A Differed Pay Bill of 2007, which is to repeal the Differed Act of 1977 was presented for the first reading in the National Assembly on Monday by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr. Refiloe Masemene.

According to the statement of objects and reasons presented, the purpose of the Bill is to dissolve the Differed Pay Fund Board of Trustees and the Differed Pay Fund established by the Differed Pay Act of 1974.

'The primary goal of the fund was to ensure that a higher percentage of money paid to Basotho mineworkers was utilized in Lesotho', the statement said.

'The objective of the Bill is to continue the repatriation part of salaries of Basotho mineworkers to Lesotho but not into the pool account but into their individual bank accounts, operated with a bank of the mineworkers choice in Lesotho,' it stressed.

The statement noted that the Bill provides for the appointment of a liquidator and empowers The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA) and other labour agents to maintain the individual bank accounts of mineworkers recruited by them on behalf of the employer and the accounts and records thereof, on behalf of the government after the liquidation process.

The Differed Pay Fund was a pool account at Lesotho Bank in which a certain percentage of money was repatriated by a mine employer in South Africa from a mineworker’s salary at the end of each month and on expiry of mineworker’s contract term, the money would be withdrawn from Lesotho Bank.

However, it stated that this Fund was mismanaged and resulted in a deficit of which the government was obliged to pay together with an accruing interest on administrative costs.

An attraction drawn on by the scheme was the payment by Lesotho Bank of a higher standard interest rate of 13 percent.

"The Fund used to be administered or overseen by the Board of Trustees and the loss prompted the government to wind up the Fund", the statement added.

Source: LENA 04/2008