{"id":34754,"date":"2023-10-12T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T18:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal"},"modified":"2023-10-12T18:33:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T18:33:16","slug":"transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","title":{"rendered":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-payment. Some of the operators told parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that they were last paid 10 months ago.<\/p>\n

They said some banks that had given them loans to buy the vehicles were now blacklisting them for failure to service their loans. There are about 400 fleet suppliers who have rented out their vehicles to the government.<\/p>\n

The operators told the PAC that they were fully aware that any decision to withdraw the vehicles would deliver a serious blow to the government\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis deal has bankrupted us and left us blacklisted by the banks,\u201d\u2019Makhotso Molefe, who spoke on behalf of the transport operators, told the PAC. Molefe said most of them got loans from Lesotho Post Bank and some of them have not been able to service their loans for the past 10 months.<\/p>\n

Molefe said they want to get their arrears and credits paid so that they can terminate the four-year deal with the government \u201cand go try business elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been blacklisted by all the banks because of the deal with the government,\u201d Molefe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have interests on arrears, we are damaged,\u201d she said. She pleaded with those responsible to start first by paying the overdue invoices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the credits and arrears must be paid so that we go and start our businesses afresh elsewhere. This was a fraud,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She complained that the drivers, hired by the government, never notify them when the vehicles\u2019 brake pads are worn off. \u201cThey drive the car until it is damaged beyond repair,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another owner, Lebohang Motaung, told the committee that the delay to process their payments has caused them financial ruin as arrears never stop. \u201cSome of us were never paid for 10 months and others for five months,\u201d Motaung said.<\/p>\n

Motaung said they have to incur the service and repair costs at a time when they are not being paid. Another businessman, Makama Monese, told the committee that the Finance Ministry\u2019s principal secretary, Nthoateng Lebona, \u201cis very cruel\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe used to pass us in the passage in her office, we were never helped,\u201d Monese said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vehicle is never paid on time, but our contract says the vehicles would be paid before the 15th of every month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said his car was last paid in April 2023. \u201cNow it is September without pay. \u201d He complained that he recently paid M6 000 to service his vehicle yet the government never pays them.<\/p>\n

The Lesotho Post Bank manager of Business Banking, Tumelo Mahooe, said the agreement was for the vehicles to be paid monthly so that the bank could take its charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe delay to pay calls for arrears and they are later charged penalties,\u201d Mahooe said. He also said their loan books are full of vehicle credits because many of them are still owed.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Finance principal secretary Nthoateng Lebona told the committee that most of the unpaid vehicles \u201clack the necessary procurement tools and documents to allow for their payments\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said some did not have valid contracts. Lebona said they need proper documentation before processing payments. She said they have about 400 vehicles under the deal.<\/p>\n

She also said they owe a lot of money to ministries despite the government\u2019s directive to pay urgently \u201cbecause the chief accounting officers do not comply with proper procurement procedures\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lebona said it is because of failure by chief accounting officers in government ministries to furnish her with relevant documents that the funds requested by those ministries to pay vehicle owners have not been paid.<\/p>\n

She said her ministry owes the Justice Ministry M583 000, Home Affairs M216 000, Prime Minister\u2019s Office M1.9 million, Communications M18 000, Forestry M216 000, Energy M425 000, Local Government M58 000, and Social Development M270 000.<\/p>\n

She also said they are awaiting credits from the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) and the Cabinet Office as they need to be consolidated. \u201cWe are working hard with Treasury to ensure that the vehicle credits are centralised so that payments are done without queries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also said her ministry has asked chief accounting officers to ensure that all the documents are available before payments to avoid problems. \u201cThe Treasury has found out that most of the vehicle submissions documents are inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201d Lebona said invoices are needed before payments so that the expired contracts are detected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have instructed the chief accounting officers to comply and provide the necessary documentation several times, but they never comply.<\/p>\n

\u201d Lebona added that they have also asked the African Development Bank to send an expert to come and advise on how the matter could be solved.<\/p>\n

She said the supplementary budget of about M500 million was recently done to pay suppliers, including those who rented out their vehicles to the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transactions cannot be done where there is lack of documentation or where the procurement procedures were not followed,\u201d she 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. Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-payment. Some of the operators told parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that they were last paid 10 months ago. They said some banks that had given them loans to buy the vehicles were now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":34752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7],"tags":[233,246,424,245],"class_list":["post-34754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-government","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nTransport owners cry over car rental deal - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...\" \/>\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\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transport owners cry over car rental deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\" \/>\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=\"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Transport owners cry over car rental deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\"},\"wordCount\":848,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"government\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\",\"name\":\"Transport owners cry over car rental deal - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Transport owners cry over car rental deal\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Transport owners cry over car rental deal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal - Lesotho","description":"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal","og_description":"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal","datePublished":"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal"},"wordCount":848,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","government","Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","economy","head lines"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal","name":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-12T18:05:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-12T18:33:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Transport operators who rented their vehicles to the government have threatened to withdraw their vehicles over non-paym ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1697122379.734953.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/transport-owners-cry-over-car-rental-deal#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Transport owners cry over car rental deal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}