THE decision by the High Court to block a special conference for the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party means the party must find a political solution to the leadership wrangle rocking its ranks.
Unless the party finds a political solution, the infighting within the ruling party will certainly worsen a few months ahead of a key general election.
Justice Nthomeng Majara ruled the decision to call a special conference was unconstitutional.
The LCD leadership has for months elected to bury its head in the sand, pretending problems do not exist.
But judging from what has been going on in the courts the internal fighting is far from over.
While the leadership of the party has acknowledged these problems, we think they have not acted decisively enough to nip them in the bud, let alone resolve them.
What we have seen have been half-hearted attempts to deal with the factional infighting.
This could be the party’s undoing.
It looks like there are more forces at play in the long-drawn saga than what has been made available in the public domain.
Party leader Pakalitha Mosisili and his deputy Lesao Lehohla must provide leadership in unlocking this political imbroglio.
The two must not believe they are safe in their ivory towers.
They must not believe they are far from the internal fights.
The two must work harder to end these costly squabbles.
The running court battles that we have seen clearly expose the failure of the party to deal with its problems internally.
It is in the interest of the LCD to deal with the problems that are haunting the party as it prepares for the forthcoming national general elections next year.
As they say, a stitch in time saves nine.
We strongly believe that while it is natural for political leaders in a party to aspire to be at the helm one day and fight amongst themselves, the LCD’s situation has been worsened by the fact that Mosisili has kept his cards close to his chest.
For instance, no one among his rank and file know whether the Prime Minister will stand for re-election in the 2012 general elections or not.
No one, including Mosisili himself, has dared initiate debate on the party’s succession plan.
This culture of silence in the ruling party could be at the root of its current problems.
In fact, the absence of dialogue on such a key issue could threaten to weaken the party.
It could ultimately lead to a breakdown of internal cohesion and a split if the two warring factions fail to resolve their problems.
The LCD must find a political solution to its current problems.
Political problems require a political solution.
The legal route might ultimately worsen the current infighting given the cumbersome nature of the legal process.