’Marafaele Mohloboli
FORMER deputy leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) and current leader of the True Reconciliation Unity (TRU), Tlali Khasu, has described as “irrational,” claims by Prime Minister and ABC leader, Thomas Thabane, that he has been holding secret meetings with some cabinet ministers and legislators from the ABC.
Dr Thabane told a Sunday party rally in Malimong #22 constituency in the Berea district that some ABC legislators and ministers were holding secret meetings with the party’s former deputy leader, Tlali Khasu.
“I have noted that there are some ministers who are busy having caucus meetings initiated by the former deputy of this party and I urge those meetings to stop forthwith because the person behind them is no longer with us,” Dr Thabane said, adding, “he (Mr Khasu) has followed his heart and his vacancy shall be appropriately filled by party cadres at a conference”.
Mr Khasu left the ABC on 17 September 2016 after being suspended for three months for allegedly castigating Dr Thabane during a radio programme.
His spirited attempts to challenge the suspension in courts of law proved futile as the High Court upheld the decision.
Mr Khasu subsequently formed the True Reconciliation Unity (TRU) in January 2017 together with another former ABC stalwart, Pitso Maisa.
The TRU nonetheless found the going tough in the June 2017 snap national elections and its poor showing later fueled speculation that Mr Khasu would retrace his footsteps back into the ABC fold and abandon the no-hope TRU.
Trusted ABC sources told the Lesotho Times late last month that the former ABC deputy leader is making overtures to Dr Thabane to facilitate a return to the ABC after he found the going tough in the rough and tumble of Lesotho politics.
The sources cited Mr Khasu’s attendance of an ABC event in Makhoakheng late last month as evidence of his efforts to restore cordial relations with his erstwhile comrades.
Mr Khasu, however, flatly denied the claims that he intends to rejoin the ABC, saying he merely attended the event to visit Dr Thabane in person.
And in an interview with the Lesotho Times on Tuesday, Mr Khasu said it would be irrational for Dr Thabane to think that he would hold secret meetings with ABC legislators.
“To be honest I haven’t met with any one of them and I don’t even know what I would be discussing with them,” Mr Khasu said.
“I have enough on my plate as it is and if at all there was anything that needed discussing over a meeting, I would meet with him (Dr Thabane) and not his people.
“These are all lies. There are some people who are busy feeding him lies about me and he has chosen to believe them.”
Three weeks ago, Mr Khasu visited Dr Thabane in Makhoakhoeng and extended a Christmas message during a party which was thrown in honour of ABC artists for their work for the party. Mr Khasu’s surprise appearance was interpreted by some as part of his move to wiggle his way back into the party.
However, Mr Khasu said the visit had nothing to do with him wanting to rejoin the ABC. It was merely a courtesy call on Dr Thabane as the two were “neither strangers nor enemies”, he said.
