Staff Writer
LESOTHO Congress for Democracy (LCD) leader Mothetjoa Metsing is so desperate to return to government that he recently begged senior LCD officials to allow him to negotiate with Prime Minister Thomas Thabane for the establishment of a government of national unity (GNU).
This was said by former LCD official, Lebohang Thotanyana who recently jumped ship to join the Professor Nqosa-led faction of the All Basotho Convention (ABC).
Mr Thotanyana said prior to his departure from the LCD last month, he was among a group of party officials who were summoned by Mr Metsing to a meeting at a local hotel where he sought the mandate to negotiate a GNU with Dr Thabane. He said the meeting was held just days before he left the party.
He said he later ditched the LCD after realising that Mr Metsing and the rest of the party’s leaders was more concerned about self-preservation than pursuing the policies to benefit ordinary citizens.
“Of late, they (LCD leadership) have talked about the formation of a GNU and I was one of the party officials who spent the night at a local hotel as the leader (Mr Metsing) tried to convince us to allow him to negotiate with the government for GNU,” Mr Thotanyana said.
“But our argument was that if you want a GNU, you don’t go to the prime minister’s home and sit in his dining room and beg to be included in the government. Instead, you go to parliament and change this government and have another form of government which could be a GNU.
“If you go to his house and beg to be in government, it will just be a continuation of the same administration because that’s not how governments are changed. Governments are changed via elections and via parliament. Those are the two credible forms but this man (Prime Minister Thomas Thabane), in all honesty, has soiled himself so much and to go and rescue him in that way, would not serve the interests of the LCD.”
Mr Thotanyana said the LCD should join other parties in supporting the no confidence motion against Dr Thabane which is being spearheaded by the Mahao faction and the opposition Democratic Congress.
“The best way would be to support the no confidence motion against Ntate Thabane. Let the old man fall from the high office and then we can have a new government.”
He said even if Dr Thabane wanted to forge an alliance with Mr Metsing, he was unlikely to do so fearing a possible backlash from ABC supporters.
He said prior from his departure from the LCD, he was courted by all the big parties while emissaries were also dispatched from the “state house” to entice him to join the rival ABC faction.
He said he chose to join the ABC faction led by Prof Mahao because they were guided by democratic principles.
“I got offers from all the big parties. They had their big guns come to talk to me. Some of the leaders came to my house to engage me including the state house faction of the ABC.
“But in the end I chose democracy. My move was not opportunistic because if I was looking for job opportunities, I could have joined the state house faction and probably landed a position but I chose not to,” Mr Thotanyana said.
