Health inspectors locked in coldroom

Blessing Khomojoo’s Fruits and Veg Store in the Metcash building in Maseru’s city centre. Photo: Sechaba Mokhethi

• Two Maseru City Council health inspectors were locked inside a coldroom during a routine meat inspection.
• Police had to intervene to free the inspectors after they discovered rotten beef at a city-centre grocery store.
• The shop owner and manager now face charges of unlawful detention and public health violations.

Two municipal health inspectors were locked inside a coldroom when they discovered rotten meat during a routine inspection at a Maseru grocery store, the Maseru Magistrate’s Court heard on Thursday.

The incident occurred on 13 December 2025 at Blessing Khomojoo’s Fruits and Veg Store in the Metcash building near Kingsway in Maseru city centre.

Inspectors from the Department of Health and Environment were conducting a routine inspection to assess compliance with food hygiene and public health regulations.

According to a statement by the City Council, the inspectors entered the store’s coldroom to inspect meat storage conditions. They discovered large quantities of rotten beef, which they set aside.

While they were inside the coldroom, employees of the store closed and locked the door from the outside, the council said, intentionally trapping the inspectors in the freezing facility. The inspectors could not get out until members of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service arrived and freed them.

The Maseru City Council opened a criminal case against the store’s management. The shop owner, Matlhokomelo Mafoso, and the business manager, Pontšo Motsie, appeared before the Maseru Magistrate’s Court last Thursday.

The pair face charges under the Penal Code Act of 2010 for unlawfully and intentionally depriving the inspectors of their freedom of movement. They are also charged under the Public Health Order of 1970 for possessing and exposing food intended for human consumption that was unfit for that purpose.

According to the prosecution, cattle had also been slaughtered on the premises at the Metcash building. This would contravene the Abattoir Regulations of 1972, which require animals intended for public consumption to be slaughtered at certified abattoirs in line with prescribed hygiene standards.

The council said the business had previously been cited for health-related violations. In its statement, the council said the store had been summoned and reprimanded on earlier occasions for non-compliance with food safety regulations. This was after members of the public had been invited on an online platform to collect free chicken after a freezer malfunction. Management had advised consumers to wash the spoiled meat and treat it with disinfectant and ginger to mask the smell of decay, the council said.

Mafoso and Motsie were granted bail of M2,000 (1 Maluti = 1 Rand) each. The matter was postponed.

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