Billy Ntaote
LESOTHO Congress for Democracy (LCD) Acting Secretary General, Tšeliso Mokhosi, says the re-opening of Parliament is not negotiable as the issue was already finalised in South Africa last week.
A deal brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Pretoria on 1 September compelled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his coalition government partners —Mothetjoa Metsing of the LCD and Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Thesele ‘Maseribane — to “hold a joint meeting of their executive committees on 3 September, meet with King Letsie III on 5 September to advise him on lifting the prorogation of Parliament and ensure the re-opening of Parliament on 19 September 2014”.
While Dr Thabane has honoured the first two commitments, he has refused to re-open Parliament citing the country’s worrying security situation in which two lieutenant generals —Tlali Kamoli and Maaparankoe Mahao — are claiming to be legally in command of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF).
After a bitter standoff over the issue, South African President Jacob Zuma visited Lesotho on Tuesday this week and met King Letsie III, as well as the three feuding parties, in an effort to break the impasse.
At the end of the visit, Mr Zuma announced that the three leaders would engage each over two days, and on Friday, announce when Parliament would re-open. Mr Zuma’s deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, is expected to preside over tomorrow’s proceedings, which are only expected to focus on Parliament’s re-opening and not security concerns as preferred by the ABC and BNP.
However, according to Mr Mokhosi, the LCD would not entertain any discussions shifting the re-opening of Parliament from the originally agreed 19 September.
“Our leader, Ntate Metsing, never requested more days to consult regarding the re-opening of Parliament during Tuesday’s meeting. It was only Thabane and ‘Maseribane, who asked for two to three days to consult their members and decide on when to open Parliament.
“We, as the LCD, are clear that Parliament is to be opened on the 19th of September 2014. We believe the leadership of the ABC and BNP will honour the Pretoria agreement and open the House on this date,” Mr Mokhosi said.
“And since it was the ABC and BNP leaders who asked for the additional days to consult, they should be the ones reporting back to President Zuma when they have made up their minds. We, as the LCD, can meet and deal with other issues and not Parliament’s re-opening dates, as this is now water under bridge.
“We can’t be failing to honour regional agreements the way we have been doing on the re-opening of this Parliament. In fact, we should be implementing these agreements and not going around in circles.”
Mr Mokhosi noted that initially, the three parties had agreed to re-open Parliament by August 14, 2014, but had since changed the dates “several times”.
“There was an agreement signed in Windhoek (on 31 July 2014), and part of the deal was the LCD would cancel its marriage with the Democratic Congress (DC) by 14 August, while Ntate Thabane lifted the prorogation by the same date.
“We met our end of the bargain as the LCD, while Ntate Thabane did not.
“While at the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, last month, Ntate Thabane also declared that he would open Parliament on 31 August, but he didn’t.
“Then followed the Pretoria meeting of last week, where the same prime minister agreed to re-open Parliament on 19 September, which he is now refusing to do.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no reason not to open Parliament on September 19 as agreed unless the ABC and BNP want to continue playing games and defying regional commitments they would have agreed to.”
Asked about the security situation the ABC and BNP have said should be addressed first before Parliament is re-opened, Mr Mokhosi said the army was under control and there was no security threat in Lesotho.
“Even when one walks through the streets of Maseru or in the villages, there is nothing that suggests there is unrest in this country, the way the ABC and BNP would want SADC to believe,” Mr Mokhosi said.
Meanwhile, addressing journalists after Tuesday’s meeting with Zuma, Dr Thabane said: “We are now going to be facilitating among ourselves when to open Parliament. We did not agree on an actual date, so we will be consulting among ourselves on the issue.
“The opening of Parliament would go a long way towards the stabilising of our political situation”.
On his part, President Zuma said he had held a “successful meeting” with the coalition leaders.
“We have just concluded our meeting. We have discussed the matters we needed to discuss and we have come to a point where our colleagues, some of our colleagues, will have to do further brief consultations for a few days and thereafter, you will hear the outcome.”
Chief ‘Maseribane, on the other hand, said he was optimistic after the meeting with Mr Zuma.
“I can now see light that this can be done without bloodshed,” he said.
However, Mr Metsing said he had no comment to make after the meeting.
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