Africa-Press – Lesotho. The government of Lesotho has decided to pay the M10 million owned to wool and mohair farmers that wool and mohair broker, Stone Shi failed to pay on time.
According to the Minister of Small Business Development, Cooperatives and Marketing Chief Thesele Maseribane, Shi also the owner of Maseru Dawning has signed an acknowledgement
of the debt. “The M10 530 766 amount was approved by the Cabinet on April 6th to pay thousands of wool and mohair farmers who did not receive their payments
in the 2018/19 financial year,” Maseribane said. The Minister also apologized to the farmers for not fulfilling its promise of processing the payments on April 7th as was stated saying there were
some unforeseen challenges that the ministry had to deal with. “However, the processes that had to be undertaken in order for the wool and mohair farmers
and Basotho in general to appreciate the journey that was taken in processing payment of wool and mohair farmers for 2018/19 financial year have been outlined,” he added.
“Mr. Stone Shi has acknowledged and signed the agreement and in order for the
payment vouchers to be processed at the Ministry of Finance, the agreement has been sent to Principal Secretary also to sign and the Ministry of Small Business
Development, Cooperatives and Marketing to witness,” he stated. ‘Maseribane noted that Shi would face serious consequences if he fails to settle his debt
as expected. He further said 759 payment vouchers have been processed for payment, awaiting the contract to return from the Ministry of Finance. He continued to say that wool and mohair farmers’ accounts and their balances have
been verified jointly by the ministry and they will be paid through the following banks, Lesotho Post Bank (LPB), Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB) and First
National Bank (FNB). Out of the 759 farmers to be paid, 643 will be paid using SLB, 114 LPB and 2 FNB. ‘Maseribane added that farmers with no accounts,
inactive accounts and closed accounts are 1 810. “All wool and mohair farmers with wrong banking details and inactive accounts will be paid directly through shearing sheds. Shearing sheds will compile the list of such farmers,” he said.
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