{"id":4995,"date":"2021-10-25T08:40:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T08:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal"},"modified":"2021-10-25T15:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:17:00","slug":"majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal","title":{"rendered":"Majoro sets up probe into solar deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro has established a commission of inquiry into events that led to the signing of the \u201cpurported agreement of supply\u201d between government and a German solar company Frazer Solar. The contentious agreement, which the government is accused of breaching, has put Lesotho\u2019s international assets worth over M800 at stake.<\/p>\n

The commission of inquiry, according to a legal notice, will consist of High Court Judge, Justice Molefi Makara, as chairperson, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Mohlabi Tsekoa and Advocate Sekake Malebanye.<\/p>\n

\u201cPursuant to Section 3(1) of the Public Inquiries Act, 1994, I, Moeketsi Majoro Prime Minister of Lesotho, appoint a commission of inquiry into events that led to the signing of the purported agreement of supply between the Government of Lesotho and services of notices in respect of the matter before arbitration and subsequent arbitration award,\u201d reads part of the Legal Notice No 66 of 2021.<\/p>\n

Frazer Solar claims it signed an agreement in 2018 with Lesotho to provide as many as 40 000 solar water-heating systems, 20MW of solar photovoltaic capacity, one million LED lights and 350 000 solar lanterns.<\/p>\n

It began legal action against Lesotho in 2019 after what it said were a series of contractual breaches. The German firm won arbitration proceeding in South Africa, in which it was awarded the damages, it said last month.<\/p>\n

It said while the German government agreed to finance the programme, Lesotho\u2019s ministry of finance failed to execute the project\u2019s financial arrangement and the Lesotho government had not engaged the legal process.<\/p>\n

The company said that while an assessment of the damages it incurred amounted to \u20ac102m it was awarded \u20ac50m (about M856 million). Frazer Solar has begun seizing Lesotho\u2019s assets abroad in order to enforce payment of \u20ac50m in contractual damages.<\/p>\n

It has reportedly already taken control of royalties that Lesotho earns on water and power supplies to South Africa, after a United States of America court gave it the go-ahead last month to employ tactics similar to those used by creditors to chase countries that have defaulted on their debts. International asset seizures have increasingly become part of enforcing contracts against governments, including in Africa.<\/p>\n

The commission established by Majoro, who was finance minister from 2017 to May 2020, will inquire into and investigate how Frazer Solar was introduced to the government of Lesotho including the persons in the country who were involved in the events that led to the signing, and enabled the company to lodge claims against the government of Lesotho.<\/p>\n

It will also investigate the events which led to the signing of the purported agreement, whether the person or official who concluded the agreement on behalf of Lesotho had the legal authority or approval from authorized authority to do so and if not, \u201cwas there any undue interest or influence received by any person\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement last month Frazer Solar said in August 2018, it met with then Prime Minister Tom Thabane and then Minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office Temeki T\u0161olo to discuss a detailed presentation of the project and setting out the benefits, energy and cost savings it would bring about.<\/p>\n

In September 2018, according to the company, following negotiations, a written supply agreement was concluded, signed by Robert Frazer on behalf of Frazer Solar, and Minister T\u0161olo on behalf of Lesotho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe financing agreement with KFW would be finalised by the Minister of Finance,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

It further indicated that in October 2018, it wrote to the Ministry of Finance to establish the reasons for the delay in finalising the finance agreements. It was told by the ministry that the project required cabinet support and leadership from the Ministry of Energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this support had already been confirmed by the office of the Prime Minister, which could not explain the ministry\u2019s refusal to execute the financial agreement,\u201d Frazer Solar said.<\/p>\n

Following Dr Majoro\u2019s alleged refusal to approve the project, Frazer Solar said it was left with no choice but to commence arbitration proceedings in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister\u2019s press attach\u00e9, Buta Moseme, told Public Eye yesterday that the commission is fully gazetted and \u201cwill resume its work once all the logistics have been sorted\u201d.<\/p>\n

The commission will also inquire into whether there was compliance with relevant legal or administrative procedures and established practices of the laws of Lesotho by all key parties or any other person to the purported agreement when it was drawn or entered into.<\/p>\n

Further, it will investigate the effectiveness of the Office of the Prime Minister in handling and responding to summons submitted to it and why there was no response to the summons.<\/p>\n

The commission will also find out who were the public officials within the relevant government departments who knew about the matter but failed to take necessary steps to inform and defend the government in the arbitration proceedings instituted by Frazer Solar in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The inquiries and investigations of the commission shall be held in public subject to the power of the commission to decide otherwise pursuant to relevant section of the Public Inquiries Act of 1994.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro has established a commission of inquiry into events that led to the signing of the \u201cpurported agreement of supply\u201d between government and a German solar company Frazer Solar. The contentious agreement, which the government is accused of breaching, has put Lesotho\u2019s international assets worth over M800 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245,274,273],"class_list":["post-4995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-majoro","tag-prime-minister"],"yoast_head":"\nMajoro sets up probe into solar deal - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro has established a commission of inquiry into events that led to the signing of the \u201cpu ...\" \/>\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\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Majoro sets up probe into solar deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro has established a commission of inquiry into events that led to the signing of the \u201cpu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-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=\"2021-10-25T08:40:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-25T15:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/10\/img-6176ca52a10ae.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"764\" \/>\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\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Majoro sets up probe into solar deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-25T08:40:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-25T15:17:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal\"},\"wordCount\":862,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/10\/img-6176ca52a10ae.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Majoro\",\"Prime Minister\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/majoro-sets-up-probe-into-solar-deal\",\"name\":\"Majoro sets up probe into solar deal - 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