Mohloai Mpesi
ALL Basotho Convention (ABC) secretary-general, Lebohang Hlaele, has dismissed as baseless mounting speculation that his party is on the verge of joining Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s seven-party coalition to full-proof it from being ousted in a no confidence motion.
The country and social media have been awash with rumours that the ABC- which spectacularly collapsed from being a political behemoth with 53 seats to a fringe organisation with no constituency seats at the October 2022 elections – would lend its six proportional representation (PR) MPs to aid Mr Matekane in his survival bid.
Mr Matekane had since expanded his coalition with four small parties after the opposition successfully mobilised a majority of 61 MPs and nearly ousted him from power on 16 October 2023. He survived after the no confidence motion was deferred because of a court challenge. He had since declared he was now safe with a majority 67 MPs after he co-opted four small parties into his coalition. The opposition has disputed that majority. It has vowed to put it to the test should the no confidence motion return to parliament after finalisation of all court processes.
By recruiting more parties to join his seven-party coalition, Mr Matekane would only full-proof himself against any future ouster attempts and decimate the opposition numbers. The ABC had therefore allegedly agreed to join his coalition as the premier seeks to further dwindle the numbers of opposition MPs baying for his blood.
“That is definitely not the case. The ABC has not been invited to join the coalition,” Mr Hlaele said.
But while the ABC had not yet been invited by Mr Matekane to join his government, it would consider any such offer should it arise.
“Should such an opportunity present itself, the national executive committee (NEC) would seriously interrogate it, then consult with its structures on whether to accept it or not…” Mr Hlaele told the Lesotho Times last night.
“But for now, no. It is not true. It is just a matter rumours of Kingsway Street. Such an offer has not been extended to us. There have not been negotiations between the government and the ABC.
“If by chance we are called to join the government, even after Basotho decided not to vote for us in the last elections, we will first have to be convinced about the reasons we are being called to join the government for. We will have to interrogate if the reasons for any such invitation are for the good of the country and for Basotho or not.
“If, as the NEC of the ABC we are convinced (to join), we will have to go to our members and share with them that decision, gather their opinions and have them tell us what to do. Our members are the ones that will ultimately decide.”
Mr Hlaele said the ABC would cooperate in the completion of the national reforms process regardless of whether the party was in government or not.
The national reforms process has long stalled because of lack of cooperation between the government and the opposition. But Mr Hlaele said they were committed to seeing the process completed in the national interest.
“Reforms are our brain child as the ABC. They were initiated and started by the ABC when Ntate (Thomas) Thabane was still Prime Minister.
“We thus still support the reforms process to ensure that it continues and reaches finality for the benefit of this country. As ABC we only take decisions that are good for Basotho, not for our own benefit as politicians.”
Mr Hlaele further told the Lesotho Times that following the ABC’s embarrassing defeat at the October 2022 general elections, the party was “cleansing itself” in the hope of regaining the diminished trust of its followers.
“Basotho have put us in this position through their votes. We respect their decision because only Basotho know why they have put us in this position, and we also know why,” Mr Hlaele said.
“We only have to evaluate ourselves, deeply introspect, cleanse ourselves through actions and statements that we make, so that Basotho will form a different opinion of us in the next elections and vote for us, convinced that we have indeed changed.
“Our hearts are pained that we are in this position (of opposition), but we accept it. We can only clean our house so that we can win Basotho’s trust again.”
ABC leader, Nkaku Kabi, had also refuted the allegations that he was about to join the government. He however said he would only comment in detail after the rumours had subsided.
“Can we at least talk later? Please allow the speculation and lies about ABC joining the government to subside. I don’t know where all these things are coming from. So I don’t want to talk about them because they are starting to irritate me,” Mr Kabi said.
“There have never been meetings about us joining the government, but we see them (rumours) spreading everywhere…. I don’t want to provide a detailed comment until all these things have subsided.
“It seems Facebook is making us dance too much. Let’s spend time on better endeavours…”
