Bank honours T’seliso Mafike

MASERU – LESOTHO Post Bank has dedicated its refurbished offices in Maseru to the bank’s first Mosotho manager, Tšeliso Mafike.
The new-look Mafike House was officially opened by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane last Friday.
Lesotho Post Bank was established in 1971 with just five clients.

It was later transformed into Lesotho Bank. It was however liquidated and its shares were bought by Standard Bank. The bank’s name was later changed to the present Standard Lesotho Bank.

A senior Lesotho Post Bank official, Teboho Faba, said when Mafike left Lesotho Bank “the balance sheet of the bank was M260 million”.
After the demise of Lesotho Bank the government realised the need for Basotho to once again own a bank because all banks in the country belonged to foreigners.

In 2004, the government set up Lesotho Post Bank. Faba said the bank still follows the principles set by Mafike.

Lesotho Post Bank managing director, Molefi Leqhaoe, said he is happy with the bank’s growth.
“We are very proud of our bank, we are also proud that this building was renovated by the contractors of Lesotho, because if we grow then Basotho should also improve,” Leqhaoe said.

“As the bank we will now make some changes that will benefit all Basotho even the poor in rural areas.”
“We will have internet banking, mobile banking and the biometric identification for Basotho who cannot read and write,” he added.

Retšepile Elias, the chairperson of Lesotho Post Bank, said the bank is 100 percent owned by the state and “therefore wholly belongs to Basotho”.
Elias said the bank is working hand-in-hand with other Post Offices around Lesotho in order to bring services closer to the people.
“Back in 2004 the bank was using booklets only for its customers, from 2009 bank cards were introduced and customers had the chance to withdraw money from their ATMs,” Elias said.

“Our bank is doing very well starting from 2014 till now and we made some developments because we now have a new banking system,” he said.
“We promise that for 2018, we will come with good results for our bank,” he added.

Thooe Ramolibeli