PM warns Chinese businessman over unpaid dues

Prime Minister Sam Matekane has warned a Chinese businessman who owes local farmers millions of maloti for wool and mohair delivered seven years ago that government will take drastic action against him if he continues to dilly-dally.

About 1 700 farmers from 13 farmers’ associations in five districts across the country delivered their produce to the Lesotho Wool Centre at Thaba Bosiu in 2018/2019 under a deal between the Lesotho National Wool and Mohair Growers Association (LNWMGA) and Maseru Dawning, a company owned by the businessman, Stone Shi.

Shi has admitted that he owes the farmers about M11 million but they argue that the amount is far much more than this. They have since appealed to government to intervene and force the businessman to pay them without delay.

Two meetings attended by wool and mohair association representatives, Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition Thabo Mofosi, and some government officials were recently held in a bid to break the impasse.

This publication has it on good authority that Matekane took Shi to task in the first meeting, asking him to explain why he has not paid the farmers, years after they delivered their wool and mohair to BKB Limited.

In response, Shi reportedly said he had not been able to pay the farmers because the produce was sold at very low prices after it had deteriorated in value.

Instead of selling at 90 percent value, the wool was sold at 40 percent, he claimed. Efforts to get comment from Shi were not successful by the time of going to print as he was not picking up his phone.

Shi also alleged that he had paid some of the farmers and was making frantic efforts to pay the rest.

But given the years that have lapsed since the deal was inked, the farmers doubt Shi would pay them in the near foreseeable future.

The secretary general of Skylight Wool and Mohair Association Mataele Seokho, said looking at the list they had and Shi’s, it would not be possible that they are owed only M11 million.

“Shi says he owes us only M11 million, but according to our compiled list, the total amount is way above that,” she told theReporter in an interview this week.

Shi assured Matekane that he would pay all the farmers by August this year since he had several businesses, including a construction company engaged at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase II (Polihali) site.

He said he also owns the Maseru Dawning, which owns 25 percent of the Lesotho Wool Centre in Thaba-Bosiu while the LNWMGA controls 75 percent.

Matekane is said to have ordered that an agreement be signed but that should happen only when farmers’ lists from both parties have been reconciled.

Sources said the Prime Minister indicated that he was disappointed in Shi because he always gives promises through agreements which he does not keep.

Minister Mofosi reportedly told the meeting that he does not believe Shi’s promises, but expressed hope that he would honour them since made the pledge before the premier. The Prime Minister did not attend the second meeting, sources said.

Following the earlier January 17, 2026 meeting, this publication has learnt that another engagement was held on Monday last week, where the Director of Marketing under the Department of Marketing in Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Lekhooe Makhate, was told to look for a list of farmers owed so that it merges with the one presented by the farmers’ representatives.

Makhate confirmed this, saying another meeting will be held during which an agreement will be signed with Shi in Matekane’s presence.

In an interview with theReporter, Seokho said they decided to approach the Prime Minister because the issue has been dragging for far too long.

She noted that they wrote to theParliament but without any success.

“We took the matter to court and Shi was summoned but he did not attend. A judgement was passed that he should pay the farmers but he has failed to do so,” Seokho explained

She indicated that the non-payment has affected many farmers as they depend on livestock, adding that some had to sell their animas to start afresh.

The farmers were now taking their produce to another broker, OBK, and things were going smoothly, she added.

As they continue to fight for their dues, the agitated farmers say they will always rue the day they agreed to work with Shi.

At the time of the deal, Shi reportedly informed the farmers that his company would sell directly to international firms and this would enable him to cut out middlemen and increase their profit margins.

Supplying their wool and mohair through the Lesotho Wool Centre at Thaba Bosiu would also help significantly reduce the cost of transport for farmers to auction floors in then Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

The government backed Shi after it introduced new wool and mohair regulations in 2018 barring farmers from taking their produce to South Africa.

Under the now-nullified regulations, it was illegal for anyone to engage in the business of wool and mohair: shearing shed; brokering; testing; trading and auctioning; processing; and exporting “unless the person has obtained a license to do so from the Minister responsible….

Instead, the regulations which came into effect on May 4 2018, compelled them to take it to Lesotho Wool Centre.

The chairman of the Mokhotlong based Bobatsi Wool Association, Phallang Mosala, has previously told this publication that failure by Shi to pay them since 2018/2019 was severely crippling their operations.

Mosala said they took their wool to Lesotho Wool Centre after Shi promised to pay them in United States dollars and they saw this as a better deal than selling to SA brokers.

He noted that Shi had gone to woolsheds around the country promising farmers better profits and this gave them hope.

“We then took 116 bales of wool to the centre in Thaba Bosiu in 2019 but the association has not received any Loti since then,” he added.