COLEPE demands release of pension fund forensic report

The Coalition of Lesotho Public Employees (COLEPE) has called on the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane to avail the pension fund’s original forensic report to its contributors.

COLEPE says it believes the full forensic report would expose the depth of the corruption within the fund’s board members, managers and secretariat staff.

This after the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently tabled a report in the National Assembly, exposing alleged corruption within the pension fund board.

In a statement issued yesterday, COLEPE said it has raised corruption issues within the board with Dr Matlanyane, as the custodian of the fund since 2023, which to date have not been addressed.

COLEPE has also called on Matlanyane and the principal secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Nthoateng Lebona, as the chair of the pension fund board to spearhead enactment of a Pension Fund law in harmony with all the related statutes to allow fund beneficiaries to use their pensions as collateral for home loans and “other critical matters”.

“Although we demanded the board to avail the full report to contributors and key stakeholders, the board misled itself by sharing the summary report to the Public Accounts Committee.

“Furthermore, COLEPE demanded the Pension Fund board to call for fund annual general meeting (AGM) as per the strategic plan and annual calendar, where members can be able to make resolutions that will advance their interest in their monies. The board did not only mislead itself but also called a stakeholder meeting where they shared information which is already available for public consumption,” reads the statement.