Leemisa Thuseho
ALLIANCE of Democrats (AD) leader, Professor Ntoi Rapapa, has urged party supporters to rigorously campaign for the upcoming local government elections to ensure the AD wins as many council seats as possible.
The elections are set for 29 September 2023 and the AD leader says the party would be going all-out to secure victory.
Prof Rapapa made this call to AD supporters during their weekend rally held at Sixondo in the Moyeni constituency in Quthing district.
He was visiting the constituency for the first time since his election as AD leader in April this year after toppling the party’s founder and former leader, Monyane
Moleleki, who is still refusing to accept defeat.
Prof Rapapa is the member of parliament for the Mosalemane constituency and his AD is part of the government after forming a coalition with the Revolution For Prosperity (RFP) and Movement for Economic Change (MEC) post the 7 October 2022 national elections.
Speaking at the rally, Prof Rapapa said their target is to have representatives in all the councils in the forthcoming elections to increase their chances of winning many municipalities.
“I make a passionate plea to you all AD members, not only here in Moyeni but everywhere throughout the country, that every member of the party must ensure that the AD is represented in the upcoming Local Government elections.
“That way, you will be making it easier for the party to grow. Once one is elected to stand for elections, he or she must work hard to campaign in their respective councils because the AD executive committee will not be able to visit every constituency ahead of the elections. The time is limited and it is better to start now,” Prof Rapapa said.
He also welcomed 147 new members from other political parties at the rally, including Advocate Thato Pius Ntsibolane, who had previously been a Lesotho Congress
for Democracy (LCD) stalwart.
In welcoming the new members, Prof Rapapa said there was nothing wrong with what they had done as they had exercised their right to choose a party of their choice.
“What you have done is not new because if you can check almost every political party, you will realise that even their leaders have been members of other parties before. Everyone has the right to join a party of their choice at any time. We welcome you and urge you to work hard to win this council and many others across the country,” the AD leader said.
Prof Rapapa further assured the newcomers that they had secured the right to be elected to any committee in the structures of the party and even stand in the upcoming elections without having to wait for any amount of time in order to be eligible.
“We have suspended the clauses that were saying new members should wait for a certain time before being elected into any committee in our structures. Therefore,
now we have welcomed you in the party and you are now eligible to contest for any position in our committees. Even in the upcoming local government elections, it is
still the same; you can contest if the people from your area have interest in you.
“This means you have to hit the ground running as we want to win this council (Sixondo) and many others,” Prof Rapapa told the new members.
Meanwhile, Prof Rapapa, who is also the Minister of Education and Training, promised Quthing residents that from next month, some of the schools that include
Masitise and Pontšeng Primary Schools, would be provided with new teachers.
“We will have reception class teachers in some schools starting from next month. This is just the beginning. My vision is to see every primary school in the country
having a reception class to prepare the children for their journey at primary level,” he promised.
Prof Rapapa also spoke about the isiXhosa (Xhosa) language spoken in the district.
Although Lesotho’s official languages are Sesotho and English, some of the Quthing residents speak isiXhosa. Prof Rapapa told the rally that his ministry was planning to come up with a policy that ensures each school in Quthing would have at least two teachers with a good command of Xhosa.
