A vehicle owned by Communications Minister Nthati Moorosi was hired by Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital without inspection. Dismissed officials told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that specific vehicles, including those linked to the minister and to Movement for Economic Change members, were ordered onto the hospital fleet.
QMMH Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Support Services Nthati Lebona told the Public Accounts Committee that Communications Minister Nthati Moorosi and several other individuals had vehicles hired by the hospital.
The vehicle linked to Minister Moorosi was leased between November 2024 and March 2025. Lebona said she later removed it from the fleet after discovering its ownership.
Dismissed employee Mrs Poulo told the committee that Lebona instructed officials to hire specific vehicles, including the one belonging to Moorosi and others allegedly owned by members of the Movement for Economic Change.
“Those vehicles were not even brought for inspection, but we were ordered by ‘M’e Nthati to hire them. Most of the vehicles belonged to MEC members.”
Dismissed Administration Manager Mothusi Rabale corroborated the claim. He told the committee the vehicles in question had not been presented for inspection before they were hired.
QMMH vehicle hire ordered without inspection
Rabale appeared before the PAC on Thursday. He faces allegations that he influenced the award of a vehicle hire tender to his company, M & R Logistics.
He declined to answer questions about the tender in open session. He said the matter is before the courts and should be discussed in camera. He denied ownership of the vehicles at the centre of the allegations.
Rabale claimed his dismissal was a pretext. He said the campaign to force him out began in 2024 after he refused to take part in the hospital’s salary normalisation process.
That process, he said, allowed some managers to increase their salaries by more than M20 000 per month.
He alleged the dismissal was orchestrated by former Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Maneo Moliehi Ntene. After he refused to participate in the salary process, Ntene summoned him to ministry headquarters and told him they would no longer work together.
Relations deteriorated further after he opposed a proposal by Accounts Manager Tšele Sehlabo to spend money the hospital did not have.
Salary process and political links at QMMH
The Movement for Economic Change was then led by Selibe Mochoboroane, who served as Health Minister at the relevant time.
Minister Moorosi is a senior figure in the ruling Revolution for Prosperity and serves as the party’s secretary-general.
Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital is Lesotho’s only national referral hospital. The PAC has spent the past four weeks examining financial mismanagement, procurement irregularities and governance failures at the facility.
Evidence already before the committee shows the hospital carries debt of about M79 million. More than M8 million in internally generated revenue was spent without authorisation. The hospital has no human resources policy and operates on permanent credit.
Senior managers earn packages well above civil service rates. Deputy managing directors take home packages approaching M90 000 a month. Managing Director Dr ‘Makhoase Ranyali is reported to earn around M120 000 a month excluding other benefits.
PAC continues its inquiry. No formal findings on the vehicle hire arrangements have been released.
