The director of passport services at Lesotho’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Mpiko Rafono, and the acting Commissioner of Refugees Nthatisi Thabane appeared in the Maseru Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday on fraud charges.
The director of passport services at Lesotho’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Mpiko Rafono, and the acting commissioner of refugees, Nthatisi Thabane, have been charged with fraud, attempted fraud, and abuse of power for allegedly unlawfully issuing refugee documents to immigrants.
The two first appeared in the Maseru Magistrates’ Court on 27 January. On Tuesday they returned to court, where Asumani Saleh, an alleged beneficiary of the fraud, was added as a third accused.
According to the charge sheet, Rafono and Thabane acted in concert in 2024 and up to July 2025 to unlawfully and intentionally abuse the authority of their offices.
The state alleges the pair issued asylum seeker and refugee certificates by giving false information to the National Identity and Civil Registry that resulted in unlawful entries in the population register and illegal issuing of identity documents.
They are further accused of signing and submitting minutes of the Refugee Status Determination Committee to the minister for approval in violation of the law and in dereliction of their official duties. The prosecution alleges this was done to obtain an advantage for themselves or for others.
Saleh faces a separate charge under the Refugee Act for allegedly refusing to present his identity document when requested to do so by police.
All three accused were granted bail of M5,000 each. The matter was postponed for further proceedings.
In a statement, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service said the Special Investigations Unit received a report in June 2025 alleging suspected corruption within the ministry’s offices.
Police said investigations led to the offices of the director of passport services and the head of refugee document control and issuance.
The police assured the public that they are committed to tackling criminal conduct and ensuring that those involved are brought before the courts.
The police also warned public officers against abusing their powers, saying such conduct undermines service delivery and tarnishes the reputation of government ministries.
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Police brutality: Allegations of police misconduct and abuse of power.
Atomic Blastoid
Van is getting married, but he and his fiancee have never done the deed – in fact he\’s never been with any woman before. He\’s getting more and more nervous as the big day approaches, so he confides in his friend. His friend says \’No worries man. I\’ll come by the honeymoon suite before you guys get there, and I\’ll hide behind the curtain, and I\’ll whisper instructions to you.\’
\’You\’d do that for me?\’
\’Sure thing man!\’
So the wedding day arrives, it was a lovely service (so I was told, I wasn\’t there myself) and Van\’s friend sneaks into the honeymoon suite as promised and hides behind the curtain.
Van and his new wife arrive in the room, get settled on the bed, and things are getting steamy.
But Van is still super nervous and his tummy is bubbling, so he murmers to his wife, \’Listen babe, I\’m just gonna go to the bathroom quick. I think it\’s that wors roll from earlier.\’
\’Sure thing babe.\’
So Van goes into the bathroom, and he\’s taking quite a long time. And his wife is starting to feel the nerves herself. And it\’s getting worse. She can\’t hold it in. But she doesn\’t want to go after he\’s gone and totally ruin the mood. So she looks around and finally finds a shoebox. Quickly, she does her business in the shoebox, and she shoves it under the bed just as Van comes back from the loo.
Van gets back on the bed and they go at it again. But after a minute or so Van smells something not so lekker.
\’What\’s that smell?\’
\’Nothing babe,\’ he wife tries to assure him.
\’No man there\’s definitely something not so lekker in this room!\’VSo Van starts looking around the room, in the corners, in the cupboard, and finally he looks under the bed, and sees the shoebox.
He pull it out, and opens it up, and in horror he shouts \’Sies! Daar\’s kak in hierdie doos!\’
And from behind the curtain his friend yells, \’NEE MAN, DRAAI HAAR OM!\”
Old Felix
My teacher pointed at me with her ruler and said that at the end of this ruler is a dumb. Then I asked which end and I got a detention.