—Vows to win 2028 election, render RFP opposition
Moroke Sekoboto
THE ruling Revolution for Prosperity (FRP) has no future beyond its leader Sam Matekane and it will likely die with his departure from the political scene.
This is the view of official opposition leader, Mathibeli Mokhothu, who eerily believes the RFP has no longevity and would be defeated by his Democratic Congress (DC) in the 2028 general election.
Without Mr Matekane at its helm the RFP is as good as dead, Mr Mokhothu told his party supporters in Hlotse, Leribe, at the weekend.
While the RFP was moulded and drew its strength from perceptions of its leader, it was destined for defeat in the 2028 elections – if it lasts that far – because Mr Matekane had made a lot of grandiose promises that he was now failing to fulfil, Mr Mokhothu said.
His ministers were busy lining their pockets at the expense of the masses they had “conned” into believing they were honest politicians. Mr Matekane was doing nothing about it, Mr Mokhothu charged.
“The RFP project is not sustainable. It looks gloomy, as its foundation is centred around its leader. Once he leaves politics, it will be the end of that party….,” Mr Mokhothu said.
In the 2022 general elections, the DC lost all Leribe constituencies to RFP, except for Malibamatšo which was bagged by Alliance of Democrats (AD) member Mokoto Hloaele. He has since defected to the RFP.
He also vowed a tit-for-tat response to the RFP’s “poaching” of DC MPs.
“For every member the RFP steals from us, we will also steal one from them,” Mr Mokhothu told the meeting of the party’s Leribe district constituencies.
Mr Mokhothu chastised the DC’s two legislators, Maimane Maphathe and Peiso Kelane, representing Matelile and ‘Maletsunyane constituencies respectively, for recently defecting to the RFP.
The DC leader predicted they would be let down by the RFP and return to their constituencies “with worn-out shoes”, as “the DC was their political lifeline and the party under whose banner they won their constituencies.”
They will nonetheless never be returned to Parliament as they had betrayed the electorate by defecting.
Mr Mokhothu insisted the DC was “far from over” despite the defections by the two MPs and others.
“We will fight you head-on. When you take our members, we will take yours as well. Don’t be surprised when it happens,” Mr Mokhothu told the RFP.
“We will be back in government in 2028, relegating the RFP to the opposition,” Mr Mokhothu vowed.
“We will fight back and emerge stronger. These (defections) are not the end of the road for DC. We remain firm and resolute. In the next elections, our only competition will be RFP. No other party poses a threat.”
He dismissed all defectors from his party saying they had “been bought like items.” They were on the hunt for PR seats or jobs and other trinkets and not driven by principle.
Mr Mokhothu said the two DC MPs lost to the RFP had been compensated by the party’s acquisition of two RFP MPs Lephoi Makara and Rethabile Letlailana of Malimong and Lithoteng constituencies respectively.
So the loss of Messrs Maphathe and Kelane was not a loss after all. But the two defectors had committed “political suicide,” as they owed their seats to the DC which had built them. The RFP MPs who had defected to the DC were honest people driven by principle. They had not been bought as the DC did not have money to buy people unlike the RFP.
He lamented that “people have become items which can be bought by the highest bidder”.
He blamed that on the party of “rich people (the RFP),” which had turned politics into a matter of “money, not loyalty.”
Mr Mokhothu emphasised the DC’s embrace of the concept of decentralisation with local government at the core of governance.
“We should decentralize the government and empower local government,” Mr Mokhothu said, calling for the enforcement of the Local Government Decentralisation Policy, which he said had been gathering dust since 2015, to encourage power-sharing.
He argued that local authorities should be given responsibility over natural resources, land management, environmental preservation, and infrastructure, among other areas. Mr Mokhothu also said he found it unfair that gazetted chiefs had received a raise while councillors, who were also local authorities, had not.
