MASERU — Some disgruntled members of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party have formed a new party.
The Baphuthi Congress Lesotho (BCL) was registered with the Independent Electoral Commission last week.
It becomes the 24th political party to be registered in Lesotho.
The party’s leader, Retšepile Teele, told the Lesotho Times yesterday that they want to provide a home to all disgruntled people from all the country’s political parties.
He said all members of the party’s interim national executive committee had defected from the LCD after they got fed up with the ruling party’s policies.
The BCL’s colours are like the LCD’s black, green and red.
Teele is a former member of the LCD youth league committee.
He said he decided to form his own party after he realised that the LCD leadership was not willing to listen to the people and was shifting away from its founding ideology and policies.
Teele said his party will contest the upcoming local government elections in September.
He said he was not happy with the LCD’s tendency to “ignore the will of the people” especially when selecting candidates during elections.
He cited the 2007 elections in Tele constituency.
“We had nominated Ntate Refiloe Masemene to be our candidate but the body that received the nominees, which was made up of Ntate Monyane Moleleki and Ntate Popane Lebesa, ignored the people’s choice,” Teele said.
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At the time, Moleleki and Lebesa were members of the LCD national executive committee and cabinet ministers.
“We sent out complaints to the leader Pakalitha Mosisili but we were told he had gone to the United States and nobody bothered to listen to us,” Teele said.
“This is how the LCD runs its affairs and people like me who cherish democracy do not have a place in such a shabby system of rule.”
LCD secretary general, Mothetjoa Metsing, yesterday said it was unacceptable for LCD members to join another party.
“The LCD constitution is clear that a member cannot be a member of a rival party while still with us,” he said.
He did not say what was going to happen to Teele and the other defectors.