Tefo Tefo
THE leader of the opposition Alliance of Democrats (AD), Monyane Moleleki has warned outgoing Prime Minister and Democratic Congress (DC) leader, Pakalitha Mosisili against fomenting divisions and fueling hatred among youths, saying this bred intolerance and instability in the country.
The former Police Minister said this while addressing hundreds of mostly youthful supporters in the Mafeteng constituency early this week.
The rally was held to drum up support for the AD ahead of the 3 June national elections which were announced by King Letsie III in the aftermath of the opposition bloc’s successful no confidence vote against the Dr Mosisili-led seven parties’ coalition government on 1 March.
Dr Mosisili’s DC party has since forged a pact with Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing’s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) to contest the upcoming elections as one bloc.
However, Mr Moleleki urged the electorate to vote against the DC-LCD alliance, saying it was led by people who advocated for divisions which contributed to political intolerance and instability in the country.
He said that such leaders continually made divisive statements on national television and at rallies, advocating for divisions along partisan lines between those they labelled “congress” supporters and the “nationalists”.
“There are some people who still advocate for divisions within the society by referring to some people as congress supporters and others as nationalists,” Mr Moleleki said, adding, “This is an outdated manner of politicking”.
“It is bad politics. It is even worse when grown-up people are in the forefront of instilling this kind of politics in young people.
“These people are champions of hatred and they should be voted out of power,” he said.
“Ntate Mosisili o lokela ho emisa ho arola sechaba (Ntate Mosisili should stop dividing the nation)”.
He said instead of fomenting divisions, it was important to create hope and opportunities for young people through job creation to enable them to provide for their families.
“We are going to smash them (the DC-LCD alliance).
“We are going to chop them into pieces,” said as he urged his supporters to ensure the AD registered a clean sweep in all eight constituencies in the Mafeteng district.
He urged the electorate to vote for his party in large numbers so that they could join forces with the All Basotho Convention (ABC), Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) to form the next government that would create a conducive environment for political stability.
After splitting from the DC in December, Mr Moleleki has continuously preached the need for unity across the political divide and struck up a working understanding with the ABC, BNP and RCL which culminated in the successful no confidence vote against the seven parties’ coalition government.
The opposition bloc had hoped to install him as Prime Minister for the first 18 months after toppling Dr Moleleki, before passing the reins to ABC leader and former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.
Dr Thabane, BNP leader Thesele ‘Maseribane and RCL leader Keketso Rantšo only returned to Lesotho early this year after two years in exile in South Africa where they sought refuge in May 2015 saying they feared for their lives.
The leaders said they had been alerted of a plot to kill them by the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF). However, the LDF has consistently denied the allegations.
And on Sunday, Mr Moleleki said it was wrong for the opposition leaders to flee from Lesotho fearing for their lives on political grounds.
“From now onwards there should be no one fleeing from this country only because he doesn’t agree with someone politically.
“It ends now with this current government, of which I was part,” he said.
Meanwhile, the AD chairperson for Mafeteng constituency, Thabang Pelesa said if voted into power, his party would address the unemployment challenges faced by youths in the district.
