Caswell Tlali
MASERU — Public Works minister Tšele Chakela has resigned.
Government secretary Tlohang Sekhamane confirmed that Chakela, 60, had tendered his resignation on Wednesday.
“His reasons for resigning from government are personal and therefore cannot be discussed in the press,” Sekhamane said.
However, a source close to the cabinet said some fellow ministers had put pressure on Chakela by consistently accusing him of underperforming.
The source said the ministers used to remind Chakela that under his leadership the ministry had failed to deal with contractors that hired incompetent engineers to build roads across the country.
“There was a general discomfort amongst ministers that he (Chakela) was allowing contractors to use unskilled workforce and incompetent civil engineers,” the source said.
“Many of the roads and bridges were destroyed soon after construction, which questions the quality of engineers who built them,” he said.
Chakela told the Sunday Express on Friday that he had resigned voluntarily and that his quitting had nothing to do with his colleagues in government.
He also said the squabbles within the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) had nothing to do with his abrupt resignation.
“There is nothing as such, I am still a proud member of the LCD and will remain a card-carrying member.
“I have confidence in my party and I will support it any time it needs my support,” he said.
“I am comfortable with my achievements as a minister and I did my level best to do all that was necessary.”
Chakela added that the collapse of four bridges during the just-ended rain season did not mean that he had failed in his ministerial duties.
Bridges that collapsed beyond repair are the ones across Kubetu, Mapoteng, Khukhune and another in Mokhotlong.
“These bridges collapsed because of excessive rains we experienced recently and their fall could not be blamed on
me as a minister,” Chakela said.
“This excessive rain was a natural disaster beyond the control of any man,” he said.
These bridges were under reconstruction and “any mention of collapsing bridges as the reason for my resignation or a cause for concern by other ministers holds no water.”
“I have built strong bridges that I am proud of. We have two bridges across Senqu and Senqunyane Rivers and another one across Qhoali,” added Chakela.
Chakela was appointed minister in 2007 after the LCD’s victory in the February general elections.
Before then he was the principal roads engineer in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and was little known in the political arena.
Chakela, born in Ha-Nyenye in Maputsoe in 1951, holds two B.Sc degrees in applied mathematics and civil engineering from the University of Manitoba in Canada.
He is a registered civil engineer in Canada, where he worked as a consultant in Winnipeg between 1996 and 1997 before he came back to Lesotho where he became the Maseru City Council’s city engineer.
For 10 years (1986-1996) Chakela was a project engineer with three Canadian companies UMA Engineering, Maclaren Engineering Services and Poetker Maclaren Engineering Limited.
He was appointed a senator and minister in March 2007.
Chakela said he intends to pursue private business in engineering.
“Being an engineer by profession I am going to start an engineering business,” he said.