…as money meant for 37 teachers lands in education official’s bank account
Moorosi Tsiane
A costly payroll blunder by the Ministry of Finance has landed the government in the High Court after more than M1.3 million meant to pay salary arrears for 37 teachers was mistakenly deposited into the personal bank account of a senior Ministry of Education official.
The government is seeking to recover the outstanding funds from Mission Manager Moliehi Moneuoa, arguing that although the erroneous payment resulted from a Treasury payroll officer’s mistake, Ms Moneuoa spent a substantial portion of the money before the error was detected.
The application has been brought by Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Nthoateng Lebona, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training Ratšiu Majara, the Attorney General Advocate Rapelang Motsieloa KC and the Office of the Accountant General.
Court papers reveal that the erroneous payment has sparked a complex legal dispute involving Standard Lesotho Bank, PostBank Lesotho and Boloka Building Materials, exposing weaknesses in the government’s payroll controls.
According to the applicants, the Treasury was processing salary arrears for 37 teachers in March 2025 when a payroll officer mistakenly replaced the teachers’ banking details with those of Ms Moneuoa.
The error resulted in M1,369,824.29 being deposited into Ms Moneuoa’s Standard Lesotho Bank account instead of being distributed to the teachers.
In her founding affidavit, former Accountant General, Malehlohonolo Mahase, says the mistake arose from negligence during payroll processing.
“Sometime in March 2025, the respondent’s Standard Lesotho Bank account was accidentally credited with the amount of M1,369,824.29 by the Treasury under the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning while processing salary arrears due to thirty-seven teachers.”
She explains that the mistake occurred when the payroll officer incorrectly formatted the payment file.
“This faulty payment occurred as a result of a file error made by the payroll officer at Treasury when effecting payment of salary arrears owed to the thirty-seven teachers. The officer was working on a file containing the list of teachers and mistakenly formatted the list of payable bank accounts using the same name and bank account held by Moliehi Moneuoa.”
According to Ms Mahase, investigations established that soon after receiving the money, Ms Moneuoa transferred and spent large portions of it.
Court papers state that she transferred M300,000 into another Standard Lesotho Bank account held in her name before moving a further M450,000 into a savings account.
She also allegedly spent about M200,500 purchasing building materials from Boloka Building Materials, although she reportedly collected materials worth only M56,000, leaving the balance with the supplier.
Ms Mahase says the supplier later cooperated with investigators and refunded part of the money.
“On or around April 2025, Boloka Building Materials returned part of the money in the amount of M163,929 which had been used to purchase building materials.”
The court papers further show that Ms Moneuoa transferred M250,000 from her Standard Lesotho Bank account to settle an outstanding loan with PostBank Lesotho.
She also admitted spending M50,000 on personal expenses.
Ms Mahase says police investigations confirmed how the money had been transferred and spent.
“Investigations were undertaken by the police, during which the above-mentioned facts were established. Following those investigations, the respondent (Moneuoa) voluntarily repaid M600,000 into the government of Lesotho account held at the Central Bank of Lesotho.”
Despite the repayment, the government says a significant amount remains outstanding.
According to the Accountant General, repeated efforts were made to persuade Ms Moneuoa to refund the remaining money without resorting to litigation.
“The respondent was demanded on several occasions to return the amounts of M50,000 and M56,000 respectively. Her response was that she did not know where she would get the money because she had already used it.”
The government argues that Ms Moneuoa had no legal entitlement to the funds, regardless of how they reached her account, because they remained public money intended for teachers who had legitimately earned salary arrears.
It is seeking an order compelling Ms Moneuoa to repay M250,000 into the government’s account at the Central Bank of Lesotho.
The applicants also want the High Court to order PostBank Lesotho to refund the M250,000 used to settle Ms Moneuoa’s loan, arguing that the payment originated from public funds transferred into her account by mistake.
In addition, the government is asking the court to compel Ms Moneuoa to repay the M50,000 she admits spending on personal expenses.
The government contends that the money never ceased being public funds despite the Treasury error and that allowing Ms Moneuoa to retain any part of it would amount to unjust enrichment at the expense of the State.
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