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Bongiwe Zihlangu
MASERU — It was a tempestuous marriage.
The marriage had been on the rocks for months.
But on Thursday, the three-year marriage ended in acrimonious divorce.
The opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) party sensationally walked out of the alliance leaving the junior partner in the coalition, the Lesotho Workers Party (LWP), licking its wounds.
ABC leader Thomas Thabane confirmed yesterday that “the electoral alliance had been disbanded”.
“The ABC/LWP alliance which was entered into targeting votes in the 2007 elections has been terminated,” Thabane told the Sunday Express.
The marriage had been beset with problems right from the onset.
Although the two parties had entered into an electoral pact to increase their chances of winning more seats the alliance had not been properly formalised.
The alliance had also been plagued by internal wrangles with small factions battling to outdo each other at every turn.
There were also rumours that Thabane and LWP leader Macaefa Billy had never seen eye-to-eye.
Thabane and Billy however sought to present a united front denying there was any power struggle between them.
The LWP had, in muted tones, continued to complain that it was being treated as a junior partner in the alliance.
Billy, who wore two hats as leader of the LWP and ABC secretary-general, had also not endeared himself to Thabane.
Thabane often complained in private over the “shoddy” manner Billy discharged his duties as the party’s secretary-general.
Matters however came to a head after Thabane came up with a seven-member panel with a clear mandate to review the alliance.
Critics say its mandate was essentially to devise ways of getting rid of Billy.
The committee, sources said, had at one time dabbled with the idea of passing a vote-of-no-confidence against Billy.
But that plan crumbled after they realised that the ABC constitution did not provide for a no-confidence vote.
The committee was chaired by national executive member Ntsieng Lethunya.
The committee this month released a five-page report titled Proposed Position of All Basotho Convention on the Alliance with Lesotho Workers Party”.
The report says “the ABC/LWP alliance pre-2007 general election was illegal as it violated Lesotho’s constitution, the National Assembly Elections Order No. 10 and the ABC constitution. We therefore recommend that the alliance be disbanded.”
The report states that for the ABC to achieve its goal of garnering as much membership as possible from the “labour electorate” it should form alliances with trade unions and “implement its strategy of having trade union representation within its structures”.
The report also stresses that aligning itself with trade unions would give the ABC “flexibility and freedom to associate across all industries and professions (health, transport, health, education etc).
“Current ABC membership should therefore be a pre-requisite for any office bearer in all the structures,” the report reads.
This resolution appears to have been passed as a swift rebuttal to a 2008 LWP conference ruling which sought to bring “normality and equality into the alliance”.
The LWP conference had also stipulated that there should be a formal document outlining the nature and form of the alliance.
The Thursday meeting was called to discuss the national executive committee’s report on the way forward.
Sources that attended the meeting told the Sunday Express when it became clear that Billy and the ABC leadership could not agree on the way forward an agreement was reached to “disband the ABC/LWP alliance”.
“There was nothing much that could be done to save the alliance. The ABC could not take the recommendations by the LWP hence the nature of its report,” the source said.
He also revealed that Billy was given an ultimatum to relinquish his leadership and membership of the LWP if he still wanted “to retain his position in the ABC”.
The ultimatum, he said, would also apply to all members of the LWP participating in ABC committees.
“He is yet to inform the committee of his decision. But let me add that it was done because the ABC seriously wants to emancipate itself from the LWP,” he said.
“Besides, logic will tell you that Billy would never give up the leadership of the LWP just to appease the ABC. But who knows? Worse things have been known to happen when you least expect it.”
Thabane said although they had been given the green light by the Independent Electoral Commission to enter into an electoral pact with the LWP it had since dawned on the ABC that the alliance was illegal.
Thabane said former Botswana president and Sadc envoy to Lesotho, Sir Ketumile Masire, had denounced the electoral pacts and “we decided to uphold his recommendations”.
“Masire questioned the authenticity of our alliances and ruled they were in violation of the MMP electoral model,” Thabane said.
“Although LCD has rejected Masire’s recommendations, we uphold his report in its entirety hence the decision to disband the ABC/LWP alliance.”
Billy refused to comment saying he was reserving his comment “for the future”.
However, LWP deputy leader Sello Maphalla was not amused by the outcome.
Maphalla was an LCD member of parliament who crossed the floor in 2006 to form the ABC.
He was elected into the LWP national executive committee as Billy’s deputy at the party’s 2008 elective conference.
“If the alliance is disbanded as is the recommendation by the ABC, I will remain with the LWP,” Maphalla said.
He took a swipe at the ABC for its “underhand tactics” and predicted that no other party would ever “be comfortable to enter into an alliance with the ABC”.
“If this is the way the ABC treats its alliance partners, then I do not want to be part of it.”
After the 2007 general elections, the ABC/LWP alliance got 10 seats through the proportional representation system.
Three of the seats went to LWP members, including Billy.
Thabane said the split would not affect the relationship of the two parties in parliament.
“The ABC and the LWP are going to continue working together. We have to now think of ways to take our relationship forward,” Thabane said.
“For instance, we are targeting trade unions like the Factory Workers Union (Fawu). As you well know, Fawu is part and parcel of the LWP.
“We are also looking into working with the Congress of Lesotho Trade Unions, Lesotho Congress of Allied Workers Unions and others.”
Li jana maro ntja tsa setsumi…. I jst wsh they could leave workers alone bcos nw thy want to turn evrythn into political circus. This unions must be very very careful.
Ke bona e ka joale ABC e tsoere tsela e nepahetseng hobane selekane seno sena le bolotsa ka hare. LCD le balateli ba eona ke kopa le qopitse ntho tse ntle molemong oa khotso Lesotho. ABC le LWP lulang fatse le shebisane litaba hantle. Selekane sena sa lona se hloka batho ba ratang khotso molemong oa Basotho e seng molemong oa baetapele. Ke le kopa ho chakela ANC ho ea ithuta hore na selekane sa bona le SACP and COSATU se sebetsa joang. Motho ea ratang ho arola basebetsi le polotiki ke ea ratang ho ja ka matla a basebetsi feela a sa ba rate. Basebetsi ba lokela ho fa bo- ralipolotiki mandate e seng bona ba fe mandate. Ke nako ea hore ABC e rute basebetsi their rights.
Billy tlohela baferekanyi sebeletsa nnete re loantse tlala. Lesotho le tla timela matsohong a rona ha feela re ntse re tseka ntho e sieo e leng litulo. Kobo – tata e lomisa batho mala joale ba leka ka hohle ho bona hore pherekano e ba teng. Lulang fatse le shebisane litaba kapele – pele ba laka letsi ba soabe. La chaba
I have said it before…I say it once more that such is the fate of marriages of convenience, especially if the other partner is as arrogant as Tom. Billy reserves his right to “comment in future” but what does that mean? He should have seen it coming! He knew all along that he would hit the brickwall…dealing with Thabane is not an easy game! Ask Mme Mookho Mathibelli!!
E be Thabane ha a sheba o sa tla thola lebatooa leha e se ele la Ha Abia. Boohle ba mo khethileng ke basebetsi. I can see ABC dying slowly. Ruri o maonatso Thabane. Ke lakaletsa ntate Billy mahlohonolo, a tiise.
He ‘na ke bona a tlanne a le fumane, a esita ba ranthantseng naha bona ba ntse ba khethoa! Hee o maonatso ntate Mosisili le moifo oa hae, Lesotho le le putsoa ho feta le ha ho ne ho busa masole, ache! Tom haeba o maonatso o a tšoaelitsoe ke LCD.
Lesela le oele, li mathile. Mashano a bo-Libe Moremoholo le Thabo Thakalekoala, Harvest FM, a hore ha ho karohano lipakeng tsa ABC le LWP empa ele pepe (sensetionalisation) ea baqolotsi ba batlang hore pampiri tsa bona li rekoe haholo a bohotsoe ke lintja. It’s over—pipedreams or no pipedreams!
Aubuti Tom, athe u ne u itse ho tlaba joang? The ABC/LWP Alliance was not founded on principled and clear agenda…but on a nefarious motive of toppling LCD. Hence its dismal failure! Natural attrition has set in. Mind you 2012 is not that FAR!!
Hao bah’eso, Matoala a thotse hakakaang? This is a deafening silence on their part…it’s not like them. Ha se feela ba aparetsoe ke lihlong tse kang tsa moloi a fumanoe a tsotse ka holim’a ntlo! IT’S OVER!! LA CHAABA…LA BA LA LIKEEEELA!!!
Kkekekekekekekeke jonna oeeeee! le LCD le leholo ha lea thaba lekhale, ka mokho bo ntatae ba ntseng ba ngoapana ka teng, hape bona ba nahana hore see sa bona le nonyana e nyane setlamo sona se tlo fella kae. Tlamollang nonyana tse nyane hle nako e fihlile ea hore li phurusetse. Kapa chee le se le iphumanetse bolateli from them, etsoe bona ba mpa ba latetsoe morao ke baki tsa bona. Ke sure hore haele eo nonyana eona e tlo shoa e shoela ruri kaha monga eona (Re Manyeli, moea oa hae o phomole ka khotso le ka mohau oa Ntate) a se a le sieo. Feela le ha ba se ba tsoile (linonyana tse nyane) lesasaboli lona le ntse le itoma mpeng. Bana ba bang beso ba bile ba re le se le ikharotse mala a bile a tsoetse ka ntle.
as an ABC member hona ho etsahetseng hona kkannet ho tlo re tsehisa ka mononyana sa mannete kannte…………..why ba sa lokise litaba and ligalise the coalition……ee kannete i wonder if qwwwe will ever win any elctions…..joale re ikeme re ntse re supa taba tsa lcd hore le bona soon ba tlo qabana ,,,when will we focus on building our own party re tlohellle ho re bababng le bona ba tlo oela joalo ka riona…kannete the party after election e ile ea shoa shoi ha re bueng nete kannate ke ea utlo ke ea tsaba ha eba re tla fumana any lebatoooa kannte ke mathata,,,,,,,
Popa don’t worry sesa feleng sea hlola, ha ba u tšehile u boetse u na le taba, tsa bona lingata hampe li bile li kholo hofeta tsena tsa ABC/LWP ‘me ke hona u tlo tšeha. Lintho lia etsahala hohle liparting empa ha ho ka thoe ke ABC u tla utloa Ma-LCD a hoelelitse empa ha e le party tse ling ba thola tuu, ‘me hoo ho u ruta eng? Ke hobane ABC is their biggest threat ‘me pelo tsa bona li ka thaba ha ba ka utloa hothoe e felile. Tsena tse ling ba ka ba ba tšehetsa hobane ke party tse sa ba tšoseng.
Hee, Macaefa Billy u bua likakata ka tsamaiso ea Kobotata….khele motho a bua masa-a-kokometse! Batho baa ha ba hloloa ho tsamaisa ofisi ba ka tsamaisa naha joang? Billy o bokolla ka hore ha ho ntho e mo utloisitseng bohloko ho feta koepere e neng tsoha boroko sebokeng bekeng e fetileng!
thabane,thakalekoala and soulo batloele hore etsa bana ka hoitsirelletsa kamasire.ha eba selekane hase molaong why basasebelise letsoao lele leng hofapana le hoqhala selekane soulo le thakalekoala baeletsa thabane hampe hoba baqhala mokha ka hotseka maemo haba hahe baa arola
Mopeli Mokokoane,
Haeba u ile oa mamela puo ea Billy hantle, Thabane, Soulo le Thakalekoala ke bona ba tsoileng lets’olo la ho hlaba selekane sena (ABC/LWP Alliance) ka sefeea-maeba. Taba ea raporoto ea Masire empa ele moritaoke — ke maholi a patile maeba…le ngoana e mona eo ke sa tsebeng ‘mae le ntat’ae ea bitsoang “Tsipa-sehole”, o ea e utloa taba ena !!
O kae Mochoboroane ka sefea maeba ueso, ke bona bo Mochoboroane ba bangata ka hare ho LCD ka moo ‘me le ha a hloloa ke setulo sa bo president ho ntse ho ropoha emong/ba bang. Ba mpa ba tšaba feela ho hlahella kaha ba qekisa mejo. He le phela ka thata moo kaha lea bipetsana ha le tsebe ho ntsa maikutlo a lona ka bolekolohi. Maholi khale a pata maeba ha a qale ho a pata mono ABC le ho LCD a ntse a patile.
Thabane haeba ke moetapele olokela ahahe aseke aheletsa mokha kalebaka la batho ba tsekang maemo.A kopane le Macaefa athehe kutloano le lerato ka hara mokha.kopano ke matla,okanketsang hae hahe motse motse ho hahoa oa morapeli.khotso ke eeo moetlang le teng.
Thabane ke satane
E fetang mang mosisili
NTJA HA E JE NTJANYANA. KE STHALALA DAA………….