Malawian politician Helen Buluma was appointed as secretary of the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission (LHWC) in April. Buluma previously acted as deputy CEO of Malawi’s state oil company, where she faced allegations of mismanagement. She was fired in 2022 after her appointment was declared invalid.
The LHWC represents the governments of Lesotho and South Africa and oversees the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The secretariat provides administrative, strategic, and communication support to the commission.
On Buluma’s appointment, the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency said that she had a “wealth of experience from the oil industry” and a “strong track record in high-level administrative and strategic roles.”
In 2018, Buluma joined then-President Peter Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party and ran for Parliament in the 2019 elections. Although Buluma was not elected, Mutharika won a second term as president by a narrow margin and in August 2019 appointed Buluma as deputy CEO of the National Oil Company of Malawi.
The elections were later annulled by Malawi’s constitutional court. Another election was held in 2020, during which Mutharika lost.
After Mutharika left office, Buluma’s appointment came under scrutiny. Complainants argued that there had been no recruitment process and that her appointment was a political favour. The Human Rights Defenders Coalition of Malawi publicly demanded Buluma’s resignation, alleging mismanagement of fuel supplies, abuse of office and poor performance.
The Ombudsman of Malawi, Grace Malera, ruled in 2022 that Buluma’s appointment was invalid and unlawful. She had not applied for the deputy CEO position, and no such position had existed or been advertised prior to her appointment. There was no competitive process or shortlisting of candidates, Malera found. Also, Malawi’s laws did not give the president the power to appoint executive management in state-owned companies. That power resided in the company’s board.
Buluma was dismissed by the board in November 2022. Buluma told the press in Malawi that she resigned before she was fired.
In 2023, she applied to the High Court of Malawi, seeking permission to pursue a judicial review of the Ombudsman’s determinations. But Justice M.A. Tembo rejected her application, ruling that “there are no serious issues fit for further investigation at a full hearing on judicial review.”
Mindworx Consulting, the South African agency responsible for managing the recruitment process for the LHWC’s secretary, refused to provide details, citing contractual confidentiality.
“Our standard due diligence procedures were rigorously applied. The recruitment process maintained complete integrity and transparency throughout,” an agency representative told GroundUp. They added that “all appointment decisions rest solely with the hiring organisation [the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission].”
Buluma did not respond to questions from GroundUp.
Lesotho Highlands Development Authority spokesperson Mpho Brown was approached for comment, but referred questions to the LHWC. We contacted the LHWC by phone and were told by an administrative officer to direct our questions to the development authority.
This story was produced in collaboration with the MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.
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