… but appears set to intensify fight to topple Majoro
… calls for special party conference to decide premier’s fate
Pascalinah Kabi
ALL Basotho Convention (ABC) leader Thomas Thabane and his allies have abandoned plans to meet with all political parties represented in parliament to lobby for the formation of a government of national unity (GNU) to oust Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro.
Instead, the party will now hold a special conference on 28 January 2022 to decide Dr Majoro’s fate.
Authoritative ABC sources said Dr Majoro himself and secretary general, Lebohang Hlaele, have been tasked with raising funds for the conference.
ABC spokesperson, Montoeli Masoetsa, this week confirmed that the party had resolved to abandon the GNU plan after some unnamed officials in the party’s national executive committee (NEC) objected to the proposal on the grounds that they had not been consulted on the issue in the first place. He said the members voiced their disapproval of the idea at a meeting last week on Wednesday.
The ABC had proposed a meeting with other political parties to discuss the formation of a GNU in the wake of Dr Majoro’s refusal to resign after the NEC had voted to recall him at its 2 December 2021 meeting.
Ten out of 17 NEC members voted to recall Dr Majoro and replace him with deputy secretary general and now fired cabinet minister, Nkaku Kabi. Only seven voted to retain Dr Majoro.
In a subsequent interview with the Sunday Express, Mr Masoetsa said the NEC had elected Mr Kabi to replace Dr Majoro at a meeting chaired by Mr Thabane. He said they had recalled Dr Majoro following an outcry by the rank and file of the party as well as the general public over a plethora of issues including poor service delivery and the premier’s alleged failure to stop the high murder rates in the country over the course of his 19 months in power.
The proposed GNU meeting had initially been slated for 15 December 2021 at the AME Hall in Maseru. However, it had to be aborted after two of Dr Majoro’s ABC loyalists, Keketso Lepheane and Tlali Mohapi, obtained a last-minute interim Constitutional Court order to stop it pending the finalisation of their application to permanently halt it from proceeding because it allegedly violates the constitution.
The duo had argued that the proposed GNU meeting was “treasonous” as it had been convened to “illegally” oust the prime minister.
However, the constitutional bench comprising of Justices Molefi Makara, Keketso Moahloli and Fumane Khabo on Thursday issued a final judgement dismissing Messrs Lepheane and Mohapi’s bid to permanently stop the meeting. The bench ruled that their fears that the political parties would engage in treasonous conduct “lacked merit.”
But it seems the ruling was only a pyrrhic victory for Mr Thabane and his allies after the presiding judge Makara warned them against any treasonous conduct at the GNU meeting. He did not clearly articulate what would amount to treasonous behaviour at the meeting, save to say that the security forces would immediately descend on the parties if they ever engaged in such conduct.
More importantly, even if the meeting had gone ahead, it appears Mr Thabane and his allies would not have obtained enough support for the GNU. Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu’s Democratic Congress (DC) and Professor Nqosa Mahao’s Basotho Action Party (BAP) both came out in opposition to the GNU, saying it was merely a selfish ploy by the Thabane faction to help it win its factional wars at the expense of the national interest.
The DC and BAP have a combined 37 seats. Given that other political parties were cagey about the idea of a GNU and that some ABC MPs, especially those already serving in Dr Majoro’s cabinet, were unlikely to support his overthrow for fear of losing their plum jobs, it would have been difficult to win support for the GNU idea even if the Thabane faction had convened the GNU meeting.
Unsurprisingly, the faction has decided to abandon the GNU meeting and play another card- that of the special conference to deal with Dr Majoro. Even though the letter inviting other parties to the meeting was authored by Mr Hlaele, Mr Masoetsa now says it was never their idea but that of other parties to discuss the formation of a GNU.
“We discussed this matter of the GNU last week on Wednesday and decided to abandon it,” Mr Masoetsa said in an interview with the Lesotho Times this week.
“The GNU was never our proposal. At our Wednesday meeting, NEC members said the proposal had not been explained to them,” he added.
Some NEC members who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity, said the GNU meeting had to be abandoned when some members including Dr Majoro himself, shot down the idea.
“The idea of the GNU meeting was the brainchild of a five-man logistics committee which had been tasked by the NEC to ensure that Dr Majoro hands over to Ntate Kabi in the aftermath of the 2 December decision to recall the prime minister. The committee comprises of Hlaele, Kabi, Masoetsa, Maseru District Chairperson Tsotang Mphethe and Sekhonyana Mosenene.
“In our Wednesday meeting, some NEC members argued that the committee overstepped its mark by inviting political parties to a GNU meeting without the blessing of the NEC.
“Sparks flew during those discussions and even the leader (Thabane) expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which party affairs were being handled. His deputy (Majoro) then suggested that the meeting must be cancelled. Ntate Thabane spoke in support of Dr Majoro’s call not to convene the GNU meeting,” the NEC member said.
His comments were backed up by another NEC member who said it was then agreed that the NEC would convene a special conference next month to discuss Dr Majoro’s fate and other issues.
“The party will hold a special conference on 28 January to discuss and vote on the NEC’s decision to recall the prime minister,” the source said.
Another source said Dr Majoro also agreed to the special conference and further proposed that he should work with Mr Hlaele to raise funds for the conference.
“The NEC agreed to Ntate Majoro’s suggestion that he and Ntate Hlaele should work together to raise funds for the conference,” the NEC member said.
Mr Masoetsa confirmed that the party will hold a conference on 28 January 2022.
“However, this will not be a special conference. It will be normal conference that we are supposed to hold every January. The NEC will have to meet ahead of the conference and agree on the agenda,” Mr Masoetsa said.
However, other NEC members interviewed insisted that this will be a special conference to discuss Dr Majoro’s fate.
Just as he had also participated and even voted at the 2 December 2021 meeting which resolved to recall him, Dr Majoro again took part in last Wednesday’s meeting which culminated in the abandonment of the GNU idea. He appears set to participate in the special conference.
An NEC member, who is sympathetic to the premier, said the latter felt the best strategy to fight his opponents was to participate in all party meetings in the hope of influencing the decisions in his favour.
“When that fails, as was the case at the 2 December meeting, he knows he can always refuse to resign. As he rightly pointed out, even if the decisions go against him, the party cannot topple him. Only the MPs can do that and the reality is that the Thabane camp doesn’t have the numbers at the moment,” the NEC member said.
It now appears certain that while the ABC will carry over its ceaseless infighting into the New Year, the country will continue suffering with Dr Majoro fighting to save his job and the coalition he leads continuing to be bereft of a plan and ideas to take the country forward.
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