.

“They should do investigations by themselves, not ask me to help them.  The Land Administration Authority (LAA) has a database of sites from which they should seek information,” Chief Molapo had earlier told this publication, adding that the site was given to him in 1985 and was only approved three years later.

“I asked them (GASRTT) whether they have any legal instrument to substantiate their work. However, such was not produced,” he said.

Magistrate Leseo-Rantja delivered the judgment on May 7, imposing costs on Molapo, paving the way for the team to investigate the ownership of the site in question.

On April 9 Senator Pontšo Mathealira made startling revelations during a sitting of the Senate in which the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Limpho Tau, was asked about the mandate of the GASRTT.

“The behaviour of the team is despicable. I am trying to figure out under what legal mechanisms they operate. They came to my place fully armed with guns, insisting to the chief that the site in question belongs to the government.

Subsequently, when we had to have discussions, they broke the door to my office wielding guns,” Mathealira said.

GASRTT vehemently denied the allegations.

GASRTT Deputy Chairperson, Moepana Kopo, told this publication last week that what Mathealira said was a fallacy similar to the ones in children’s fairy-tale books.

“I don’t even carry a gun to work. Why and where would I get hold of heavy artillery weapons? It’s like there’s a trap for us to fail in conducting our duties,” Kopo said.

Chief Molapo has, however, been adamant that the team used bullying tactics, hence, he went to court in a move to ensure that Kopo and his colleagues desist from asking him questions.

Astonishingly, Minister Tau decided to omit these issues related to bureaucracy and budget as well as resource mobilisation in his presentation before the Senate on April 9.

He, amongst other issues of interest, told the Senate that the team has facilitated a new survey of 140 government sites by the now defunct Land Survey and Physical Planning (LSPP) around Maseru that were left vulnerable to being taken illegally.

“25 sites were recovered from people who were illegally occupying them; some cases are still under investigation, out of which 10 criminal cases have been completed and are awaiting approval by the public prosecutions,” the minister’s presentation indicated.

He continued that “the team’s mandate has not been thoroughly communicated to supporting ministries to assume its rightful value and level of importance; hence, it becomes difficult for the team to get expected reception for needed services. Most follow-ups are not attended to, and the team is referred back to higher authorities.”

Tau said the team’s budget had been drawn but was never approved. Improvising on a few occasions, his office has had to allow the team to run its operations from its budget.

It has been decided that this arrangement will continue in 2024/2025 on a full scale; however, the team is not able to make accommodation bookings outside Maseru because of debts accrued by this office.

The presentation also flagged lack of vehicles since the team has been allocated only two and “security risks, intimidation, character assassination, and possible persecution upon regime change.

Tau was not reachable when contacted for comment on these latest developments.

GASRTT was established through a cabinet decision to take stock of all properties belonging to government in a bid to reduce wastage.

Tau announced later in March 2023, that government had established an 11-member task team meant to investigate and reclaim its assets.

“The team has hit the ground running and is leaving no stone unturned in our quest to recover government assets that were acquired unlawfully by individuals since independence in 1966,” Tau said during a press briefing.