The award and extension of employment contracts for 16 Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Officers was done in accordance with the LDF Act.

This, was said by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Mr. Limpho Tau in the National Assembly when responding to the question of a member of parliament for Maletsunyuane Mr. Peiso Kelane who asked the Minister if he was aware that a large number of Officers at the LDF remains in service despite having reached the mandatory retirement age, and if so, can the Minister reveal the details of the contracts given to them for the extension of service and also whether this does not disadvantage junior officers who are due for promotion.

Mr. Tau said the LDF Act provides that members should retire at the age of 55, saying he was aware that there are some LDF officers who were given the special contract as per LDF Act No4 of 1996 section 23 (5) which provides that the Minister may, on recommendation of the Commander of the Defence Force with consent of the officer concerned, extend the date of retirement of an officer to a date beyond on which the officer attains the retirement age.

He reminded that there are certain challenges facing the military service such as financial constraints, which led to failure to train officers in some areas and to employ new members regularly, thus these challenges forced the military to utilise the skills of members who have expertise and thus had to renew their contracts.

He indicated that amongst other requirements for extension of contracts for some officers include, academic performance, outstanding performance while at work and expertise in military strategies, amongst others. He further said the last intake of LDF members was in 2019 thus this makes a gap in succession.