10 September 2026
Lesotho’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences says Jane Lekunya and his wife, Makhoase, were involved in a corrupt scheme in the agriculture ministry that cost the government M109-million. Jane Lekunya has undertaken to pay back M6-million and cooperate with prosecutors. Photo: Lekunya’s Facebook profile picture (fair use).
A member of the Lesotho Parliament has agreed to repay M6-million (M1=R1) from an allegedly corrupt scheme involving the supply of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides to the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the country’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO).
Jane Lekunya, from the opposition Democratic Congress, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the M109-million case, involving private companies and ministry officials linked to the fraudulent award of the tenders.
This comes after Lekunya challenged the DCEO’s attempt in March 2025 to prosecute him for fraud, corruption and money laundering.
According to court documents, senior agriculture ministry officials bypassed competitive bidding procedures to award tenders to companies linked to local businessman Moeketsi Ntaote. The tender prices were inflated to create room for illicit payments.
The Lesotho government provides an 80% subsidy to farmers on fertilisers and a 70% subsidy on seeds, pesticides and herbicides to boost food production.
The DCEO said the corrupt scheme cost the government M109-million between 2021 and 2022, with suspicious transfers between the accounts of those involved continuing into 2023 after the government had fully paid the companies involved.
Court documents filed by the DCEO in September 2024 show that Ntaote’s companies – Glorified Group of Companies, Advanced Agricultural Products, and Movement (Pty) Ltd – were awarded numerous tenders through limited or selective bidding.
The DCEO said Ntaote obtained several of the tenders through procurement manager Mapaseka Nkone, with the assistance of former principal secretary Nchakha Makara.
Makara’s case was dealt with separately. He pleaded guilty and was fined M500,000 by the Maseru Magistrates’ Court in June 2025.
After securing the tenders through Nkone, Ntaote transferred money to Lekunya, who then passed funds to Nkone and other alleged accomplices, the DCEO said.
Financial records cited by the DCEO show several suspicious transactions involving Lekunya. On 23 December 2021, M5.5-million was transferred from Ntaote’s FNB account to Lekunya’s account. A further M3.5-million was transferred on 18 March 2022, followed by M123,000 on 12 April 2022.
The DCEO said Lekunya received more than M1.6-million from Ntaote and his companies in March and May 2021. And Lekunya’s wife, Makhoase Lekunya, received M22.6-million into her investment account from Ntaote’s companies.
The DCEO said Makhoase used some of the money to purchase agricultural products. It is pursuing a case against her.
According to the DCEO’s court papers, Lekunya’s company, Guardrisk Insurance Brokers (no relation to South Africa’s Guardrisk Group), was used to move and conceal money linked to the tender scheme.
The DCEO further said that in October 2021, M2.1-million was transferred from Guardrisk to Advanced Agricultural’s PostBank account as a loan to Ntaote.
Movement, one of Ntaote’s companies, later repaid the M2.1-million to Guardrisk in January 2022, together with an additional M100,000.
In another transaction, M5.6-million was transferred through Guardrisk to finance the purchase of a property in Somerset West, South Africa, under Pavilion Properties. According to the DCEO, the property was bought on behalf of Ntaote using money generated from fraudulent tender payments.
The DCEO accused the Lekunyas of helping to launder payments to ministry officials who had corruptly awarded the tenders through Guardrisk Insurance Brokers.
In March 2025, the DCEO obtained an order freezing 22 bank accounts and assets of Lekunya, his businesses and other people and companies allegedly linked to the scheme. The frozen bank accounts included five belonging to Ntaote’s companies, three belonging to Guardrisk, three belonging to Lekunya and six belonging to his wife. The order also covered three accounts belonging to Nkone and two belonging to Ntaote.
Lekunya then approached the Constitutional Court seeking to stop the DCEO from charging him with fraud, corruption and money laundering. He asked the court to stay the charges until his constitutional challenge had been heard to finality.
After hearing arguments from the Lekunyas and the DCEO, Chief Justice Sakoane ruled that the matter was not urgent and removed it from the urgent roll, allowing the DCEO to proceed with the case under the ordinary court rules.
Advocate Christopher Lephuthing, who represented the Lekunyas in the case, told GroundUp he had already informed the judges at that stage that Lekunya had turned state witness.
He said the Lekunyas “have never been formally charged in the criminal case”.
On Wednesday, DCEO spokesperson Matlhokomelo Senoko issued a statement saying the anti-corruption agency had decided to pursue an asset recovery case alongside the criminal proceedings to recover public funds more quickly.
The decision, she said, was informed by the length of time criminal cases can take to conclude.
Senoko said Lekunya appeared before the High Court of Lesotho on Monday.
The DCEO investigations found that Lekunya “received a financial benefit as a result of financing contracts that were obtained fraudulently”.
Following discussions with the DCEO, Lekunya undertook to return the entire M6-million, which the DCEO says was obtained through fraud.
“He also agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the case involving contracts awarded fraudulently [to his alleged accomplices],” said Senoko.
“The DCEO further informs the public that cases against the other accused persons, namely Mapaseka Nkone, Moeketsi Constantinus Ntaote, Glorified Group of Companies (Pty) Ltd and Movement (Pty) Ltd, will continue before the courts as investigations have been completed.”
To date no action has been taken by Parliament or the Democratic Congress against Lekunya.
