Soon or later, you are going to have to make an important decision; i.e whether you want to become relevant to Lesotho’s politics as an effective opposition leader or continue with your current slow but very painful slide towards oblivion.
The recent events in your party should worry you and awaken you from your slumber. Either you revamp your levels of efficiency as a politician in general and as the Official Leader of the Opposition in particular or we begin writing your political obituary.
Your Democratic Congress (DC) has seen its fortunes slide in every election since 2012. It faces a real risk of going the ABC way. Once a might giant of Lesotho’s politics, the ABC is now not only a shell of its former self. It is now effectively dead. It does not help that its current “leader” Ntate Kabi is as uninspiring as a dodo. With him at the helm, the ABC will remain comatose. The DC risks the same fate.
To be honest with you Ntate Mokhothu, your tenure as the official opposition leader has thus far been very disappointing. Your role is to keep the RFP led coalition on its feet. Yet the opposite is true.
The world can be forgiven for believing that Ntate Machesetsa is the real official opposition leader. ‘M’e Machabana Lempane-Letsie is certainly doing a better job to get this government accountable through her leadership of the PAC. What are you doing ntate to show your mettle as the prime minister in waiting? Zilch I would say.
You seem to constantly miss every opportunity that should make you shine as opposition leader. Why?
Qoo
Ntate how can any serious official opposition party have a guy like Serialong Qoo as its spokesman. The guy is a dud. He knows little or nothing about political communication. He is not the brightest globe in the lounge? He has very little grasp of economics or any other serious subject. I have never heard him articulate a policy position on anything real for the DC. Remember Ntate in Lesotho, as with everywhere else in the world, it’s the politics of the stomach that matter most. People need to know a party’s policy positions that will guarantee them jobs, good education and healthcare and the ability to send their children to school. I have never heard Qoo articulate any policy position of significance. He is probably a very good human being, but he is out of his depth. To put it bluntly Ntate Qoo has a very low IQ to be an effective opposition spokesman. Whenever he tries to speak on any topic, he betrays the DC. I will not call him a dunderhead. He is just inarticulate.
If you are serious about keeping the DC as the official opposition and a government in waiting, you need to learn a thing or two about political communication from the Democratic Alliance (DA) of South Africa. The DA is a textbook example of efficient communication strategies. After all, politics is all about communication. The more effective the strategy, the better the outreach. Qoo is certainly not suited for the position of spokesman. The sooner you appoint a charismatic, intelligent and competent official spokesman to device and implement a viable media and communication strategy, the better for the DC.
During the last campaign for the October 2022 general elections, I saw you bizarrely distributing makoenya to some of your supporters at a rally. Don’t you think that’s a task more suited for Qoo than being spokesman? Qoo must be your makoenya guy while the role of spokesman should be entrusted to a likeable man or woman who knows a thing or two about political communication.
Shadow Cabinet
As you well know, Lesotho follows the Westminster model of politics as per the traditions of colonial master Britain. It’s now almost three years since the 7 October 2022 general elections, yet you have no shadow cabinet that mirror’s Ntate Sam’s one. This is as perplexing as it is totally incomprehensible. Shadow cabinets are a necessity in any Westminster tradition or any other system for that matter.
The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition (in this case you) to mirror the Cabinet in government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.
Without a shadow cabinet focused on scrutinizing the behaviour of those in power, a void is created in terms of robust policy analysis and debate. Consequently, your party has missed most opportunities to present itself as a viable alternative government.
Missed Opportunities
You probably don’t want to appoint a shadow cabinet minister because you don’t want some of your MPs to feel like they will be excluded in the real one if you eventually win power. You hope to keep all of them hoping they will make the cut in your cabinet to get them to remain loyal. Unfortunately, hope is not a strategy Ntate Mokhothu.
A position in a shadow cabinet does not and should not guarantee a post in a real one, should you ever win power. In fact, you can configure an entirely different cabinet structure with different portfolios to that of your predecessor. A shadow cabinet is only a means of maintaining informed scrutiny on the activities of the government in power. It is the best measure to illustrate that you have better policies than the ones currently in place. It’s up to you to explain these facts to your MPs.
Let’s consider the budget for instance. There was no informed critique and analysis of ‘M’e Matlanyane’s budget by the DC. A budget as poor as the one presented by ‘M’e Matlanyane should be an opportunity for the opposition to shine.
A national budget should provide the means through which a government deploys fiscal policy to stir economic growth and employment. Your shadow Finance and Development Planning Minister (if you had one) should have ripped ‘M’e Matlanyane’s dud budget apart and presented the DC’s own alternative one to illustrate your party’s understanding of fiscal policy as a driver of economic growth. But alas, there was no such. There was not even a press statement from Ntate Qoo’s department attempting to critique Mme Matalanyane’s disastrous budget statement. In any event, how do you honestly expect Qoo to understand anything to do with fiscal policy?
There are many other opportunities passing by while you watch Ntate Mokhothu.
The RFP coalition has been scoring one own goal after another. If I were you, I would be using bo-Ntate Lebona and Moteane’s issues to paint the RFP as a party of conmen. I will be in the media every week to explain to Basotho how they were conned by people who are evidently in government to line their own pockets and were never serious about their promises that they were coming in to serve. Basotho would have been fleeing the RFP by now. But the opposite is happening. Your DC is actually losing members to the RFP as evidenced by your MP Ntate Peiso Kelane.
Mahlala
If your estranged friend Bothata Mahlala plays his game well, then he might take swathes of support from the DC. In fact, he can decimate the DC. At his meeting in Maseru this past week, I saw that Ntate Mahlala is becoming more refined in terms of articulating his policy positions. I liked the way he used the Singapore example (in lieu of my advice) as a classic illustration of how real national prosperity can be achieved despite any lack of natural resources. He is becoming more articulate in identifying focus areas for economic development like agriculture, tourism, health, education etc and how he will leverage these particular sectors to create economic growth. He was also right in dispelling anger over SOaB Donald Trump’s insults that Lesotho is an African country that nobody has ever heard of.
Instead of being angry at that, Mahlala spoke of the need to thrust Lesotho on the world map by transforming it into a hub for economic development like Singapore.
Are you aware Ntate Mokhothu that if we can harness our hydro capabilities alone, we can be a net exporter of power to the whole SADC region and earn top dollar in addition to driving regional economic growth? Are you aware that the diamond sector that every politician pontificates about is becoming a hoax and not a key economic driver in light of the advent of lab manufactured diamonds? Are you aware that we have many alternatives to create real wealth? Why do I never hear you articulate policies Ntate Mokhothu?
Other Parties
Not only is the DC facing existential threats from Ntate Mahlala. Sociality “revolutionary” Teboho Mojapela also seems to be gaining ground. I hear through the grapevine that Machesetsa has found favour with Ntate Sam and might soon be co-opted in one way or another. If that happens and you Ntate Mokhothu maintains your timidity, then the opposition is done. There will be no one to viably challenge the RFP.
Apart from Ntate Mahlala, other parties, including those yet to be formed in that ever flourishing industry, will gnaw at the DC’s support. Ntate Thotanyana has since registered his new party. He has already said a few things that are interesting. The DC will always face the specter of losing supporters to other opposition parties because it does not have access to patronage. It is not the party in power. The only way to keep itself relevant is to speak to the needs of the electorate. It must always articulate policies that will attract voters. The sooner you up your game, the better for you and your party Ntate Mokhothu.
Mosisili factor
One thing you seem to be failing to do is to leverage on DC founder Pakalitha Mosisili’s largely favourable legacy. In my view, there can be no doubt that Ntate Mosisili remains the best Prime Minister in Lesotho’s history, if we discount the closing years of his career when he was misled and misadvised by one Mothetjoa Metsing to follow the murderous savage Tlali Kamoli.
There was no crime for much of Mosisili’s reign. The country was largely united. There was relative economic development and low unemployment. The textile sector boomed. Corruption was not as brazen as we have now with the likes of Lephema brazenly taking over state assets. Businesses contracting with the State actually got paid in time. I know this is a contentious point to some, but there is nothing wrong in politics with playing out to the successes of one’s predecessor.
I have even heard some Basotho claim that life was better under Leabua, despite his buffoonery in rejecting election results and staying in power by stealth. I think the Mosisili story is worth riding on. Only the memorable good part of it.
Good Looks
Granted, you remain the most handsome politician in Lesotho, probably in the whole region and possibly in the whole world. That will however not win you votes Ntate Mokhothu. Most Basotho women know you are married after all. They will not flock to the polls on account of your good looks only. If good looks mattered, maybe Ntate Sam would not even have made it to State House. What Every Mosotho cares about is their stomach. That’s the main reason why they catapulted Ntate Sam to State House on the strength of his promises that since he and his cronies were already filthy rich, they held the magic wand to spread their wealth to all Basotho. Now that that promise is proving to be a hoax, you should be taking advantage Ntate Mokhothu. However, you have dismally failed in that regard. Your performance as official opposition leader has been as underwhelming as it has been disappointing. The advice in this column is issued in good faith, with the full realization that a strong opposition is a pre-requisite for democratic development and economic growth. Take it or leave it Ntate.
Ache!!!
