’Marafaele Mohloboli

NORMALCY has returned to the opposition Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) after secretary general Teboho Sekata agreed to bury the hatchet with his party leader Mothetjoa Metsing and deputy leader Tšeliso Mokhosi.

Over the past two weeks, the former ruling party had been battling infighting with Mr Sekata, who is also the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson, publicly accusing Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi of “oppressive behaviour”.

Mr Sekata said his troubles began last December when he defied Mr Metsing’s directive for him not to contest the party’s secretary general post and defer to Ms Mamello Morrison. Ms Morrison is credited with keeping the party intact when both Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi fled into exile in 2017 citing government plots to kill them. The duo eventually returned in 2018 after a SADC-brokered deal to enable them to participate in the multi-sector reforms process.

Mr Sekata ignored Mr Metsing’s directive and beat Ms Morrison to the secretary general’s post. He said things got out of hand in June this year when he defied yet another directive from Mr Metsing, this time not to contest the PAC’s chairperson’s post. He was told to stand down in favour of Mr Mokhosi who is his senior in the party hierarchy. He however, went on to contest and beat Mr Mokhosi to land the post.

Tensions that had been simmering between him and the duo of Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi since December 2019 finally exploded a fortnight ago when Mr Sekata publicly lashed at his superiors. He accused them of oppressing him and attempting to prevent his rise in national politics.

Earlier this week, LCD spokesperson Apesi Ratšele condemned Mr Sekata for being disrespectful of the party leadership by dragging Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi’s names in the mud. Mr Ratšele even announced that there would be a party caucus on Thursday to decide on whether or not to kick Mr Sekata out of the party.

However, according to both Mr Ratšele and Mr Sekata, the caucus resolved not to take any punitive action against Mr Sekata.

Instead, the caucus that was attended by Messrs Metsing, Mokhosi, Sekata and other members of the party’s national executive committee (NEC), resolved that the secretary general should bury the hatchet with the party leaders and work with them to strengthen the party.

“Everything went well and both parties (Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi on one side and Mr Sekata on the other) ironed out their issues,” Mr Ratšele told the Sunday Express.

“We all decided to put the past behind us and work on attaining peace for the greater good of the party. All LCD legislators were made aware that the decisions of the party caucus are binding on everyone and we believe that we are now on the same page,” he added.

On his part, Mr Sekata said, “on Thursday the party held its caucus meeting and after lengthy discussions on the contentious issues, we all agreed to bury the hatchet and work towards the attainment of peace and growth of the party”.

“Both parties got to acknowledge their shortcomings and faults,” Mr Sekata added.

Messrs Metsing and Mokhosi were not reachable on their mobile phones for comment.