Pascalinah Kabi
ANOTHER week, another report of infighting in the fractious ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC).
This time the ABC’s Mohale’s Hoek constituency committee is baying for the party secretary general Lebohang Hlaele’s blood. It accuses him of abusing his position to ensure spouses of his friends are recruited to vacant posts in the home affairs ministry.
Some party members say this is part of an elaborate plan to strategically position people who will vote for him in his quest to take over the ABC leadership post whenever the incumbent Thomas Thabane steps down or is forced out by the party’s national executive committee (NEC).
The Mohale’s Hoek constituency secretary, ‘Matšepang Fuma, has even written to the party’s deputy secretary, Nkaku Kabi, complaining of Mr Hlaele’s alleged indiscretions.
Mr Hlaele yesterday denied the allegations, saying they were peddled by people threatened by him to an extent that they could not sleep at night.
In her 19 October 2020 letter to Mr Kabi, Ms Fuma complains that Mr Hlaele visited the constituency in August this year without first informing her and the member of parliament, Lebona Sentje.
“Honourable, we put it before you and the national executive committee that on 17 August 2020, secretary general of the ABC Ntate Lebohang Hlaele visited my constituency, Mohale’s Hoek #58.
“He explained that he had come to resolve issues surrounding the employment of people in the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, we are unhappy with his mediation.
“We are disappointed that the party secretary general did not carry out this mandate in line with circular No.5 of 2020, which clearly states that employment in the ministry of home affairs will be done by the constituency secretary and the member of parliament.
“We were really shocked to realise that members whose names were forwarded by the constituency secretary and member of parliament for consideration of employment have been pushed aside. Only those who are seemingly favourites of the party secretary general, especially his friends’ wives, have been forwarded for employment.
“We humbly request the national executive committee to immediately resolve this matter as it is an urgent issue. We would like to have a physical audience with the national executive committee to enable us to explain ourselves and give account of what happened in the meeting which we mentioned earlier,” Ms Fuma states in her letter which is copied to all members of the party’s NEC.
Mr Kabi confirmed receiving the letter from Mohale’s Hoek. His remarks however, suggest that the NEC is not treating the issue very seriously.
“The letter raised concerns regarding the secretary general’s visit to the Mohale’s Hoek constituency. I communicated the contents of that letter in a WhatsApp group of the party and the secretary general responded by saying no one can control his visit to the constituencies,” Mr Kabi said yesterday.
Ms Fuma’s mobile phone rang unanswered when this publication called her for comment yesterday.
Mr Sentje refused to comment on the matter.
“These are annoying issues that I would not want to discuss with the media especially when I have forwarded my concerns to the NEC and I am still expecting them to call me to discuss and put this matter to bed,” Mr Sentje said yesterday.
Political parties in government have often been accused of filling positions in the civil service with their supporters or luring members of other parties to join them with job offers.
Just last month, suspended ABC deputy chairperson and Qoaling MP accused Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu’s Democratic Congress (DC) party of poaching ABC members by offering them jobs in the ministries it controls as part of the coalition agreement with the ABC.
Mr Phori even urged Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro, the ABC’s NEC and the party’s MPs to join forces with other parties to oust the current government and install a new one which excludes the DC. This as punishment for its alleged actions.
Mr Phori’s call appears not to have garnered support as evidenced by the fact that he has been unable to file a no confidence motion against the government despite promising to do so when parliament reopened on 5 October 2020 after a lengthy winter break.
Some ABC sources now accuse Mr Hlaele of using the same tactics as the DC to win support for his alleged plan to win the ABC leader’s post.
“It is an open secret that Hlaele wants to be ABC leader and he picked his own favourites for the home affairs jobs. He wants those people to campaign for him in our constituency,” an ABC source said.
The source added: “He was very clever when he declined a ministerial position because he knew he would have all the time in the world to visit constituencies in the name of uniting and growing the party. He is using his position to campaign for the leader’s position”.
Mr Hlaele, a son-in-law to Mr Thabane, is said to have broken ranks with the party’s deputy leader, Professor Nqosa Mahao and other members of the NEC due to his ambitions to lead the party.
He is said to consider Prof Mahao as the biggest threat to his ambitions ahead of current premier Moeketsi Majoro and party chairperson Samuel Rapapa who are all said to harbour ambitions of taking over the top post.
Mr Hlaele is now said to be working with the latter’s loyalists to ensure Mr Thabane remains ABC leader for the foreseeable future only because he regards Prof Mahao as the biggest threat to his own ambitions.
He has denied allegations that he fell out with Prof Mahao and was now working with Mr Thabane’s camp.
This despite being snubbed for some meetings held by the Mahao loyalists and reportedly attempting to get Prof Mahao suspended for allegedly campaigning for the leader’s post. This after the party’s Thupa-Kubu legislator, Tšeliso Kalake, had last month written to the NEC complaining that Prof Mahao, who is also the Law and Justice minister, had been campaigning in his constituency without informing him and the constituency committee.
Mr Hlaele yesterday denied that that there was a party circular stating that only constituency secretaries and MPs had the mandate of recommending names for appointment to the civil service jobs.
“Do you have that circular? It clearly indicates that the NEC has resolved that constituency secretaries and MPs will only be informed of the announcement of vacancies by the Home Affairs ministry to enable them to inform ABC members at grassroots level to apply for those jobs.
“Those people wanted to recommend names for appointment but that is not how it works. (ABC spokesperson Montoeli) Masoetsa went there to try and resolve this matter. I only went there to explain to them administrative procedure,” Mr Hlaele said, adding, “call Masoetsa and he will give you a full story”.
Mr Masoetsa was not reachable for comment on his mobile phone yesterday.
Mr Hlaele also denied abusing his post to position himself for the ABC leadership position by offering jobs to his friends. He said he did not even have ambitions of succeeding Mr Thabane.
“Currently, I don’t have an ambition to lead the party. You will know when I have that ambition, I will tell you. These are just unfortunate allegations being peddled by people who are threatened by me.
“There is no single person who can stand and claim that I went to their constituency and started campaigning. There is no recording suggesting that I went to different constituencies to campaign. People are just threatened by me, they are so afraid that they have sleepless nights over me.
“I have been a member of the many different political parties and have seen how stressful it is to lead divided party. The ABC is currently divided and we are busy trying to unite it,” Mr Hlaele said.
