{"id":32505,"date":"2023-08-13T15:01:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T15:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol"},"modified":"2023-08-13T15:18:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T15:18:21","slug":"master-goes-awol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol","title":{"rendered":"Master goes AWOL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THE Assistant Master of the High Court in Qacha\u2019s Nek, Liteboho Rafutho, is at the centre of a raging storm with residents accusing him of going AWOL.<\/p>\n

Magistrates and other judicial officers confirmed to thepost this week that Rafutho hops in and out of his office and has not been coming to work consistently in the last six months.<\/p>\n

The Master is responsible for the administration of deceased and insolvent estates, protection of property of minors and administration of the guardian fund.<\/p>\n

Without his intervention, critical cases that involve deceased estates cannot be resolved. In a daring act, Rafutho has displayed on his office door his mobile phone number with an instruction to call him when seeking services.<\/p>\n

Residents said once you call him, he instructs you to come and see him in his office. But even after setting the appointment, residents said Rafutho still fails to keep his word.<\/p>\n

When thepost reporter called him, he never pitched up. \u201cCome back tomorrow, I am on my way to Qacha,\u201d Rafutho said. But he was still not there the following day.<\/p>\n

When the reporter told him the real intention of her call, Rafutho said he was on two weeks\u2019 leave but insisted that he had been hands on before he went on leave.<\/p>\n

Probed further, Rafutho said: \u201cI am not sure whether I am allowed to talk to the media, let me call my boss first. \u201d His boss, Master of the High Court \u2019Matahleho Matiea, told this paper that she was aware of the situation in Qacha\u2019s Nek and was working to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell your informants to write their complaints including their contacts and leave them with either the DA or the clerk,\u201d Matiea said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will collect them in two weeks\u2019 time in order to act,\u201d she said. Service seekers told thepost that they were on the verge of losing hope.<\/p>\n

Sello Phakoe of Hloahloeng, who had travelled for almost three hours to Qacha\u2019s Nek, said he was desperate to get a letter from the Master\u2019s office so that he could access monies his late mother left him.<\/p>\n

Phakoe, whose home is about 60 kilometres away said her mother\u2019s bank had asked him to bring a letter from the Master. \u201cI had to go back home empty-handed,\u201d Phakoe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have to wait until I am called as I was asked to leave my contacts there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the wait isn\u2019t helping me at all. I need help to get the letter. \u201d Tumo Khoeli of Motse-Mocha in Qacha\u2019s Nek town said he went there for the first time on a Monday and the office was closed.<\/p>\n

But since the assistant Master had displayed his contacts at the office door he called him and Rafutho instructed him to come back the following Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back but he was still not there,\u201d Khoeli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked around in the nearby offices about his whereabouts, it was then that I learnt that he is never there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not the only one who has been lied to.<\/p>\n

\u201d Khoeli said he called Rafutho again and he gave him the very same answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was then that I gave up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heart-breaking to seek services from a person who lacks compassion for people.<\/p>\n

\u201d The nearest Master\u2019s office is in Quthing, some 111 kilometres away.<\/p>\n

Khoeli said he wanted the Master to help his relative, who has now attained the age of maturity, to get a letter to allow him to access funds left behind by his late parents.<\/p>\n

The relative, Khoeli said, was in the country and now he has since returned to South Africa without having met the Master. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Magistrate\u2019s Court Senior Clerk, Mantsi Mokhachane, said a lot of people have returned to their homes without getting any assistance from the office.<\/p>\n

He said some people go to his office for help and he is unable to assist them. \u201cIt is disruptive having to deal with another office\u2019s issues,\u201d Mokhachane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even remember the last time I saw him, it\u2019s been over six months, close to a year now,\u201d he said. He said he attended a meeting at the High Court in Maseru recently and told Matiea about the problems in Qacha\u2019s Nek.<\/p>\n

Resident Magistrate \u2019Mampho Mokoena said since her arrival in January 2022, she only saw Rafutho in December and two times thereafter. Since then, she said the office has been unoccupied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really did not do anything about it because I wasn\u2019t aware it is a problem,\u201d Magistrate Mokoena said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed that\u2019s how his office operates, coming to work once in a while or whenever there is a need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Ts\u030celiso Bale said he arrived in the district in March this year and he has received a lot of complaints from people in need of services offered in that office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen people spending the whole day outside his office. I even confronted him and called his boss twice about the matter,\u201d Magistrate Bale said.<\/p>\n

The District Administrator Mantsi Ts\u030ceane said he has reported Rafutho over five times. \u201cUnfortunately nothing has been done to address this issue despite my cry for help,\u201d Ts\u030ceane said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Assistant Master of the High Court in Qacha\u2019s Nek, Liteboho Rafutho, is at the centre of a raging storm with residents accusing him of going AWOL. Magistrates and other judicial officers confirmed to thepost this week that Rafutho hops in and out of his office and has not been coming to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7],"tags":[233,246,245,568],"class_list":["post-32505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-people"],"yoast_head":"\nMaster goes AWOL - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE Assistant Master of the High Court in Qacha\u2019s Nek, Liteboho Rafutho, is at the centre of a raging storm with residen ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Master goes AWOL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE Assistant Master of the High Court in Qacha\u2019s Nek, Liteboho Rafutho, is at the centre of a raging storm with residen ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-13T15:01:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-13T15:18:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1691927219.655902.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Master goes AWOL\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-13T15:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-13T15:18:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\"},\"wordCount\":902,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1691927219.655902.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"people\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/master-goes-awol\",\"name\":\"Master goes AWOL - 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