. . . former minister is said to be fed up with “old and feeble-minded” Moleleki
’Marafaele Mohloboli
ALLIANCE of Democrats (AD) legislator, Mokhele Moletsane, has had enough of the opposition party.
The former Justice and Correctional Service minister, says there is nothing left for him in the Monyane Moleleki-led AD. There are widespread rumours that he has joined Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu’s Democratic Congress (DC). But he says he is still pondering his next move.
It nonetheless appears the legislator has already delivered his parting shot from the AD in the form of an unsavoury jibe at Mr Moleleki whom he is said to have described as a “feeble-minded old man”.
Mr Moletsane is said to have uttered the words at a rally in his home constituency of Matsieng last week.
Mr Moleleki, who served as deputy prime minister in the previous Thomas Thabane-led four party administration, is not at all amused and he now wants Mr Moletsane to appear before a disciplinary committee to explain himself.
It is doubtful if Mr Moletsane will attend the hearing which has been scheduled for next month now that he is planning to ditch the party.
Mr Moleleki touched on the rumours of Mr Moletsane’s impending departure at his weekend rally in Matsieng. He said the rally had been organised by the AD constituency committee who had been taken aback by Mr Moletsane’s alleged attack on him. Mr Moletsane did not attend the rally.
Addressing the party faithful, Mr Moleleki said, “we have been invited here by the constituency committee because they were surprised by their son, Mokhele Moletsane, who last week convened a rally without consulting them.
“You can all bear witness that he is not even here today. Moletsane is said to have ridiculed me and told those who attended his rally that I am over 70 and my mind is feeble. But for now, I will regard this as hearsay until he is afforded a fair hearing as per the laws of this party. Everyone has a right to a fair hearing and we wait to hear what he has to say. If he admits having said this then he shall have a case to answer to. But if denies, that will be the end of the matter,” the 70-year-old Mr Moleleki said.
He said he had heard rumours that Mr Moletsane had dumped the AD and if that was the case, then they would be forced to recall him since he was in parliament as a proportional representation (PR) MP.
“If he has indeed left as the rumours indicate, then we shall have no option but to go to the courts of law and apply for his removal from parliament to make room for the next candidate on our PR list, Mrs ‘Maboiketlo Maliehe.
“This we shall do confidently knowing that Moletsane is an MP by virtue of the votes cast by AD members countrywide and not by family votes. He is in parliament because of the AD hence we have called him to the party’s headquarters to give his side of the story.
“If he has said all these things he is said to have said, then he shall tell us why he said them. He must tell us what he meant. Only then will we know if he is still a member of AD,” Mr Moleleki said.
Contacted for comment, Mr Moletsane denied addressing a secret rally, saying the party’s Matsieng Constituency Committee was fully aware of that position. He however, refused to say whether he had derided Mr Moleleki at his rally.
“The committee was very much aware of the meeting that I had convened because I had consulted them. So, I would rather not argue on that one.
“As for (Moleleki’s) weekend’s rally, I could not have attended it to just sit there and listen to Ntate Moleleki embarrassing and speaking ill of me. I am fully aware of everything that was said about me. I am convinced that nothing is left for me in the AD and it’s time I reconsidered my political journey. I have to make a decision about my future in Lesotho’s politics,” Mr Moletsane said.
Meanwhile Mr Moleleki also used the Sunday rally to urge AD members to shun corruption.
The former DC deputy leader jumped ship to form the AD in December 2016. He cited corruption and cronyism as his reasons for dumping the party which was then led by his former benefactor then Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. He subsequently sensationally claimed that during his time as Police and Public Safety minister in the Mosisili administration, police recruits had been hired on partisan grounds.
Advertisements were only flighted as a formality when they knew that they had already recruited their party members, he said.
He alluded to the corruption in his weekend rally when he told AD members that the party was opposed to cronyism and discrimination when it came to recruiting people to jobs in the civil service.
“You should know that this is a party that respects everyone. When we say we are done with the past we mean it. We mean that we are done with the disrespect and ridiculing of other politicians, discrimination in the awarding of jobs, senseless killings of our people and corruption.
“There is so much corruption with this government. It is dirty and contemptible. But let us respect the leaders of other political parties. They are also our leaders even if we have different political beliefs.
“I hate disunity. That’s why you saw me going to bring back (All Basotho Convention – ABC leader Thomas) Thabane, (former Basotho National Party- BNP leader Thesele) ’Maseribane and (Reformed Congress for Lesotho -RCL leader Keketso) Rantšo from exile in South Africa in 2017,” Mr Moleleki said.
