Vodacom Lesotho’s 30 Years of Purpose

Connecting Basotho for a Better Future 

By Tšepo Ntaopane
Head of Vodacom Lesotho Foundation

In Lesotho, distance has never been a simple measurement on a map. It has been the long, frost‑bitten walk of a child in rural areas to school before sunrise; the tight silence on the way to the clinic when an expectant mother needs care; the moment a bright idea by a young entrepreneur pauses because the next step feels just out of reach. For many Basotho, distance has quietly shaped destinies, deciding what is possible and when.

So, when Vodacom Lesotho began its journey in 1996, the mandate was clear: connecting Basotho for a better future. Thirty years later, what stands out is not only the rise of cell towers across valleys and villages or the first call that made a faraway voice feel nearby. It is the realisation, earned year after year, that connection is also human. It is felt when a learner stays in school with dignity; when an expectant mother reaches the clinic in time; when a young graduate discovers direction and when disability no longer means exclusion. It is in those moments that Vodacom Lesotho, through its social investment arm, the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, learned to turn purpose into real-life experiences.

Education: Opening the Door to Possibility 

A classroom can either close futures or open them. For years, many children arrived at school carrying more than books; they carried hunger, disappointment and the quiet weight of going without. A broken desk, a torn uniform or the absence of simple learning tools did not announce themselves loudly, but they pushed too many learners to the margins, one school day at a time.

That is why, across the country, the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation’s simple yet life-changing interventions have helped to change the course of so many young lives. Proper desks have given children the dignity to sit, learn and dream with renewed focus. School supplies have rekindled curiosity and restored the quiet joy of learning. A pair of school shoes has helped one child walk into a bitter winter morning with confidence, while sanitary towels have restored comfort, dignity and hope to another, allowing both to remain where they belong: in the classroom, not at home, held back by hardship.

The impact is clearest in the lives behind the statistics. A young learner from Ha Moqekela in Thaba-Tseka, once distracted by discomfort and scarcity, now sits with confidence at Katlehong Primary School, fully present in her own learning. Her attendance has become more consistent. Her performance has improved. And with that, something even greater has returned: the belief that her future can be wider than her circumstances.

As learners grow, support must grow with them. For older learners such as Lerato Sibane, Keneuoe Rasupu, Leseli Matsoso and Thato Moji, alumni of the Vodacom Lesotho Bursary Programme, sponsorship to pursue studies in STEM became a bridge across what had once seemed an impassable gap. They moved from uncertainty to qualification and today they are working professionals and role models, contributing meaningfully to the economy and inspiring the next generation to aim higher.

But opening doors in STEM also means widening who gets to walk through them. Through the partnership between the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation and UNICEF Lesotho on the Code Like a Girl programme, adolescent girls encountered technology not as something distant, but as something that could belong to them. Reitumetse Lebeta, a student at Pokane High School in Quthing, once believed that computers were not for people like her. After learning the basics of coding and programming, a new kind of confidence took root. These shifts do not end with individual learners; they ripple outward. When education is strengthened, national opportunity expands with it.

Health: When Timing Means Everything

If education expands what is possible over a lifetime, health often determines what is possible in a single minute. In an emergency, distance is not measured in kilometres, but in moments. Through the m-mama programme, introduced in Lesotho in 2019, that equation began to change. When ambulances were not enough and the roads were unforgiving, timely community transport became the difference between life and loss. Sebolelo from Ha Sekantši and Reitumetse from Ha Mohatlane in Berea reached referral care just in time. Their children survived. Their families remained whole. And their stories remind us what connection truly means.

But reaching care is only the first step; the quality of care must meet people when they arrive. The renovation of the maternity ward at Scott Hospital in Morija helped to transform childbirth from a moment marked by fear into one held with care and dignity. Midwives are better supported. Mothers feel safer. And in those first cries of new life, the promise of a stronger health system becomes tangible.

Because health is shaped long before anyone reaches a hospital ward, this work also extends beyond hospital walls. In Mokhotlong, conversations on sexual and reproductive health rights, supported by the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, the Ministry of Gender, UNFPA Lesotho, Lesotho Highlands Development Aauthority, Letšeng Diamonds and Nedbank, have reached herd boys and young people who are too often left outside the circle of information. Where there was once silence, there is growing understanding. And when understanding changes, choices begin to change too, strengthening families, futures and communities.

Youth Empowerment: Turning Away from the Edge

From wellbeing, the next question has always been: what can our young people become when they are safe, supported and seen? Through structured youth development initiatives, many young people have found discipline, skills and, just as importantly, a renewed sense of belonging. Hundreds of young people who were once drifting towards delinquency found focus and pride through programmes such as the Army Youth Development Programme, often referred to as the boot camp. Step by step, they redirected their lives towards lawful contribution and community responsibility.

At the same time, entrepreneurship training and seed funding, through initiatives such as the Entrepreneurship World Cup, provided a much-needed boost for aspiring young entrepreneurs. Informal ideas gained structure. Courage turned into income. Small enterprises such as Patsa Productions, a pencil manufacturer using recycled materials, now sustain not only their founders, but others through employment as well. Opportunity, once only imagined, became real.

Digital Inclusion: Bridging the Invisible Divide

In a digital world, exclusion can be silent, but it is never small. Computer lab donations and internet connectivity in schools across the country have turned classrooms into gateways to the wider world. Learners such as Nteboheng Rakhajane from Tšehla Primary School at Matsoku in the hinterlands of Leribe, who had never used a computer before, are now able to research, learn and imagine futures their communities once could not easily reach.

Yet computers and devices alone do not transform learning; teachers do. Teachers such as Ramosite Chochane of Makhetheng Primary School in Malealea, Mafeteng, having been trained in digital skills, are reshaping how knowledge is delivered. Lessons now stretch beyond textbooks, preparing learners for tomorrow’s digital economy. Digital inclusion, when done well, does not replace teaching; it strengthens it. 

Access and Inclusion: Dignity Without Exception

But even as connectivity grows, its benefits only matter when every person can access them. At the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation-supported Insight Centre at the State Library in Maseru, St Catherine’s High School in Maseru and the National University of Lesotho in Roma, visually impaired learners are gaining greater independence through technology. Assistive devices have turned dependence into autonomy. Lieketseng Machalotse, a graduate of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, completed her studies using the Insight Centre, proof that when barriers fall, talent rises.

Inclusion must be built into systems, not added as an afterthought. Support to organisations of persons with disabilities, such as the Lesotho National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled (LNFOD), has strengthened advocacy and amplified institutional voice, helping to ensure that inclusion is not occasional, but part of how the country moves forward.

That same commitment to dignity extends to gender equality. Over the years, Vodacom Lesotho Foundation initiatives have confronted violence with visibility and support through solidarity marches, partnerships, technology such as the Nokaneng App for GBV reporting and assistance and the strengthening of GBV safety centres, including the newly built Boiketlong Multipurpose GBV Centre. Survivors have been met with protection rather than silence. One survivor, once trapped in crisis, found stability and the space to rebuild her life, reminding us that safety is not the end point, but the first step towards healing.

Responding When It Matters Most

When community life is disrupted by sudden shocks, purpose is tested by how quickly help reaches those who need it most. In moments of crisis, timing becomes everything. Food relief efforts in places such as Thaba Bosiu, Good Shepherd Centre for Teenage Mothers and Tholoana ea Lerato Orphanage, restored dignity when people in these areas were under strain. Emergency repairs at facilities such as Seboche Mission Hospital protected essential health services when infrastructure failed. These interventions were never ceremonial; they were quiet acts of solidarity, made real when it mattered most.

A Living Legacy

Taken together, these moments of steady social investment and urgent response became more than a collection of projects; they formed a living legacy. Thirty years on, Vodacom Lesotho’s story is written not only in infrastructure, but in lives changed: in a child who stayed in school, in a mother who survived childbirth, in a young person who chose skills over despair, in a Mosotho living with disability who found inclusion instead of exclusion. This is what it means to connect for a better future: not as a slogan, but as a lived reality for Basotho. And as this milestone is celebrated, it is marked with gratitude for the journey so far and with commitment to the chapters still to be written.

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