—Says will not stay with a party that calls him a rebel

Mohloai Mpesi

THE main opposition party, the Democratic Congress (DC), has faced a significant shift that has impacted its parliamentary representation.

This follows this week’s defection of Peiso Kelane, the party’s lawmaker for the Maletsunyane constituency, to the ruling Revolution for Prosperity (RFP).

Mr Kelane cited “mistreatment” and being labelled a “rebel” by the Mathibeli Mokhothu-led DC as reasons for his switch of allegiance.

Speaking to the Sunday Express, Mr Kelane, said he had made this transition after being labelled a “rebel” by his now former party.

While Mr Kelane is yet to officially cross the floor to the RFP in parliament, the party already acknowledges him as its member.

RFP spokesperson, Mokhethi Shelile, has told the Sunday Express that Mr Kelane was already part of their family.

Mr Kelane’s move to join Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s RFP follows the release of a circular on February 21, 2025, on the DC’s official letterhead, signed by Secretary General T?itso Cheba, which identified several individuals within the DC as “troublemakers.”

The circular listed numerous prominent DC personalities and supporters, including Mr Kelane, as “rebels.”

The circular also named four other DC legislators as “rebels”. These are proportional representation member Mokherane Tsatsanyane, as well as Maimane Maphathe, Mootsi Lehata, and Lehlohonolo Hlapisi, who represent the Matelile, Makhaleng, and ‘Maliepetsane constituencies respectively.

However, Mr Cheba denied any involvement of the DC in the creation of this circular, asserting that it was produced by people intent on undermining the party’s stability.

The list of prominent figures labelled rebels included philanthropist and businessman Bothata Mahlala, who has since left the DC and is preparing to form his own party, as well as former party chairperson Mosala Mojakisane, former head of publications T?oeu Mokeretla, and Likeleli Tampane, the former deputy-president of the DC Women’s League.

Despite Mr Cheba’s efforts to distance the DC party from the controversial circular, Ms Tampane, one of the individuals named as a rebel, confirmed last week that she was departing the party to join Mr Mahlala’s forthcoming political party. She believes the DC executive committee was likely behind the “propaganda” the list aimed to promote.

Ms Tampane is a long-standing DC stalwart who previously served as the party’s legislator for the Mokhotlong constituency and as sports minister during the 2020-2022 coalition administration led by former Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro, who was deputized by Mr Mokhothu.

She had been a DC MP for Mokhotlong since 2012, although she was defeated by an RFP candidate in the 2022 elections.

In spite of Mr Cheba’s insistence that the circular in question was a “fake” document intended to sow confusion and undermine the party, the situation on the ground proves otherwise.

Several members, including Makeresemese Let?oara, the deputy chairperson of the women’s league, and Bokang Motokoa, a member of the Thetsane constituency committee, also left the DC soon after the circular went viral.

Mr Kelane told the Sunday Express, that he could not continue working with people in the DC who viewed him as a “rebel.”

He explained that his decision to join the RFP came as a recommendation by his constituents, who had advised him to leave the DC after he had expressed a desire to do so.

“It is because I was termed a rebel in the DC. So, how can you work with someone who calls you a rebel? I couldn’t continue working with people that call me a rebel,” Mr Kelane said.

Mr Kelane said he had resigned from the DC a week before joining the RFP. Other political parties had approached him to join them as well.

However, he said he consulted with his constituents to decide which party he should join. Based on the reasons they provided, he had opted to join the RFP.

“As their legislator, it is not my place to choose for myself without their consent because you cannot make decisions without their consent. You have to change parties with their blessings, and them going with you. So, my constituents chose for me to join RFP based on the strides that the RFP has made,” Mr Kelane said.

Mr Kelane added that the issue of him being labeled a “rebel” by the DC was widely known long before he left the DC, and that many of his constituents had felt sympathy for him over the matter.

RFP Spokesperson Mokhethi Shelile said he is yet to meet with Mr Kelane to facilitate his crossing over to the government side.

Currently, the Speaker of the National Assembly Tlohang Sekhamane has not written a letter indicating that Mr Kelane is crossing from the opposition to the government benches.

Mr Shelile said Mr Kelane had always wanted to join the RFP and has finally managed to do so.

According to Mr Shelile, this is because “most” MPs were considering the prospects of retaining their constituencies at the next general elections due in 2027, and the RFP was the “only” way of achieving that.

Mr Shelile acknowledged that Mr Kelane had not officially crossed the floor in parliament yet.

“Yes, he is yet to join but he has not crossed the floor in parliament. I am yet to meet with him to see how we are going to go about it. The speaker will read the letter first in parliament.”

Mr Shelile said Mr Kelane’s presence would enable the RFP to better execute the party’s mandate.

Mr Shelile explained that many lawmakers were weighing their prospects of winning constituencies if they stuck with their current parties or joined the RFP. He said more MPs were “coming to join RFP”.

Mr Matekane’s party won 57 constituencies in the 2022 general elections, but later lost the Matlakeng, Malimong and Lithoteng constituencies after it fell out with their legislators.

Dr Mahali Phamotse formed her own party, the United Africans Transformation (UAT) while the other two legislators, Lephoi Makara and Rethabile Letlailana joined the DC in May 2024.

But later that year, the RFP gained another constituency when the Alliance of Alliance (AD)’s Malibamats’o MP, Mokoto Hloaele, joined the ruling party.

With Mr Kelane joining the RFP, its constituencies now sit at 56, while the DC’s seats have been whittled down to 27.

There has been speculation that Mr Kelane was wooed by the RFP with a promise that he would be appointed Energy minister, but Mr Shelile said there was no such.

“No position has been created for him in the cabinet,” he said.

“We are very serious about not expanding. The PM is serious about maintaining a small size of the cabinet. I think it is his desire that it becomes even smaller than it is.

“So, there are no arrangements of expanding Cabinet, but that does not mean there won’t be a reshuffle. It can be there whenever the Prime Minister wants to make it. In short, there is no position in cabinet that he is going to fill.”

The Energy ministry is nonetheless vacant after the dismissal of Nqosa Mahao, the leader of the Basotho Action Party (BAP).