…as court orders that he be allowed to stand for deputy party leader position 

Mohloai Mpesi 

The High Court has cleared the path for former Government Secretary (GS), Moahloli Mphaka, to stand for the deputy leader post in the All Basotho Convention (ABC). 

Mr Mphaka secured his spot on the ABC’s ballot paper at the eleventh hour after the High Court nullified a decision by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to bar him from contesting. 

High Court judge, Justice Mafelile Ralebese, on Friday ordered the ABC to enlist Mr Mphaka as a candidate for the deputy leader position– just hours before the elective conference started at Leqele High School in Maseru. 

The conference ends today when results of the elections are expected to be announced. 

Mr Mphaka and one Kefeletsoe Mojela rushed to court on an urgent basis after a circular was issued on Tuesday, citing them as being ineligible to participate in the elective conference. ? 

Outgoing ABC secretary-general, Lebohang Hlaele, issued the circular on Tuesday declaring that Mr Mphaka and Ms Mojela were ineligible to contest for the ABC deputy leader post because they had not served any structures of the party, which is was “precondition of contesting for NEC posts”. 

According to the ABC constitution, it is a prerequisite for one to have served in lower structures of the party, such as branch and constituency committees, before advancing to the NEC. 

Mr Mphaka had never contested elections under the ABC banner nor served in any lower committees as he was a senior public servant most of his time with the party. He was a key confidante of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. 

Ms Mojela has also not served in any of the lower structures but was fielded as the party’s contestant for the Thaba-Phechela constituency in Mafeteng, at the October 2022 general elections. 

They were saved at the last minute by Justice Ralebese’s order compelling the ABC to include them as candidates in the elective conference. 

The judge issued the order directing the respondents “to include the names of the applicants in the ballot paper for the elections of the 1st?respondent?(ABC)?if the elections are to proceed on the 12th?of April 2024, with the alternative order directing the respondent to announce that the applicants are included on the list of candidates for elections at the beginning of the?elections?conference?(sic).”??? 

The respondents were the ABC and the party’s NEC. 

In his opening statement, the ABC leader, Nkaku Kabi, said he was hopeful the election of the new NEC would solidify the party and help it reclaim its amulet ahead of the 2027 national elections.? 

Mr Kabi said the ABC members should be aware that the committee that they were going to elect would be mandated to lead the party to the 2027 elections. It should thus comprise of competent individuals who must work to give other political parties a tough time, and ensure the ABC wins those?elections like it had done in 2017. 

In the 2017 elections, ABC won 48 constituencies and led a four-party coalition which included the Basotho National Party (BNP), Alliance of Democrats (AD) and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL). 

That coalition fell by the wayside in May 2020 when Mr Thabane was forced to step down in favour of former Prime Minister and then ABC deputy leader, Moeketsi Majoro. 

The ABC then entered into a new coalition with Democratic Congress and several other smaller parties, mostly with congress leanings. 

The faction ridden ABC later split with the formation of Professor Nqosa Mahao’s?Basotho Action Party (BAP) in April 2021. 

The ABC?was to completely collapse at the October 2022 general elections after failing to win a single constituency seat. It is only in parliament at the mercy of?eight proportional representation (PR) seats. 

Mr Kabi said their aim was to resuscitate the party through the new committee that will be elected. 

“Next year is 2025, after that we are not going to count 2026 because 2027 is the general elections. The decision that you are going to make for ABC in this room is the one that we will go to the general elections with,” Mr Kabi said. 

“May God help in the election of members of the committee on behalf of the ABC. While you vote, you should tell yourselves that you want to contribute to the new face of ABC that will take the party to the 2027 elections where we will be reclaiming our lead and fulfil Tom Thabane’s dream,” he said. 

He said Justice Ralebese’s order made his job much easier as he was going to be compelled to suspend some sections in ABC constitution to allow Mr Mphaka and Ms Mojela to participate in the election process. 

“I have a paper here with me, it is a court order. It makes my job simple because I didn’t know what you would say if I asked you that we should suspend some of the sections (of the constitution that bar people from standing). The court order says there are some people who were put outside the elections, and it orders that those people should participate in the elections process. 

“I might have hurt others’ feelings, although my intension was to build a clean ABC. Hence, I say the request I was going to make, has already been made by this order. I am not going to indulge in that,” he said.