[ad_1]
— The decision means that the contribution of AD’s seat to the coalition government is now negligible
Mpesi Harvester
oneThe Alliance of Democrats (AD) MP for Malibamato Constituency, Mokoto Hloaele, has quit the party to join the Revolution for Prosperity Party (RFP).
Mr Hloaele resigned as AD following a long-running feud between him and party leader Professor Ntoi Rapapa, the Minister of Education and Training.
During the parliamentary meeting on Thursday, Mr Hloaele expressed his opposition to the RFP.
Talking?Sunday Express?Shortly after speaking, Mr Hloaele said resigning as AD was the “best decision” under the circumstances.
ricer Hloaele is an ally of AD founding leader and former deputy prime minister Monyane Moleleki and founded AD with Professor Rapapa and several others in 2017 after abandoning the Democratic Congress (DC).
Mr Moleleki had a falling out with DC’s founding leader, former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, as Mr Moleleki tried to push his agenda to replace Mr Mosisili as Prime Minister.
As Professor Lapapa’s popularity gradually grew, Mr Moleleki’s popularity within the AD gradually declined.
Subsequently, Moleleki lost the party leadership to Professor Lapapa at the April 2023 elective conference.
Hloaele, a staunch ally of Mr Moleleki, tried to become his deputy but also lost miserably to Thabiso Lebese.
The two try to accept their defeat and set out on a mission to destroy Professor Lapapa.
televisionThey snubbed his rallies and whenever Professor Lapapa held one, they organized their own parallel events.
A case in point was Professor Lapapa’s first rally as AD leader in his home constituency of Mosaleman, soon after the election conference.
Mr Moleleki did not attend the rally, instead opting to attend a picnic in Masianokeng organised by AD youths who also refused to recognise Professor Lapapa’s authority.
The defeat is a severe blow to Moleleki, who has been in Congress politics for decades and served as AD chairman for seven years since its formation in 2017.
Mr Hloaele’s defection to the RFP means AD’s number of seats in the National Assembly has been reduced from four to three. However, as Mr Hloaele has already defected to a member party of the Alliance, this defection alone will not have an impact on the Alliance’s numbers. But overall, AD’s contribution to the Alliance’s seats is now negligible.
Professor Lapapa occupies one of the three remaining AD seats, with the other two occupied by Mr Moleleki himself and the other by Maboyiketlo Maliehe. Ms Maliehe is rumoured to be at odds with Professor Lapapa, while Mr Moleleki supports the removal of Mr Matheken as Prime Minister in a no-confidence motion in October 2023. Therefore, the two cannot be counted on to support the Alliance, meaning the AD contribution to the Alliance falls to the paltry one seat held by Professor Lapapa himself.
ricer Hloaele told?Sunday Express?After Professor Lapapa was elected as the leader of AD, he made no effort to call a rally in the Maribamatso constituency, one of the two constituencies AD won in the 2022 referendum. The other constituency was won by Professor Lapapa in his Mosalemane constituency. AD was subsequently allocated two proportional representation seats, bringing its contribution to four seats in the current coalition. ?
Although Mr Moleleki was the party leader when the coalition government was formed in 2022, he did not enter the cabinet, choosing instead to support Professor Lapapa to bring a new look to the new coalition. A year later, Professor Lapapa won the party leadership.
Mr Holoele was aggrieved that Professor Lapapa did not organise a rally in Malibamato after becoming party leader.
Instead, Mr Hloaele claimed, he sent his “troops” to “attack and defame” him in his own constituency. ?
“After two years in power and in leadership, Maribamato constituency councillors and supporters are wondering why the leader has not visited them. They are worried because that constituency is ours. So, there is an expectation that the leader would be willing to visit,” Mr Hloaele said.
“They want to know why the leaders of Mariba Matso, the second constituency of AD, are unwilling to visit them.
“After he (Professor Lapapa) was elected AD leader, he held a rally in his constituency…but he said nothing about another constituency, Malibamato.”
carbonHoloele claimed that to complicate matters further, Prof. Lapapa had the audacity to hold a rally in Maribamato without even informing him, an elected lawmaker.
“3rdroad“In May 2024, my leader sent his troops to Maribamato to attack the AD MP, which was myself. This was because he apparently heard rumours that I was going to join another political party elsewhere,” Mr Hloaele said.
“There were even people on social media platforms posting news that I had joined other political parties, which was not the case at the time. Their aim was to discredit me and portray me as someone who was against his leader.
“Yes 3roadOn May 26, AD decided to hold a rally in Maribamato constituency.dayMay 2024. As the MP for the constituency, I knew nothing about the rally,” he said.
“The rally was planned and concluded without my knowledge. I did not even attend that rally. It pains me to watch it all. The relationship between me and the AD leaders has completely broken down. For the good of the party, I and other like-minded people decided that I should leave the AD and join the RFP.”
WestMr Hloaele admitted that he was part of a group of MPs who tried to overthrow Mr Matekane’s government on the 16th.day?In October 2023, he withdrew from the ruling coalition through a vote of no confidence and now he has decided to work for the main coalition party and support the prime minister. He said it had always been his wish to join the RFP. He even tried when the party was first formed in March 2022. ?
“The problem dates back to when the RFP was formed. I received a call from my home constituency of Maribamato saying that we should join the RFP. We liked their manifesto but the problem was that the RFP did not want people who had served in Parliament before. They only wanted new people,” he said.
“So, we decided to wait until after the election before approaching the constituencies….”
He said that even though the plan was not implemented immediately after the election and other things happened afterwards, it was time to include his district in the RFP.
As such, he said, the change of stance was “just a continuation of my efforts to be part of the RFP.”
HeHe insisted that if the RFP had allowed the former MP to join and represent it in the October 7, 2022 elections, he would have joined from the beginning. ??
Mr Hloaele said while he supported the move to remove Mr Matekane, it should not distract from the fact that he had always wanted to be part of the RFP family. ?
“So what happened today was just a continuation of what I had intended for a long time. I also have to state that I did not do this on my own.
“The Malibamat?o community was part of this decision…,” he claimed.
Mr Hloaele is not the only prominent AD member to quit the party. In March this year, two prominent members, former Lesotho High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Rethabile Marumo, and former Lesotho Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Refiloe Litjobo, left AD and joined RFP. They were unveiled at the RFP’s second anniversary event held at the Maseru Racecourse in the same month.
Other Moleleki allies who left the party include AD’s Thaba-Bosiu constituency secretary Marooe Rabatloung, and officials from Likoti, Matala, Thabana-Morena and Mekaling constituencies respectively’Makabelo Mokone, Mantsatsi Moleleki, Makoae Seboholi and Serjene Buthelezi.?
In an interview?Sunday Express?Mr. Lijobo then said that the AD was no longer habitable.
“A political party has to feel like home – livable, warm and welcoming to everyone,” he said.
“Politically, some people come in and others leave, depending on how the temperature changes.
“So when you see a lot of people gathering here, it’s because the temperature is either too hot or too cold. It’s no longer a place for them to live.”
Article views: 521
[ad_2]
Source link
