Mohalenyane Phakela
GOLDRUSH Group (Pty) Limited of South Africa opened the doors to its Maseru Mall-based casino on Friday in a glitzy ceremony attended by the who’s who of Maseru including government ministers.
The launch ceremony was the culmination of a long drawn-out court battle with AVANI Lesotho (Pty) Limited which led to the suspension of the casino’s launch last year.
AVANI Lesotho (Pty) Limited had lodged a High Court application last August seeking for the Casino Board to revoke the licences issued to Goldrush Group (Pty) Limited arguing that they had been unlawfully granted.
Goldrush Group (Pty) Limited won the case in March this year leading to Friday’s launch.
Among the high profile attendees of the launch ceremony was Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro, his Water Affairs counterpart, Samonyane Ntsekele, and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Machesetsa Mofomobe.
It was a cocktail event where all guests were offered membership cards preloaded with M100 to test the machines.
Goldrush Managing Director, Katleho Thejane, expressed delight that the project had finally been launched, adding they sought to change Basotho’s lives for the better through job creation.
“Opening this facility is not a personal victory for us but it is for Basotho in general because we are fresh and unique, Mr Thejane said.
“We started in Lesotho in 2015, operating slot machines in different shops across the country and over the two years we have employed close to 200 Basotho youths and have invested M40 million in this country.
“Every young person we employed had no prior experience therefore we took them for training in South Africa and now they work as managers.
“Every employee is also eligible for a bursary to further their studies. These are also the best machines in the country,” Mr Thejane said.
For his part, Dr Majoro described Goldrush Casino as one of the foreign investments which would help boost Lesotho’s economy.
“The government is on a mission of attracting foreign investors into the country to help alleviate our economic challenges and this investment that Goldrush has injected is a good start as it is already changing many Basotho’s lives.
“Goldrush’s journey started in 2015 when we lost power and their casino has started operating the moment we came back to power which is quite a good coincidence”.
Dr Majoro’s All Basotho Convention was part of the coalition which governed Lesotho from 2012 until it lost power in the February 2015 elections.
They returned to power after the 3 June, 2017 snap elections.
Maseru Mall Centre Manager, Baholo Chimombe said he was proud to welcome Goldrush into the Maseru Mall family.
The host of the evening, comedian Cura, along with jazz band, Mongali and Friends, kept the patrons entertained until the early hours of Friday.