The Council warns the Ministry of Health’s continued deployment of unregistered doctors exposes patients to legal and professional risks

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12 October 2026 by Limpho Sello

The Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council (LMDPC) has raised concerns over the Ministry of Health’s recruitment and deployment of expatriate doctors without first being cleared by the Council to work in the country.

The Council says the Ministry’s conduct is a violation of the 1970 law, which established the LMDPC, and makes registration with the Council a mandatory legal requirement before any person can practice as a medical practitioner in Lesotho.

The Ministry of Health deployed Dr. Towera Beauty Star Mwanamanga at Mabote Filter Clinic after the Council revoked her registration on 18 March 2025. The Council said Dr. Mwanamanga should not have been registered in the first place. Her applications was erroneously approved during the introduction of the new LMDPC online application portal.

“During the system maintenance and upgrade, applications that were already in the pipeline were automatically approved by the system before undergoing proper manual review at the designated checkpoints,” LMDPC told Uncensored News.

“Once this system error was identified, we realised several applications including hers (Dr. Mwanamanga) that should have been turned down but had been erroneously approved. Consequently, we had to revoke those approvals.”

The LMDPC communicated its decision to revoke Dr. Mwanamanga’s registration in an email dated 18 March 2025.

“Please be informed that the Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council has recently introduced a new online registration system. However, we have identified some errors within the system that require immediate attention to ensure its accuracy and efficiency,” read a letter from the Council accreditation and credentials committee.

“Regrettably, we have discovered that your application was among those affected by this issue. As a result, and pending further investigations into your registration, the Council has made the difficult decision to revoke your registration with immediate effect.”

Following this, the Council then informed the Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) human resource department of its decision to revoke Dr. Mwanamanga’s registration. Mabote Filter Clinic falls under QMMH, Lesotho’s only referral hospital. The hospital, along with its three filter clinics, receive funding from the government of Lesotho. In 2026/27 financial year alone, the hospital received M550 million funding for its operational expenses.

However, Uncensored News is in possession of a letter that suggests that former Ministry of Health Director General Health Services, Dr. ‘Makhoase Ranyali-Otubanho attempted to temper with this decision by instructing Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital to “ignore” the Council’s decision to revoke the registration of Dr. Mwanamanga as a Junior Medical Officer.

“Your office is kindly advised to let Dr. [Mwanamanga] remain working as a Junior Medical Officer as [per] her offer of appointment and ignore the revocation letter from the Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council dated 18th March 2025. You may also proceed with her work permit application using the certificate of provisional registration,” read the letter dated 19 March 2025, signed by Dr. Ranyali-Otubanho.

Have you read this: Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital Doctor Facing Negligence Complaint Unable to Prove his Paediatric Certificate – Uncensored news ?

The new system “should not be one-sided”

On 10 September 2026, Ministry of Health’s Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Lucy Mapota, told Uncensored News that while verification of medical qualifications is important, there are some particular difficulties faced by refugees and practitioners from countries where ordinary verification systems may not work.

“The nomenclature of certificates and language cannot be determined solely by our country. Every country has its own sovereignty regarding how it titles its credentials. In some countries, a diploma is recognised at the level of what other countries call a degree; it is simply a matter of nomenclature,” Dr Mapota said. “That is why there is a process to verify it properly. One must look at the academic transcript. The transcript is the true evidence of the academic process.”

Dr. Mapota argued that when the Council introduces new verification measures, the Ministry must also be informed clearly so that practitioners are not left in an uncertain position.

The new verification system could close loopholes in the old system, Dr.Mapota said. “The argument is straightforward: instead of relying only on letters of good standing or documents presented by a practitioner, an independent verification agency can go directly to the institution where the person says they studied and establish whether the qualification is genuine.”

But Dr. Mapota argued the system should not be one-sided. The Council and the Ministry are both part of the process and should communicate with one another when a practitioner’s registration is delayed or challenged.

Why Dr. Mwanamanga’s case drew attention?

LMDPC Deputy President, Dr. Kopang Mohalenyane, said Dr. Mwanamanga’s registration was revoked because of a standing agreement between the Council, Ministry of Health and Lesotho Medical Association that all junior doctors’ posts must be reserved for Lesotho nationals.

“It was agreed that, for Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital and its filter clinics, no foreign practitioner with less than five years of experience as a general medical officer would be hired,” Dr. Mohalenyane told Uncensored News.

He said the agreement stipulated that foreign doctors hired for such positions would be required to have at least five years of experience. “However, we had an applicant, Dr. Mwanamanga, who had only one year of experience. That is why her application was slated for rejection: she lacked both document verification and the required years of experience mandated by the joint agreement,” said Dr. Mohalenyane.

Dr. Mwanamanga was not the only expatriate doctor whose approval was revoked. Five others were affected. However, Dr Mwanamanga’s case “clearly demonstrated excessive interference between the Medical Council and higher authorities like the Ministry of Health. While other affected applicants accepted the revocation, completed their documentation, and waited for their licenses to be issued through proper channels, this specific individual was told, ‘Ignore the revocation and proceed with your work,” said Dr. Mohalenyane.

Dr. Mwanamanga has since resigned from the Mabote Filter Clinic on 30 March 2026.

Efforts to obtain a comment from Dr. Mwanamanga were unsuccessful at the time of going to print because her local telephonic connection was inaccessible and she did not respond to questions emailed to her on 23 September 2026.

Mountain hide-outs: Dr Kudiakubanza’s case

The Council has also made a damning allegation that the Ministry of Health has another strategy in its toolkit: deploying expatriate doctors deep in the mountains – far away from the limelight of scrutiny.

One such example is Congolese national Dr. Crispin Mukwati Kudiakubanza, who was allegedly employed to work as a dentist at Maseru Regional Hospital without first being cleared by the Council. This was revealed by Council Member Dr. Mojakisane Ramafikeng to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 3 September 2026.

He added: “When he (Dr Kudiakubanza) arrived, he worked at Queen II (Maseru Regional Hospital). When the Council started looking into his case, the Ministry transferred him to Qacha’s Nek where we cannot find him. We later discovered that he does not have papers from Home Affairs… [and] was not registered with the Council. This happened in 2025.”

On 1 October 2026, Dr. Kudiakubanza told Uncensored News that he came in Lesotho in 2022 to visit his brother and applied for a job. He said he had all required documents. 

“When I came to Lesotho, I did not know anything about the available positions. I was told that if you are a dentist or a medical doctor, you can come and apply, and when there is a position, you will be called for an interview,” Dr. Kudiakubanza said.

“When I came to register with the Lesotho Medical Council, I was asked to go to the Council on Higher Education (CHE) [and]. I submitted every document that was required.”

Dr. Kudiakubanza said CHE gave him a certificate after eight months and was told to send this certificate to the Medical Council. “After about two months, the Medical Council sent me my provisional registration,” he said.

He got his breakthrough in January 2024 when he was called for a second job interview and started working June in the same year.

Between 2022 when he arrived and June 2024, he said he stayed in Lesotho with his brother, who is also a dentist, but never worked in the country. Uncensored News has not independently established whether he never practiced as a dentist during this period.

After signing an employment contract with the Ministry of Public Service, he was posted to the Maseru District Hospital. “I was there for only about a week. After that, they sent me to Qacha’s Nek,” he said while maintaining that his employment and deployment, and transfer to Qacha’s Nek, were all above board.