Movement for Economic Change leader Selibe Mochoboroane
Billy Ntaote
PRIME Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has officially fired Selibe Mochoboroane as Small Business Development minister after the latter left the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) to lead the Movement for Economic Change (MEC).
Mr Mochoboroane parted ways with the LCD on Wednesday last week after being provisionally suspended by party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing for allegedly sabotaging the governing coalition party to prop up the MEC.
In leaving the LCD, Mr Mochoboroane also exited the seven-party ruling alliance although he had expressed an intention to stay on as a government minister.
However, Mr Metsing had vowed to ensure the former LCD secretary-general lost his ministerial position since he was appointed by virtue of being a member of the party.
Addressing a press conference to announce his dismissal on Tuesday, Mr Mochoboroane said he reached an “amicable decision” with Dr Mosisili to vacate the position since he had left the LCD.
“Today at 7:30am, I received a letter from the prime minister informing me that I had been relieved of my duties as a minister in His Majesty’s Cabinet,” he said.
“As I speak, I am just a member of parliament of the Thabana Morena constituency. When we unveiled the MEC, I said would support the government until the last minute. And we have amicably agreed with the prime minister that the conditions don’t allow me to continue to be in office.”
The next step, Mr Mochoboroane said, was to write a letter to National Assembly Speaker Ntlhoi Motsamai requesting allocation for a seat in parliament’s cross bench which signifies that he is no longer part of the government.
“We maintain the stance that we will support either the government or opposition on all matters that are in the best interests of the Basotho nation while on the cross bench.
“However, if there is a need, we will abstain from voting on any issues we agree on as a party.”
Dr Mosisili’s intention to dismiss Mr Mochoboroane was made apparent after a public notice announcing the decision was issued last Friday.
The public notice, which was widely circulated on social media, bore a stamp from the office of Dr Mosisili’s Senior Private Secretary Mamello Morrison who would neither confirm nor deny issuing the notice in an interview with our sister paper Sunday Express.
Asked to comment on the public notice, Mr Mochoboroane said it was meant to pre-empt the premier’s decision to ensure he went through with the dismissal.
Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had told the Sunday Express they were fears Dr Mosisili would not be keen to dispatch the minister in light of the seven-party government’s vulnerability ahead of a no-confidence motion in parliament by the opposition.
However, the sources had said the LCD was keen to ensure Mr Mochoboroane was not rewarded for splitting the party.
“When a minister is relieved off his duties, the prime minister firstly needs to inform the concerned minister and then inform King Letsie III.
“After informing His Majesty, the prime minister can then write a letter officially informing the minister he or she has been relieved of their duties and thereafter the public can be informed by the government secretary and not a senior private secretary,” Mr Mochoboroane said, adding that he only met Dr Mosisili on Monday this week at 2:30 pm, while a notice announcing his dismissal was issued last Friday.
