Africa-Press – Lesotho. Muckraker almost fell off her chair when she heard that Simon Thebe-ea-Khale had been arrested for cattle rustling. The shock was not that he was a thief of cattle. Rather, what baffled her was that it had taken him stealing cattle to finally get arrested.
Those whose cattle were stolen must have powerful ancestors because the man got away with stealing half a billion from thousands of Basotho through his MKM Ponzi scheme.
Despite that grand thievery, Thebe-ea-Khale has been roaming the streets unmolested and even getting high-fives. Some of those who lost their money have been calling him a visionary whose business was sabotaged by a jealous government.
Some even voted for him in Hloahloeng in the last election. So why was he arrested for nicking cattle from a few people and not for stealing hundreds of millions from thousands of people?
Of course, we believe that money is not that valuable because it fits in a wallet while cattle have legs. But the real answer is in how we treat thieves in general.
We punish small thieves and celebrate big ones. The people of Motimposo will stone a pickpocket to death but vote for a politician who loot government coffers.
Little wonder we have continued to have the same notorious thieves in government. The rule in Lesotho is that you have to steal big, from either the government or many people, to avoid jail.
For evidence of that rule look no further than the goat thieves wallowing in prisons while big crooks who have stuffed their rotund cheeks with state money are busy debating in parliament.
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