’Marafaele Mohloboli
ALLIANCE of Democrats (AD) leader, Monyane Moleleki’s decision to seek re-election in the Machache constituency has not gone down well with some party members.
Some branches of the party in the constituency have called on the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to reverse the decision and allow a younger person to contest in the polls which are due any time after September 2022.
In April 2021, Mr Moleleki had said he would not be standing as the party candidate in Machache. He had said he would seek to return to parliament as a non-constituency, proportional representation (PR) legislator, for what would be his last tenure in parliament. Thereafter he would pass the baton to younger politicians.
Mr Moleleki’s first made the pledge to hand over to fresh blood in 2017. At the time, he said his decision not to stand in future elections was premised on his belief that leaders should not cling to positions for life but make way for others.
However, Mr Moleleki somersaulted last month and decided to seek re-election.
Explaining the U-turn, AD deputy leader, Ntoi Rapapa, said Mr Moleleki had initially resolved not to stand in his constituency but seek to return to parliament via the proportional representation (PR) route. However, should the constitutional amendments being proposed as part of the ongoing multi-sector reforms be passed, PR legislators would only be chosen from the list of people who contested and lost in the constituencies, providing they had garnered significant votes.
This means that Mr Moleleki would have to contest in Machache for him to stand any chance of becoming an MP even via the PR route in the event that he loses, Mr Rapapa explained.
But some AD members, including Machache councillor, Litaba Taaibosch, are opposed to Mr Moleleki’s candidature.
“We need to save Ntate Moleleki from himself and some NEC members who pretend to love him but have failed give him proper advice.
“We will have a meeting with him and tell him to his face that we are not happy with his decision to contest especially after he had told us he would not seek re-election and urged us to find a replacement,” Mr Taaibosch said in an interview this week.
Party spokesperson, Thuso Litjobo, downplayed the issue, saying only a few people were opposed to Mr Moleleki’s move to seek re-election.
“We are not going to dwell on this matter because we know the majority are very happy that Ntate Moleleki will seek re-election. Only a handful of people are unhappy about it,” Mr Litjobo said.
