Five months after celebrating the award of a M27.3 million waste management contract, the Maseru City Council now says the deal may be “illegal or unlawful” — and the contractor is fighting back, turning to the Ombudsman to investigate what it calls a campaign of administrative sabotage.
On February 4, 2026, MCC introduced a joint venture known as SSL JV Consultants as the professional team entrusted with one of the country’s most significant environmental projects — stabilisation and rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite and the design of a new sanitary landfill at Tšoeneng.
In a letter to stakeholders, MCC acting Town Clerk Moea Makhakhe described SSL JV as “an experienced professional team” with expertise in dumpsite stabilisation, rehabilitation, landfill design and environmental management.
Makhakhe said the consultants would work closely with stakeholders throughout the project to ensure a process that is inclusive, transparent and aligned with sustainable development goals.
The Council urged stakeholders to provide the consultants with the necessary support and cooperation, saying the team intended to commence consultations immediately.
What the letter did not mention, however, was the price tag.
Just five days earlier, on January 30, 2026, MCC had signed a contract with SSL JV for the project at a professional fee of M27,303,450, excluding Value Added Tax (VAT).
The procurement process began in 2025 when the MCC invited bids for what was described as a major environmental intervention.
In the tender notice, MCC stated that it had secured funding from the Government of Lesotho for the stabilisation and rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite, as well as the updating of environmental and social impact assessments, design work and supervision of the proposed Tšoeneng sanitary landfill site and related infrastructure.
A total of seven companies purchased tender documents. These were SSL Joint Venture (SSL JV), Gabriel and Combustion and Heating Pty Ltd, Stable Structural Solutions, Geo Pomona Waste Management, LL Projects Pty Ltd, New Horizon–BGM JV Consultancy and PASCO.
By the extended closing date of August 25, 2025, only three bidders had successfully submitted proposals. Several submissions arrived after the official deadline and were rejected in accordance with procurement rules.
The bids that proceeded to evaluation were those submitted by SSL JV, Geo Pomona Waste Management and Gabriella Combustion and Heating.
Documents reviewed by Newsday show that after technical evaluation, only one bidder met the minimum technical threshold required by the Council. SSL Joint Venture emerged as the sole technically compliant bidder, resulting in its financial proposal being the only one opened and evaluated on September 19, 2025.
Less than a month later, on October 10, 2025, MCC Procurement Committee Secretary TiisetsoDakhane informed SSL JV that the committee intended to award it the contract at a value of M27,303,450, excluding VAT.
The letter advised the company that contract negotiations would commence following the expiry of the mandatory cooling-off period.
On October 23, 2025, Dakhane again wrote to SSL JV, this time formally inviting the company to negotiations scheduled for October 28, 2025, to finalise the terms and conditions of the proposed contract.
Following the negotiations, the procurement process moved swiftly towards implementation.
On November 19, 2025, acting Town Clerk, Makhakhe, formally awarded the contract to SSL JV. In his letter, he said the award followed a “comprehensive and competitive procurement process” in which the joint venture had demonstrated exceptional technical capacity, relevant experience and a thorough understanding of the project’s environmental and social requirements.
The contract covered what MCC described as an Integrated Waste Management Infrastructure Programme, including the stabilisation, rehabilitation, operation and closure of the Tšosane dumpsite, as well as the design, construction supervision and long-term environmental management of the Tšoeneng sanitary landfill project.
The value of the contract remained M27,303,450, exclusive of VAT.
A notice of award was subsequently issued to all participating bidders, formally bringing the procurement process to a close.
For months, the project appeared to be proceeding without controversy.
Then, more than six months after the contract had been awarded and signed, the Council made a startling discovery.
MCC tries to void a contract it signed
Newsday can reveal that on June 9, 2026, Makhakhe wrote to SSL JV expressing concerns that the contract may have been concluded unlawfully.
“Our attention has been drawn to the fact that the contract above that we signed with you is way above the Maseru City Council monetary ceiling/jurisdiction on works of this nature,” Makhakhe wrote.
“That, by reason thereof, means that the contract may very well be illegal or unlawful.”
The letter raises a fundamental question: how did a contract worth more than M27 million progress through procurement, evaluation, negotiations, approval, award and implementation before the Council allegedly discovered that it may have exceeded its legal authority to enter into it?
Makhakhe invited SSL JV to make written representations on the matter by June 12, 2026, while the Council considered its position.
Joint Venture’s response
SSL JV did not take the allegation lightly.
Three days later, on June 12, 2026, the joint venture, through its attorneys, Tharollo Chambers, fired back in a strongly worded response that rejected MCC’s position outright and accused the Council of attempting to escape its contractual obligations.
The lawyers described MCC’s claim that the contract “may very well be illegal or unlawful” as “belated, vague, speculative and unsubstantiated”, arguing that the Council was seeking to manufacture a justification for delays and non-performance.
“It is an attempt by MCC to evade payment, avoid its performance, and manufacture an excuse for entrenched delays to perform its part,” the lawyers wrote.
SSL JV pointed out that the contract had undergone every stage of the procurement process without objection from the Council.
According to the response, the project had been subjected to a public tender process, compulsory pre-tender briefing sessions, technical and financial evaluations, contract negotiations and a formal award before the agreement was ultimately signed by both parties.
The attorneys noted that MCC issued a Letter of Award on November 19, 2025, before proceeding to execute the agreement, which was signed by SSL JV on December 8, 2025, and by MCC on January 30, 2026.
“At no stage, neither during the tender, evaluation, negotiations, nor execution, did MCC raise any issue regarding the monetary ceiling or jurisdiction,” the lawyers argued.
They further contended that by advertising the tender, evaluating bids, negotiating the contract, issuing an award and signing the agreement, MCC had represented to bidders that it possessed the legal authority to enter into the transaction.
“MCC is therefore estopped from raising such an objection now,” the response states.
The lawyers warned that should MCC persist with its position, SSL JV would approach the courts seeking a declaration that the contract is valid and binding, as well as an interdict preventing the Council from cancelling it.
They also threatened to escalate the matter to the Office of the Ombudsman, which they said was already seized with issues relating to the project.
The Council’s latest position may also expose it to allegations that it is attempting precisely the kind of “self-help” recently condemned by Lesotho’s highest court.
MCC’s move to void the contract tests limits of Appeal Court ‘self-help’ ruling
In the landmark case of LietsisoMothala and 76 Others v Director General, National Security Service and Others (C of A (CIV) 60/2025), the Court of Appeal considered whether the Director General of the National Security Service (NSS) could simply decide that appointments made by his predecessor were unlawful and then terminate the affected employees without first obtaining a court order.
The Court’s answer was unequivocal.
Writing for a unanimous Court, Acting Justice of Appeal Johann van der Westhuizen held that if the appointments were indeed irregular or unlawful, the Director General should have approached a court to review and set them aside.
Instead, the Director General “took the law into his own hands.”
The Court stressed that it is now a settled principle of public law that a public official or administrative body cannot unilaterally nullify decisions made by itself or its predecessor merely because it believes those decisions were unlawful.
Quoting approvingly from leading constitutional jurisprudence, the Court reaffirmed that the power to determine legality ultimately belongs to the courts.
“Government officials, or anyone else for that matter, may not usurp that role by themselves pronouncing on whether decisions are unlawful, and then ignoring them,” the Court said.
The Court further endorsed the principle that no decision deriving its authority from the Constitution or legislation may simply be disregarded by a public authority.
“To do otherwise would amount to a licence to self-help,” the judgment stated.
The Court concluded that even where a public authority believes a previous decision is unlawful, “an order of court would have to be obtained” before the legal consequences of that decision can be undone.
The judgment was not merely about employment disputes.
In fact, the Court criticised the High Court for treating the matter as a labour dispute when it was fundamentally a question of administrative law, legality and the rule of law.
“The Court failed to see that a court of law should have been approached to review and set aside” the impugned decisions, the Court of Appeal held.
The parallels with the MCC dispute are difficult to ignore.
In June this year, the Council informed SSL JV that a contract worth M27.3 million, which it had itself advertised, procured, negotiated, awarded and signed, “may very well be illegal or unlawful” because it allegedly exceeded the Council’s monetary jurisdiction.
Yet, as of publication, there is no indication that MCC has approached a court seeking a declaration that the contract is invalid.
Instead, the Council appears to have reached its own preliminary conclusion regarding the legality of the agreement and communicated that position directly to the contractor.
Whether MCC’s concerns about its monetary limits are ultimately correct is a separate question.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment suggests that even if the Council believes the contract was concluded unlawfully, it cannot simply act on that belief without first obtaining appropriate judicial relief.
That is because, according to the Court, questions of legality are not for public authorities to determine conclusively for themselves.
They are matters for the courts.
As the Court of Appeal warned in the Mothala judgment, public institutions cannot become judges in their own cause by deciding that a previous decision was unlawful and then unilaterally treating it as such.
Summary
- On February 4, 2026, MCC introduced a joint venture known as SSL JV Consultants as the professional team entrusted with one of the country’s most significant environmental projects — stabilisation and rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite and the design of a new sanitary landfill at Tšoeneng.
- In the tender notice, MCC stated that it had secured funding from the Government of Lesotho for the stabilisation and rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite, as well as the updating of environmental and social impact assessments, design work and supervision of the proposed Tšoeneng sanitary landfill site and related infrastructure.
- The contract covered what MCC described as an Integrated Waste Management Infrastructure Programme, including the stabilisation, rehabilitation, operation and closure of the Tšosane dumpsite, as well as the design, construction supervision and long-term environmental management of the Tšoeneng sanitary landfill project.
Lesotho activist and journalist who is the Chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho. He is an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumnus.
Boloetse is driven by the need to protect and promote the rights of others, especially the marginalized segment of society. He rose to prominence as an activist in 2018 when he wrote to Lesotho communications Authority (LCA) asking it to order Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) and Vodacom Lesotho (VCL) to stop charging expensive out-of-bundle rates for data when customers’ data bundles get depleted.
