Africa-Press – Lesotho. Not even Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro’s office is immune from the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) aggressive push to get defaulting clients pay off their debts.
Last Friday, the Prime Minister’s office at the Qhobosheaneng Government Complex was plunged into darkness as the LEC upped the ante in its push to get the government to pay.
The LEC declined to disclose how much the government owes for its electricity bill. The power cut to Majoro’s office is part of the LEC’s campaign to force debtors who include the government, parastatals, private companies and private homes, to pay.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Buta Moseme, said their electricity was switched off on Friday morning. “The LEC was owed electricity and so they shut down the electricity until the payment is fully done,” Moseme said.
The LEC’s spokesman, Makhetha Motšoari, told thepost that they had launched a campaign of switch off electricity for all defaulting clients. “People must be warned that soon we will (switch off) places on a larger scale,” Motšoari said.
He declined to reveal how much the government owes. “The figures are customer-LEC secrets,” he said. He also said they need the money to help improve LEC operations as they buy electricity at a higher cost and sell to Basotho at a lower cost.
“If we do not close the places until they pay we will end up failing to pay our staff, let alone buying electricity,” he said.
Motšoari also confirmed that many government ministries and departments owe the LEC millions of maloti “and starting from last year we have been cutting off power to many of them”.
“We have cut the electricity in several companies and private homes also,” Motšoari said. This is not the first time the LEC has switched off power in government offices.
In April this year the LEC cut electricity at the High Court because it was owed M1.3 million. Last year the company cut power at the Moshoeshoe I International Airport for an undisclosed amount of debt.
Starting from February last year the LEC started a campaign to recover hundreds of millions of maloti in unpaid connection fees from its prepaid customers.
The LEC managing director Mohato Seleke said at the time the company had recovered M80 million of the M175 million that was owed by postpaid customers.
The company was owed M265 million when it embarked on the debt recovery campaign last year and many of its customers had their electricity disconnected.
At the time Seleke said government ministries and departments had outstanding bills amounting to M50 million when he kick-started the crusade in February last year.
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