A SMALL discredited conspiratorial group of dissidents, some of them formerly active in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party, recently approached the High Court to stop the party’s special conference scheduled for this week.
The court application is full of slander and malicious distortions that are intended to cause disruption within the ranks of the LCD.
The group wants to act against a collective decision taken by the majority of the LCD delegation at last year’s leadership conference.
Determined, at all costs, to attract public attention to themselves, they deliberately conspired to bring the organisation into disrepute with matters that are not constitutional.
This action was the culmination of a persistent, prolonged, treacherous and subversive campaign by some of the individuals who have started talking about a succession plan without following properly constituted structures within the movement.
The overwhelming majority of the members of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy have, for a little less than a decade, been aware of the activities of some of the leaders of this faction, their arrogant defiance of decisions of the movement as well as their clandestine and futile attempts to discredit the organisation and its leadership.
The mature silence of the democratically elected president of our glorious movement in public about the activities of the clique apparently made them to run to court wanting to bypass the movement and undermine the constitution of the movement, to deal with matters of the movement internally than rushing to find a solution from the court of law.
It was clear that what the faction tried to exploit as a problem arising from the decisions of the 2010 leadership conference, was a mere subterfuge for their activities against the LCD as a whole, its policies and its leadership.
Whilst proclaiming loyalty to the principles of the LCD they were in fact propagating by example, deeds, and words reckless defiance of the decisions and instructions of the organisation.
The roots of this clique therefore existed before the Leadership Conference in 2010.
When any person seriously and sincerely joins the movement, particularly a national liberation organisation like the Lesotho Congress for Democracy, he joins to participate in the struggle as a member of the movement.
Because of the heavy sacrifices involved, imprisonment, arrest and torture of former leaders of the congress movement in the 70’s and the ex-combatants of Lesotho Liberation Army and the fallen heroes of our movement, nobody at any time has ever been compelled or conscripted into joining the LCD.
One became member by choice to sacrifice one’s individual interest to that of the organisation.
It is clear that this clique that wants to block the special conference only wants to fight for space and resources within the LCD-led government.
Not so long ago they acted against the decision of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili to reshuffle cabinet, and this group has received wide and thorough coverage in media.
This has proven that the enemy of the LCD is the LCD itself because of the reactionary tendencies of these individuals.
I agree with my learned friend Advocate Kananelo Mosito that this application must be thrown out of court back to the structures of the movement because political problems will only be solved politically.
In all revolutions, defeated and counter-revolutionary elements resort to the court method and in most cases ultimately club together with the enemy.
The LCD, as a vanguard organisation, the mobiliser, organiser and guide of our people, has had to contend with this situation for a decade.
It has approached the problem in both a serious-minded and revolutionary manner.
It has recognised the need and worked for the strongest possible revolutionary links among all the true members of the movement.
As a serious-minded, revolutionary organisation, the LCD further does not believe that the unity of this faction is either natural or permanent.
Neither does the LCD believe that unity is both forced and transient.
For us disciplined members of the LCD, now, it remains a constant task to win over to our side all those Basotho people and people of Lesotho descendants who want to work with the LCD led government, for our country to reclaim its sit rightfully with the nations of the world.
The LCD observes the principle of democratic centralism. This principle requires, among other things, that once decisions have been decided, the minority must abide by the decisions adopted by the majority.
It also recognises that at the last leadership conference a decision was taken that there should be a special conference to deal with dissatisfaction of the majority of the members.
Yet under the guise of “restoring internal democracy” in the LCD, the anti-LCD clique constituted itself as Litima Mollo within the LCD, and refused to subordinate itself to the decisions or to recognise the authority of the LCD.
In 1970 the Basotho National Party declared a state of emergency and subsequent to that it wanted to enter into a government of national unity with the congress movement.
Few individual comrades defied the resolution of the majority of the National Executive Committee and served in the Basotho National Party government, but their political career did not last.
In 1997 some individuals undermined the leadership of the late President Dr Ntsu Mokhehle. These individuals have now been forgotten in the history of the movement.
The LCD is like an ocean, it’s able to carry unclean stuff, but when it washes them away it’s like they never entered the ocean.
This weekend the majority of our people will be gathered at Manthabiseng Convention Centre to discuss the future of proper leadership of the movement.
The LCD will emerge united as ever before.
The decision of the majority of our membership taken last year at the leadership conference will be rubberstamped, and reactionary forces will be thrown into the dustbin of reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces.
Advocate Motebang Ramaili is a practising advocate in the High Court of South Africa and is a member in good standing of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy party
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