Mohloai Mpesi
THE Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) suffered losses amounting to more than M9 million due to vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure during the 2025/26 financial year, the Lesotho Times has learnt.
The LEC’s Stakeholder Relations Manager, Makhetha Motšoari, this week said the utility continued to face rampant theft of electricity cables and destruction of poles, resulting in losses of M9 178 989.79 between April 2025 and March 2026.
The losses follow a similar trend recorded in the previous financial year, from April 2024 to March 2025, when the utility reportedly lost about M10 million to vandalism.
“Vandalism affects our service delivery because we receive numerous reports of damaged infrastructure, particularly stolen cables. The most targeted items are cables, and LEC has to bear the cost of replacing the vandalised property,” Mr Motšoari said.
He said the persistent thefts were also disrupting the company’s operations and delaying maintenance and expansion projects.
“When we are supposed to attend to faults, we are instead diverted to vandalism-related incidents. Even when we receive new materials, some of them have to be redirected to replace stolen infrastructure. This delays our progress significantly.
“From April 2025 to the end of March 2026, the Maseru region alone recorded 989 reports of stolen electricity property, amounting to losses of more than M9 million.
“Since LEC does not charge consumers when infrastructure is stolen, the company has to purchase replacement materials and repair the damage itself. In total, the company lost M9 178 989.79,” he said.
Mr Motšoari said the LEC had intensified efforts to combat the problem through collaboration with the police and community outreach programmes.
“After realising the seriousness of the issue, we organised workshops with police officers across all districts to explain our challenges and explore ways of working together to address the problem.
“In districts such as Mohale’s Hoek and Mafeteng, police officers now better understand the gravity of the issue and its consequences,” he said.
He added that the company also engaged communities through public gatherings convened with the assistance of local chiefs, particularly in areas where vandalism is prevalent.
“These crimes occur within communities, and we believe the public has a crucial role to play in stopping them. Some suspects have already been arrested,” he said.
Mr Motšoari further noted that telecommunications companies Vodacom and Econet were facing similar challenges, prompting joint efforts to tackle cable thefts.
“We met with Vodacom and Econet because they also experience vandalism of their infrastructure. We further engaged scrapyard owners and police officers to discourage the purchase of stolen copper cables.
“We recommended that scrapyard operators record the identity details of anyone selling such materials and establish where the property was obtained from,” he said.
However, he alleged that some scrapyard owners continued to buy stolen copper cables clandestinely.
“We discovered that some scrapyard owners still accept the stolen cables. They do not mix them with other scrap metals but instead keep them hidden in separate rooms at the back of their premises because copper fetches high prices,” he said.
Mr Motšoari cited recent successful prosecutions linked to cable theft.
“Recently in Thaba-Tseka, Econet managed to identify some of its stolen cables and the perpetrators were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Another suspect who stole our property in Sea Point also received a 10-year sentence,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Motšoari said the LEC was also grappling with widespread damage to electricity infrastructure caused by recent floods.
“We are currently responding to a nationwide crisis in which recent floods destroyed several transformers. In some cases, transmission poles were uprooted after floodwaters washed away the surrounding soil, while in other areas trees fell onto power lines.
“Some affected areas are difficult to access, but we are doing everything possible to restore electricity connectivity. We therefore ask the public for patience,” he said.
