…as CJ Sakoane, and DCEO boss Sello vow to root it out
…appeal for public help to stem the scourge
Mohloai Mpesi
CHIEF Justice Sakoane Sakoane has openly admitted that the judiciary is being crippled by rampant corruption and bribery, revealing that court files routinely go missing and pages are often removed from case dockets to circumvent justice.
Justice Sakoane made the remarks on Friday during the Leadership Forum and National Accountability Summit held at the ’Manthabiseng Convention Centre, where he appealed to the public to help the judiciary root out malpractices by reporting suspicious activities in the judiciary directly to him or court officials.
The three-day summit, which ran from Wednesday to Friday, was organised by the government in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the government of Rwanda. It was designed to give Basotho a direct platform to question government leaders and institutions, including the judiciary, on service delivery and public accountability issues.
Courts plagued by corruption
Addressing the summit, Justice Sakoane said case files often disappeared or had pages removed to comprise them and appealed to the public to blow the whistle whenever they suspected wrongdoing.
He suggested that the courts needed to be fully digitised to prevent files and information from disappearing.
“Corruption is there at the courts. Bribery is also there at the courts. Please help me to help you by telling me or the (Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences) Director-General (Brigadier Advocate Mantšo Sello). I appeal to you, let us help each other combat this problem of corruption at the courts.
“We need digitisation of the courts. It will help so that files don’t go missing. Files go missing because we don’t have electronic records. Pages get plucked out, and the file ends up missing other information.
“It is the same issue of corruption that the DCEO Director-General spoke about. It is there in the courts. Corruption is there at the courts,” he said.
He assured Basotho that the courts are open to everyone to bring forward their suggestions or complaints.
“For a long time, Basotho have regarded the courts as if they are holy. That colonial mindset has passed. The courts belong to you, not me.
“Even if you have suggestions on how issues should be handled, bring them forward so that we can work it out. Don’t be afraid.
“I stay here in Maseru. I don’t know about the issues that happen in a local court far away. Blow the whistle so that we know how to fix things,” he said.
No work, no pay
Justice Sakoane also warned that judicial officers who skip work without justification will not be paid, describing absenteeism as a criminal offence punishable under the Penal Code of 2010.
“In the judiciary, there is no work, no pay. We are serious about this. It is also in the Public Service rules; it is not new.
“No one will herd another person’s livestock and not get paid. It is thievery to be paid when you don’t go to work.
“There is no reason the police cannot say you are stealing public money (if you do not report for work and still get paid). The Penal Code of 2010 says that is theft.
He also took a swipe at Members of Parliament who are habitually absent from parliamentary sittings yet claim their dues.
He said such MPs were also stealing from the public purse.
“They (the public) will say you are guilty of receiving allowances when you were not at work, contrary to a certain provision of the Penal Code, and therefore guilty of theft.
“Once such a charge is laid, you will have to give a statement as a respondent. Questions about your whereabouts on a day when you were not in Parliament will be asked.
“We are paid by poor Basotho through their taxes, and we ride in expensive vehicles. So we have a responsibility to serve these Basotho diligently…
“Now that we are privileged and hold power, let us do what we must so that, in future, when we are no longer in power, we will not complain when those in power fail to give us justice. Let us do what we can while we are still in office,” he said.
Judiciary’s troubled history
Justice Sakoane’s remarks come against a backdrop of longstanding allegations of corruption, particularly within the magistracy.
In its 2024/25 annual report, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) warned that the courts were highly vulnerable to corruption, citing disappearing dockets, bribery and misdirected judgments.
In March 2022, the Judicial Officers Association of Lesotho (JOALE) announced an investigation into alleged corruption within the magistracy after claims that a magistrate had fraudulently released a murder and robbery suspect who had been remanded in custody by another magistrate.
JOALE also disclosed that it was probing death threats against Magistrate Itumeleng Letsika, who had raised concerns about corruption in the judiciary.
The threats allegedly came shortly after Magistrate Letsika informed the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that murder and armed robbery suspect Ntsane Motumi, whom she had remanded in custody, had been released without her knowledge.
Appearing before the JSC on 16 February 2022 for an interview to become a High Court judge, Magistrate Letsika revealed that another, unnamed magistrate had released Mr Motumi behind her back. She further disclosed that the suspect’s case file had mysteriously disappeared, forcing her to work from a dummy file containing only one charge instead of the multiple charges she knew he faced.
In another case, former Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Murenzi was sent on forced retirement in February this year after being implicated in an alleged scheme to unlawfully release inmates awaiting trial from Lesotho Correctional Service facilities.
DCEO cleans its own house
The DCEO has also found itself battling internal corruption, which has hindered its ability to execute its mandate of rooting out graft.
Adv Sello acknowledged at the same event on Friday that the anti-corruption body itself has been plagued by corrupt officers and said new policies had been introduced to address the problem.
“There are policies we made as the DCEO last year to improve on internal control measures, wherein we keep an eye and inspect our officers, including those who handle investigations.
“We have another policy which monitors prosecutors, as it has been said that some of them sometimes lose cases deliberately.
“When one has been assigned a case, we expect to see them prosecuting it from start to finish. When a case is lost, that officer has to account for how it was lost,” he said.
Adv Sello said some DCEO prosecutors had deliberately lost cases and disclosed that two officers suspected of corruption had recently been suspended.
“Where we found that a case was lost deliberately, we have taken action.
“You will recall that we recently issued a statement confirming that one of our officers, who was prosecuting a certain case before the courts, has been suspended, and legal action is now being taken against them.
“There are other prosecutors we have suspended because we established that some of these corruption issues did in fact occur,” he said.
Motelle case
Last month, the DCEO suspended prosecutor, Adv Lebohang Motelle, over her alleged mishandling of a corruption case involving businessman and politician Mohopoli Monokoane.
The suspension followed an internal investigation that reportedly uncovered serious irregularities in her conduct.
Adv Motelle failed to appear in court on the scheduled date, resulting in Mr Monokoane’s acquittal for want of prosecution.
She allegedly told her superiors that she had been unaware that the matter was due to proceed. The DCEO, however, accused her of lying and concluded that she may have deliberately absented herself to sabotage the case.
The anti-corruption agency subsequently suspended her pending disciplinary proceedings.
Mr Monokoane, the Peka legislator, had been charged alongside his company, Hippo Transport Inc (Pty) Ltd, and his store manager, Lebohang Mathibela, over their alleged theft of fertiliser valued at M74 800.
Although the DCEO initially challenged the dismissal of the case in the High Court, it later withdrew the review application after an extensive internal investigation reportedly uncovered serious shortcomings in the handling of the matter by its officers.
According to Adv Sello, the review application had been based on false, misleading and improperly presented information supplied by the prosecutor responsible for the case.
He said the decision to withdraw the application followed a comprehensive five-month investigation conducted between December 2025 and April 2026.
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