Crackdown leaves fast-growing industry in turmoil and scores of Basotho workers facing a bleak future
‘Mantoetse Maama
Maseru
The Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) launched a sweeping raid on all used-vehicle importers this week, paralysing the fast-growing industry and leaving scores of workers stranded and uncertain of their future.
Sources close to the crackdown told the Sunday Express that the operation came after the LRA realised some of the dealers were submitting wrong data in order to pay less tax, while others were not even declaring the vehicles they were importing into the country, mostly from Japan.
When a Sunday Express crew visited the garages dotted around Maseru on Thursday, Friday and yesterday, almost all of them were closed with chevron ribbons tapped across the entrance to ensure the gate was not opened without the LRA’s authorisation.
At another garage close to Lerotholi Polytechnic, a G4Security vehicle had been parked across the entrance to make sure the owner did not move any of the vehicles out of the yard until the LRA operation was complete, one of the guards said.
The vehicle was still parked at the entrance yesterday, while the lockdown was also still in force at most of the garages the Sunday Express crew visited.
An employee at one of the garages said he was at a loss as he did not know if the business would ever open again.
“Our employers are in a meeting with LRA officials, as we speak. I fear for my future because I don’t know how this is going to end. I have been speaking with my colleagues working at different yards and they also voiced similar fears. Hopefully, this is going to end well because what will we do should these raids result in the Asian owners closing down their businesses for good?” he said.
Contacted for comment regarding the operation, the LRA Public Relations Manager, Pheello Mphana, said: “We cannot disclose information on our clients suffice to only say there were some discrepancies on their clearances, which we are trying to resolve.”