Africa-Press – Lesotho. It was only a matter of time before Mr Softie’s sikorokoro government hit another pothole. It has no intention of giving this country a breather. While we are still smarting from the embarrassing seizure of our international assets our diplomats in South Africa have contrived to smear the country’s reputation by running shebeens.
Instead of representing the country, they have turned into shebeen queens and kings. They have been using their diplomatic privilege to buy and sell duty-free alcohol.
Now their shenanigans have been discovered and they have been booted out of South Africa. Mr Softie’s government is in sixes and sevens as it scrambles for a credible response to this diplomatic crisis.
True to its nature, the government is running around like a headless chicken. As we have come to expect, the government has issued yet another inane statement which however has some tickling tit-bits.
The most hilarious bit of the statement is where the government disassociates itself from the diplomats’ actions. This is in sync with the government’s response to crises.
It doesn’t take responsibility for the actions of its employees. It only hogs the credit. Those diplomats are an extension of Lesotho in South Africa.
And as such, the government cannot separate itself from their actions. Those diplomats are the government’s babies to kiss. The government cannot wash itself of their disgraceful act.
There is no need to investigate why this scandal happened because the answer is clear. This is what happens when you turn diplomatic missions into halfway homes for political appointees.
The government has been parcelling out diplomatic posts to political functionaries with zilch experience. Functionally illiterate rogues have found their way into diplomatic posts because they are related to someone in the ruling party or they sing loudest at political rallies.
The scum of the scum is representing our country. It is therefore not shocking that some have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The brazenness of their illegal activities clearly shows that they have morsels of manure in their brains.
Any diplomat, the proper ones and not rascals, would know that their actions are being watched. It is the host country’s business to know what foreign diplomats are doing within their borders.
Yet this obvious fact did not register to our diplomats who were buying alcohol in gallons and reselling it to restaurants and bars. It takes a certain brand of idiocy for a diplomat to think they can violate tax and diplomatic regulations without the host government noticing.
As it turns out, the South African government has also been aware of their illicit project for years. Some are rationalising this illegality by claiming that the diplomats are underpaid.
That is BS. Our diplomats have loads of benefits that are not enjoyed by other civil servants. But even if they are underpaid, the question to ask is why they accepted the posts in the first place.
They knew what they would be earning when they signed the contracts. This is about greed. Some are saying it’s not that bad because diplomats from other countries have been caught doing the same and have been kicked out.
That is not the point. What matters is what our diplomats did. What other diplomats did is between them and their countries. We must deal with our scallywags.
Our nincompoops have soiled the country’s reputation. But don’t you dare think anything drastic will happen to those shebeen queens and kings when they come home.
After all, the same political connections that got them deployed will shield them from prosecution and dismissal. They will be hidden in the civil service to cool off while waiting for the next deployment.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
