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Ntsebeng Motsoeli
MASERU — All graduates who have not paid back the government grants they received for their university and tertiary education could face legal action.
Drop-outs who received bursaries from the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) will not be spared as well.
The defaulting beneficiaries could also be blacklisted, which means they will not be able to get loans or purchase on credit anywhere in the world.
These are part of a raft of measures the NMDS — the government department that administers education bursaries — says it will take in an attempt to recover millions of maloti loaned to students since 1978.
Finance Minister Timothy Thahane told the Sunday Express the NMDS would use all possible measures to recover the millions the government pumps out every year to sponsor students at universities and colleges.
He did not have the figures at hand and said the NMDS was “busy digging up files” to compile a database of the defaulters.
However, for example, the majority of the National University of Lesotho (NUL)’s nearly 10 000 students receive government bursaries every semester.
Hundreds of other beneficiaries are studying in South Africa.
Students at colleges such as Lerotholi Polytechnic also get the grants.
“We have started looking into the files of people who have been sponsored since 1978 when the NMDS started giving loans to students,” Thahane said.
“We will compare the names with those of people who have started to pay back the money.”
He said legal action will be taken against those who fail to do so in the given time.
“We will track down those who have not yet paid and ask them to pay,” Thahane said.
“If they fail to do so we will then take measures to engage institutions that will intervene, be they the credit bureau or debt collectors.”
He said they are currently studying the 1999 files.
“We have looked at the files from 2000 to 2009 already,” he said.
Thahane said the government would approach private-sector employers of defaulting beneficiaries to consider stop-orders in respect of the student loans.
The finance minister warned in March when he presented his annual budget that the government would track down defaulting beneficiaries.
He threatened to cut down the number of beneficiaries saying the government could no longer afford to continue pumping out money when former bursary recipients were not paying back.
Bokang Lekau, the NMDS’s assistant bursary administrator, said the department had already started disseminating information about the impending measures.
The NMDS this week issued a newspaper advert warning former graduates who had received bursaries to service their loans lest they face legal action.
Lekau said the department decided to implement new recovery measures because beneficiaries were ignoring their contractual obligations with the NMDS.
He said even after meetings with civil servants and private sector employees, only a few of the beneficiaries had started paying back the loans.
Lekau said the department had already written letters to those who have not yet paid to report to the NMDS.
He said if they did not take action, the NMDS had organised to recover the monies through stop-order deductions from the concerned individuals’ salaries.
This will be done without their consent, he said.
“The NMDS has sent letters of demand to individual civil servants to pay back the loans they owe,” Lekau told the Sunday Express.
“This was after only a few came to pay back their loans following various meetings we had with them in their respective ministries.
“The response was so low the NMDS decided to further request people to come and pay.
“The NMDS decided that if people still fail to come their instalments will be deducted by stop-order without their consent.
“The contract the bursary recipients sign obligates the beneficiary’s “employer to deduct the loan from my salary after the completion or termination of my studies with effect from the first month of employment by equal monthly instalments to be paid to the loan bursary fund on my behalf”.
The NMDS will write letters to private-sector employers to deduct instalments from beneficiaries’ salaries every month until their loans are paid up.
ke ea utloa le letona o batla chelete, mme ke ts’epa hore o hlokometse hore boholo ba batho ba sa pataleng ke rona ba sa sebetseng. ka hona o tlameha hore a etse mesebetsi hore re tsebe ho patala. mme ke ts’epa hore letona o tla patalisa bohle ho sa tsotelehe hore na ke oa fane e feng. ke lumela le ba bang ba maemo a phahameng haholong mmusong ba ile ba thusoa ka khafa ena ea rona.
Hle banna e ke le pataleng NMDS hao….!!Hantle le re bana ba bang ba tla ea skolong ka eng?Kea ipotsa na lona batsoali ba lona ba ne ba tla khona ho le patalla ho ja ha se ka NMDS.I support d idea that NMDS should deduct d money without their consent afta al majority of them r civil servants.Sekepele ke kopa e be M1000 every month….PAY NMDS LOAN…ITS A RIGHT THING TO DO
eona e tla tsoa le chelete ha re na tla hlolloa hio sekolongmona ka batho ba sa pateleng ..ba bang ba bile ba fetorse lifane hore a se patale…ho bonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…………..i support the idea of taking the money without their consent….but hw will theytrack those in RSA????????????????????
ke nnete ha ba patale, motho mang le mang eseng rona ba sa tsejoeng feela. Naha e hloka batho ba rutehileng, so ha re feng bana ba bang monyetla ka ho patala chelete. Le ba sa sebetseng contract hao e tlatsa e bontshitse hore o tlameha ho patala khoeli ea pele o qetile sekolo. Everyone knew hore chelete eo ua e kalingoa not ho e fuoa. ha re beng le boikarabello batho ba Molimo.
No, first month of EMPLOYMENT !!
Le nna ke thoholetsa taba ea hore ba ileng likolong ba patale. Taba ea ka ke hore na haeba motho a su sebetse,le batsoali ba se ba sa sebetse ho tla etsahala joang? Na Lesotho re na le le credit bureau, moo batho ba kolotang ba tla ba blacklisted na? Leano la ho kalingoa chelete le letle, ebile ke sapota hore re patalisoe, ha ke na bothata. Joale ba sa sebetseng Lesotho ele hore bona ba tla patalloa ke rona ba ka hara naha? Hape nna ke bona ho ne ho ka ba molemo ha letona le cabinet le maparamente ba ne ba ka fana ka mohlala. Le nkutloe ha se hore ke kenya lipolotiki, empa ke ea lumela hore ekaba mohlala o motle. Ntho engoe eke e hlokomelang ho no ka ba bobebe ha ene ba motho ha qala ho sebetsa ebe hothoe lemo tse hlano tsa pele chelete e re tlamehang ho e khafa ebe eona e re patalng ka eona. Ha ho bo bebe ere motho ea amohela 2500 Maluti ebe o patala 700 maluti ea manpower ebe le tax hape. Ha mmuso u no ka re bebofaletsa ke lumela batho ba ne ba tla patala haholo.Ka boikarabelo le phehisano e hahang Basotho ha hesu. Taba ena e re ama boohle.
Ha re pataleng basotho ho sa khethoe nku ka pere.Le ea temo chelete e ka e ka etsetsoa lerata le tsoanang,ea li-benz tsa R4000.00 eona chee ke ea bahlopmphehi re tla lula re e koahetse.
Haba ka ba patala full value of mercedes benz into public coffers, le nna ke tla qala ho patala hoseng joalo setsung keha Molapo.
Leronti ha o no le haufi nne nka o ts’oara ka letsoho. Ha ba ka patala chelete ea likoloi tsee tse ba iphang tsona selemo le selemo, lichelete tsee tse ba reng ke li gratuity ba ntse ba le mosebetsing mmoho le bokhotho-khotho ba chelete ea temo e baloang ka li-millione ho motho a le mong, a khutla a ipitsa hore “he was just a guarantor” ha a sebelisa chelete moleng oa hae! Batho bana bao ke buang ka bona mona ba itseba. They should set a good example because they are high-ranking officials so that we ex-students would follow suit.
Ke lumellana le taba ea hoe re patale Manpower ha feela re fuoa mesebetsi, le ha bahlomphehi le bona ba patala likoloto tsa bona.
Ke ea utloa hore le batla chelete ea lona, haele moo e le selemo sa bobeli ke lutse hae ka mangolo a ka tjee. Le batla hore ke ilo utsoa e le hore ke tsebe ho le patala. Ruri le ea re phoqa, le hopole hore le lona le ntse le kolota NMDS.
le shebe pele na motho o khola ha kae ha le re a khutlise. le patala batho ba sa rutehang haholo ka paramenteng ka mane empa magraduate a fumana chenche ea balisana
“He said if they did not take action, the NMDS had organised to recover the monies through stop-order deductions from the concerned individuals’ salaries.
This will be done without their consent, he said.”
he batho bana ke likoata, u kile oa utloa kae hothoe monies will be deducted from peoples’ salaries without their consent? they will sue you left right center, even in the NMDS contract it does not stipulate that, it only say you will pay a certain monies when you work for government…
Why should they pay while the government doesn’t do a sh1t for taxpayers with they own money. Lesotho government sucks!!!! Sorry 2 say that with my beloved country but its all full of selfish satanist who want 2 enrich themselves with taxpayers money…….
nna Tim ha ke so patale NMDS feela ke lebelletse hore ba bang bapatale, ke monate oa hoba litulong oona…
motho emong le emong u ja mo a sebetsang teng…
letla ikutloa haeba ha lea tseba hokhetha mesebetsi
nna keja poqo ka hlanaka mooona!
Ha ke so patale I am still studying I will pay after getting my Phd, but I still need manpowers help, I am coming to ask for top up because I am mosotho and I cant afford South Africans to pay up for my education becuase they goona take me and Lesotho will still suffer even more!
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—Ntate Tim, you are afunny old man, know that?
U tla thetsa litloholo tsa hau, e seng sechaba sena sa Rantsho.
You think we dont know NMDS doesnt have the records you are talking about. —-How many times has NMDS told previous sponsees that their files cant be found and that they will have to open new ones?
—-Dont lie to us old man, NMDS doesnt have the names of ALL the people who got sponsored since 1978.
— How are you going to track defaulters down? Ka MMUSO o ntse o hloloa ho sebelisa IFMIS moo due to lack of technical expertise; o hloloang ho tracker stolen cars and shit; o hloloang ho boloka database of all the pork, poultry etc producers in the country; ka mmuso o sa tsebeng the number of graduates its higher educational institutions produce each year.
Ha re bana ba hau rona
Nna ke tseba 4 people ba tsoang Qacha ba patalloang ke manpower fela ba sa kene sekolo. Ba qetile ka 2008, le hona joale ba lula Joburg flat cnr Commissioner and Rissik e pataloang ke manpower. Ba qhoma kaho tsebana kapa ho amana le Moccd. Joale ebe le batla rona re patala for corruption e tje? lekhale Majara. nke ke ka patala.
Ha ba bang le re le keke la patala, lere ho etsahaleng ka bana baa ba bo lona le ba lona batlang ho kena sekolo joale? Haeba lere babusi ba rona ba corrupt, ha re ba tloseng !!! Joale ba tlo itsoarella ka taba ea hore Basotho ha ba patale ebe ho safara bana ba senang molato.
Mohlomphehi Tim ke ka masoabi a mahalo ke hlokomelang hore ha ke tla sitoa ho ea sekolong e ne ese hobane faele ea ka ese esa fumanehe, empa ene ele ka lonya le ho hloka tsamaiso e nepahetseng ha basebetsi ba hau NMDS. Ke ile ka matha NMDS ho fihlela lieta tsa ka li pelekana. Ntate u fela u tiisa hore faele ea ka e ntse e le teng NMDS? Haeba ho joalo, joaloka uena le bohle bao re ipitsang Basotho; ke lumela kena le tokelo e ts’oanang le ea lona ka ea ho ruteha. Ke kopa u laele basebetsi ba hau NMDS ho ntsebeletsa ke tle ke boele sekolong ele hore ke tle ke tsebe ho patala.
U patala u sa patale ha ba batla ho itjella lichelete ‘me ba hane ho patalla bana sekolong, ba tla nne ba etse. Haeba ha le so bone bobolu bo pusong ee ha le sa tla bona letho.