The editor-in-chief of Lesotho’s MoAfrica FM radio and MoAfrica newspaper,
Candy Ramainoane, has defended himself that his recent participation in
an official visit to China represented an inappropriate favour from the
government, writes Mzimkhulu Sithetho.
Ramainoane recently joined government officials on a trip to study the possibilities of starting a TV station.
He described the trip as successful and useful to his organization.
The trip came after Ramainoane’s media displayed a radical change of political view, swinging from strong opposition to strong support for the government. Confronting criticism that he has been getting favours from the government as a result, he told a local newspaper that the trip “was sheer accidentâ€ÂÂ.
Ramainoane said that he got the favour when he met an official from the Chinese embassy during a visit to the permanent secretary of communications on personal business.
When he asked the official about a ticket to China to study TV, he was promised it would be arranged.
When he returned, local newspaper headlines fumed over Ramainoane’s compromising the ethics of the profession. \
Since the station’s change of political views, it has benefited from government support in different ways.
The station’s key presenter, Molefi Lengosane has said that among other favours, it was promised countrywide coverage range which no other private radio has.