’Marafaele Mohloboli
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER and leader of the Alliance of Democrats (AD) Monyane Moleleki says the party’s secretary general, Mokhele Moletsane and Youth League president, Thuso Litjobo, must both be incorporated into the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
Mr Moleleki’s remarks were made in the wake of the infighting that has split the party into two factions backing Mr Moletsane on one side and Mr Litjobo on the other as the party gears up for an elective conference scheduled for 4 March, 2018.
The duo were expected to fight it out for the post of deputy leader which fell vacant after the death of Kabelo Mafura who was also minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation last month.
However, Mr Litjobo announced that he and Mr Moletsane had withdrawn from the race after being advised to do so by the party leader, Mr Moleleki.
Mr Moleleki felt that the duo’s candidatures would foment divisions and destabilise the party.
However, Mr Moleleki spoke of the need to accommodate them in the NEC while addressing party faithful at a thanksgiving ceremony in Matlakeng constituency on Saturday.
The ceremony was held to thank the supporters for the party’s showing in the 3 June, 2017 snap elections where it won one constituency and a further eight proportional representation seats.
The AD subsequently cobbled its seats together with those of the Reformed Congress of Lesotho, All Basotho Convention and the Basotho National Party to form a coalition government.
Speaking at Matlakeng, Mr Moleleki, said the two were now politically mature and it was time they became part of the NEC.
“I love the secretary general (Moletsane) and the president of the youth league (Litjobo) equally,” Mr Moleleki said, adding, the two were “bullets the AD could use to destroy the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the Democratic Congress (DC)”.
“They are both my sons that I groomed over the past 11 years and when I look at them now, I am convinced that they are ready to be part of the NEC.
“I therefore plead with you (party faithful) to deliberate on the positions which you will elect them to. I plead with you that Litjobo and Moletsane must be elected into the NEC. But I will not dictate the positions as I have realised that there are two positions which may cause divisions in the party.”
Mr Moleleki said if elected into the NEC, Mr Litjobo and Mr Moletsane would work to destroy the LCD and DC which he described as the “jackals’ parties.”
Mr Moleleki also said that each party branch within a constituency would have a single representative for a maximum of 500 members at the elective conference.
Those branches that had more than 500 members were entitled to two representatives.
