You really have to be an eternal optimist to believe that the All Basotho Convention (ABC) – the party of Motsoahae Thomas Thabane – shall ever rise from the ashes again. Or that we shall in our generation ever have a Right Honourable Prime Minister Nkaku Kabi. Perhaps it is in light of this reality that you can see the desperation of the ABC in wanting to be co-opted into the incoming Moruo administration.
Needless to mention that it will be a tragic error for Ntate Sam to co-opt an entity that has been so overwhelmingly rejected by voters into the Moruo coalition. Moruo represents hope and freshness. Voters want to feel that hope. They want to smell that freshness, unencumbered by the relics of the past (the ABC, BNP, LCD etc)
But did things have to go this way for the party of Ntate Motsoahae? They ought not to have. But in the end, they had to.
And to all those who really love this party, Scrutator has one suggestion for you: The ABC must close for business. It no longer has a future. It has become wholly unelectable like its cohorts; the Lesotho Congress for Democracy and the Basotho National Party. Not to mention the other no hopers that exist to solely create political jobs for their “leaders”. The ABC is now a complete aberration. I voted for this party in 2012 and 2017. It left me with no option but to jettison it. It has been a huge disappointment.
The ABC did not only lose, it lost big. When a party descends from winning 48 constituencies to winning zero, in a short space of five years, it should just shut for business. It will never rise again.
The extent to which the ABC had started taking voters for granted had not only become slimy and nauseating, it had become wholly smarmy.
When Ntate Motsoahae called it quits (with her garrulous young Lady Dee in tour), the party had an excellent opportunity to introspect and re-examine and renew itself. It didn’t. It pushed the self-destruction baton deeper. In the end, it deservedly harvested thorns.
Ntate Motsoahae’s forced quitting, had given the ABC an excellent opportunity for renewal. It should have elected a new leader with similar impact as its charismatic founder at his peak (before the Lady Dee days). It did not. It elected Ntate Nkaku Kabi, a man wholly out of his depth with no qualifications or achievements to justify his claim to the premiership.
Not that Moeketsi Majoro would have done any better. From what we now know, he did not make the cut. But assuming Majoro’s poor performance as prime minister was a deliberate act to sabotage and destroy the ABC, then perhaps he would have been a better bet than Kabi. Even if his failed tenure as prime minister was a result of natural incompetence, there is reason to believe Majoro could have been better sellable than Kabi.
I lost all hope and respect for Kabi over his deliberate choice to hobnob with a known deranged criminal who has murdered, maimed and caused untold suffering to countless families here in Lesotho and South Africa. How can any self-respecting leader not see the impact of such prosaic folly on their character. And what did Kabi think all those families suffering from horrendous crime in this country would make of him, seeing that he had no qualms with giving deranged criminals a platforms to spew all manner of hogwash at his so called rallies. Would Joe Biden or Barack Obama or Donald Trump ever have considered giving Osama Bin laden a platform at their rallies? Yet that’s what Kabi did? Thank God he and his criminal buddies did not make it to State House. Needless to mention where the 40 000 plus supporters, he claims to have been recruited for his party by his criminal gangsters, where on October 7 2022.
To you all the leaders of the ABC, how did you surely expect us to take you seriously, when you spent your entire lives squabbling like kindergartens instead of running the country. Do you take Basotho for fools?. In case you don’t know, Basotho are among the most politically astute electorates in the world. For all our other faults, we have fostered democracy in this country. The fact that we have seen five different governments from 2012 to 2022 is both a good and bad thing. Bad in the sense that no administration has ever fully had adequate time to fully implement its agenda. But since none of the coalitions had a credible agenda to improve the lives of Basotho, that bad element was mitigated by that fact. These were all coalitions of political convenience. Jobs for pals coalitions at best. From that perspective, Basotho were right to recycle their governments like diapers. But when an electorate starts recycling politicians, that becomes a good thing. No useless politician will overstay their welcome.
The lesson that Basotho have given to our politicians over the years is simple and stark; Perform or you are out. Many a voter elsewhere on this continent don’t have such luxury. They are stuck with bad governments that they cannot remove. Think Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola or Equatorial Guinea; thanks to undemocratic and rigged elections.
You would think that the ABC would have known better that Basotho are active and angry citizens; not afraid to lash out if need be. After all the ABC had twice been a beneficiary of such anger in 2012 and 2017. Alas, the ABC completely took voters for granted. Its decision to elect Kabi as Motsoahae’s successor was in itself reckless, short-sighted and unintelligent.
When all has been said and done, the man to blame for the unravelling of the ABC is the very man who founded it; Ntate Motsoahae himself. The story of how he empowered her young Lady Dee to play an oversized role has been written recycled and is now frankly a tired tale. Still, the ABC could have survived post- Lady Dee if it had got its act together. Once Majoro had taken over as prime minister on May 2020, the ABC should have moved fast to replace Motsoahae as party leader. His reign had ended. There was no point in keeping him at the realm. The once charismatic leader was way past his sell by date. Instead the party chose to continue off tangent.
If the ABC had replaced Motsoahae and then devised a purposeful agenda and done good for the country post May 2022, perhaps Moruo would never have started. Perhaps the ABC would still be in power.
The seed for the ABC’s self-destruction had long been sown at its February 2019 elective conference where Ntate Motsoahae refused to acknowledge the election of one Nqosa Mahao to be his deputy.
What is the purpose of elections when those elected are rejected on a whim. Motsoahae’s move against Mahao must rank as the stupidest political decision ever. There is always a problem with founders of political parties. When their parties do well, they begin seeing themselves as bigger than their parties.
If Ntate Motsoahae had embraced Ntate Mohao, perhaps the infighting that destroyed the ABC could never have started. In Ntate Mahao, Lesotho would have had a hardworking, intelligent well-meaning prime minister. Majoro and his disastrous administration would also never have happened. But more importantly, Nkaku Kabi and his deranged and murderous bosom buddy Lehlanya would never have happened. All the degeneration that gave rise to Moruo would never have occurred. It doesn’t matter that Mahao lost Koro-Koro in the end. Once the anthropological stupidity of the ABC had given rise to Moruo, many a political career were bound to inevitably suffer. That cannot obliterate the fact that Mahao was the man to save the ABC.
Now the ABC cannot be saved. It’s lies in ruins. It’s beyond repair. It must be shut down completely. It has gone the route of the once mighty Lesotho Congress for Democracy – the party of Ntsu Mokhehle – and the Basotho National Party (BNP) – the party of Leabua Jonathan.
The lesson to be drawn from these two once might juggernauts (LCD, BNP) is that once Basotho have rejected you, you are totally finished. There is no point pretending that the ABC, just like the LCD and the BNP, shall ever rise again. Yes, there might be opportunities for their leaders to be co-opted into this or that coalition and earn a living. But should that have been the destinies of these parties? It need not have been like that if it were not for their rusty leaders.
Moreover, opportunities to be co-opted will become more difficult. If Moruo does well, it might want to start thinking about ruling alone in 2027. The only way to achieve that is to revisit MMPR system. It’s outdated. It’s skunkish. It has become a farce. Indeed, it is a monumental injustice for a party that won a landslide of 56 constituency seats to be forced into a coalition.
The sooner Moruo starts exploring the abolishment of the MMPR system the better for them and others in the future. Even if Moruo fails, it is highly unlikely the ABC will ever rise again. In fact, it won’t.
The best and most optimal route for the ABC, the BNP and the LCD is closing down for business. We need a coherent opposition from parties likely to be taken seriously as alternative governments by Basotho. Not a fragmented opposition. That role now lies in the hands of Mathibeli Mokhothu.
As for the leaders of the ABC, LCD, BNP and the coterie of other no hope opposition “leaders”, how about trying your hands in business. Maybe becoming car wash entrepreneurs might just be an excellent idea. I cannot see you operating in any other sectors needing clearer thinking.
Ache!!!
