Diplomats recalled
MASERU — The government has recalled senior diplomats in foreign missions in a move that the opposition Democratic Congress (DC) has described as a purge of those perceived to be its supporters.
There was also speculation this week that two principal secretaries are on their way out.
Lesotho’s ambassador to Malaysia, Ntsebe Kokome, is said to have arrived back in Lesotho on Friday.
A search for her replacement has already started.
‘Majonathan Molise, first secretary at the embassy in China, has also been recalled and is expected to be back in Lesotho by December 7.
She is sister to former deputy home affairs minister, Lineo Molise-Mabusela, who is also a prominent DC member.
Also recalled are Phakiso Ralepoma who is counsellor at the embassy in Ireland and Teboho Mohapi who is counsellor in London.
The website for the Lesotho high commission to the United Kingdom lists Mohapi’s position as vacant.
Although the DC yesterday charged that there was a sinister political agenda behind the changes, the foreign affairs ministry said nothing was improper about them.
Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thibello Metsing, confirmed the changes but said the contracts of all those who had been recalled had expired.
“The contracts for the ambassador to Malaysia had ended,” Metsing said yesterday in a telephone interview.
“The same applies for the three other officials (Molise, Ralepoma and Mohapi).”
Normally these officials are on a three-year contract. They are civil servants so they can be recalled at any time by the government. But in this case their contracts had expired,” Metsing added.
“It’s the prerogative of the government, according to public service regulations, to recall people”.
There was speculation this week that Home Affairs principal secretary, Retšelisitsoe Khetsi, was also on his way out.
Sources in the ministry said Khetsi is waiting for his package from government before leaving.
But on Tuesday Khetsi said there was no truth in the allegations that he had been removed because he is still the principal secretary.
“I am still an employee of the government of Lesotho,” Khetsi said.
Government secretary Motlatsi Ramafole said Khetsi had not been removed but was on leave.
The Lesotho Times was also told last night that the principal secretary for health, ‘Malerato Khoeli, was on an extended leave pending her exit from government.
Sources close to her said she will be leaving the civil service in January next year.
The DC says it sees a political hand in the decision to recall senior diplomats and fire senior civil servants.
DC deputy leader Monyane Moleleki yesterday said although he believes it is the right of any government to appoint “its own people” his party was worried with the manner in which the coalition government has handled the matter.
“We have no qualms with a government appointing its own supporters to diplomatic missions but something is not right in this case,” Moleleki said.
“It comes across as a purge because there are instances where some diplomats have just been moved to some missions three months ago but they are now being recalled.”
“This government,” he said, “is hell bent on removing everyone it has not appointed”.
“This is a waste of taxpayers’ money because recalling a diplomat costs money and sending a diplomat on mission costs money.”
Moleleki said there was also something sinister about the way senior civil servants are being removed.
“If a contract has expired then there is no problem. But how do you explain a situation where someone is being removed before their contract ends and they are being paid off using taxpayers’ money?”
Comment by semenekane on 15 November 2012:
Tloha mona Mahaletere. Akere li- position tseo ke tsa Lipolotiki? Joale u ne u re ho bolokoe batho baa ba hau leha Potoana e oele?. Khiliki! Oa makatsa Mahaletere
Metsi a bacha a nts’a khale, ka ‘mila Mapantsola.
Ekaba joale Mabusela o tla lula kae China moo Sehlahla sa hae se tlositsoe? U se u le moholo Buti, u tla ipona. Hm! Lineo o tla u patalla chelete ea rente joale. Khiliki! Lesole la Molimo
Comment by Hlaba le kene on 15 November 2012:
Kea kholoa semenekane le eena iloba ambassodor khetling lena holatela likheo tse teng,monna eso mpe u nkhopole hao kena sefofaneng re basotho kao feela leha re fapana ka polotiki tlala eona e re khitla kao feela hae khethe ts’obotsi.
Comment by Liponto on 15 November 2012:
Re joetswa taba tsee because????? Hakere batho ba recalloa nako
eohle? Se ka re tena Lestimes!
Comment by Liponto on 15 November 2012:
Ha ho letho le mohlolo tabeng tsena, batho bana khale ba tseba hore
ba tla khutla Foreign ke lipolotiki and nothing else, ha
se bona feela ba recalled kapa ba pele!
Comment by Rotelletsa on 15 November 2012:
Mahaletere le ha ra batho! I thought waste of taxpayers money in his vocabulary. Doomsday should be nearby. The government has actually taken long to remove these obstacles to implementation of its policies! Ha ke ba emelle ka thoko ba bohe ha ngoale e khiba!
Comment by zozoma on 15 November 2012:
Nxa! Mahaletere u so tseba hore ho senngoa chelete uena? Embassy positions are political appointments dats y ur government didn’t appoint any1 affiliated with any party ada dan urs! Stop misleading people nd pretending as if u r effective opposition hle ntate! U hv not bn in an opposition position eva nd u seem not to know ur work!
Comment by Thabelo on 15 November 2012:
Again I will say those are political positions. It is on fair and right to remove DC diplomats- it took them too long actually. Ntate Moleqetsa ena a tlohe mona, oa tseba they are only stirring trouble. Ha ba ne ba kene in office ho no sena li diplomat tsa maNational kapa maABC so u batla mohlolo o a buang ka ona a u bone kae??
Comment by Thabang on 15 November 2012:
The only way regime change can be seen to have occured is through the removal of some senior personnel in government. The question is, where do you draw the line on people who should vacate their offices, beginning with the PM, Ministers, Diplomats, PSs etc. What the opposition leader in parliament has said is just political rhetoric.
Comment by Lefito la matjobo on 15 November 2012:
Ke hane ha batho bare hantle u motho ea nang le bothata ba hoohlo.
Comment by Apole on 15 November 2012:
Taxpayers money e ea sengoa: Mahaletere. Lefats’e le sokolohile allelujah
Comment by mamoqato on 15 November 2012:
It is about time.
Comment by sapos on 15 November 2012:
Moleleki oa hlanya! O lebelletse eng kos tis is a polotical posts? Nxa!
Comment by Ntate on 15 November 2012:
Mahaletere o sebete ebile oa tella!
The same Moleleki unashemedly removed all people appointed by Thabane in 2006/7 on the basis that they were Thabane supporters, mind you Moleleki and Thabane were in the same party LCD back then. Nobody complained about wastage of taxpayers money because as he says it is the prerogative of the government, joale ena o lla joang?!?!?!
Comment by Bobete on 15 November 2012:
“Its the prerogative of government to recall people” so whats wrong here? “Taxpayers’ money wasted” look who’s talking, empa Molimo o rata ha moetsalibe a sokoloha although its late and the damage has already been done and is irreparable.
Comment by LEKHOARA on 15 November 2012:
appoint and removal from office of some senior public officers and diplomats in foreign missions is the prerogative of government [of the day], joale ke mang a llang? hona o re o llelang?
Comment by Mphosong #7 on 15 November 2012:
Moleleki o tsebang ka taxpayers’ money, seka nna pota mona uena? Hakere lene le tlatsitse bana ba bonyatsi tsa lona bo-Lineo li-Ambassying moo? Ke u bone u ja manala meeting oa IEC Victoria maobane, ke hona utlo ja lithimola uena.
Comment by Goodbye MCCD cronies on 15 November 2012:
Bo nnyeo bona ba recalloa neng? This process has already taken too long. All these arrogant DC redshirts must be recalled, and fast!!
Comment by MOANANONG on 15 November 2012:
POLITICS: A dirty and funny game…the same DC government when it was politically appointing these people, theirs was an honorable move AND when the coalition government does the same it is a ‘sinister move’_chee! Not unless I am mistaken, an ambassador is a high ranking diplomat who represents a state (country) AND the coalition government is currently the state (running the country)…how then do you expect someone not affiliated to your party/government’s agenda OR policies to honorably represent it in a foreign land? That to me would be utterly foolish and suicidal…Already, the government is failing to meet its promises to the nation because there is a cunning agenda by DC through its affiliates holding Senior and Strategic positions to make it fail AND strangely enough the government is blind to it all. Removing the DC affiliates in its Think-Tank (PSs) would be the wisest move it could make as in today…not tomorrow coz the public service is currently is in chaos as a result of their presence. They are surely
Comment by Pong Pong on 15 November 2012:
Athe Ntate Moleleki o na lebetse batho bao ba pataloe ka eng? Ofcourse they are entitled to terminal benefits which wud still be paid whn contracts expire n which wud be paid frm tax payers money. o na re mmuso oo o tla nka chelete kae haese ea likhafa? hae che ntate eo!
Comment by Batho on 15 November 2012:
I wonder why this matter even makes news in the first place !!!! I have never seen the advertisement of the diplomat position whereby every qualifying Mosotho can apply: The reason, the person appointed is a politician serving the interest of the ruling party as a mouthpiece of that ruling party in another country.
If that position is for every deserving Mosotho, advertise it then we will apply or stop making noise about unnecessary things !!
Comment by MOANANONG on 15 November 2012:
…They surely are a stumbling block to the current government’s efforts to address this country’s socio-econmic challenges.
Was distracted while typing….apology
Comment by pit on 15 November 2012:
I think it is clear the DC opposition is hell-bent on destabilising the government of the day.It acceptable for an opposition to keep government in check but not to use its member in embassies to stop normal operations of government.Let these people come back and push the case for DC opposition from Maseru not at the expense of us the tax payers especially if their actions are to the detriment of the development of our beloved country.
Comment by Vocalist on 15 November 2012:
Ache che ntate Mahaltere wa nyahamisa swapano, why r u wasting ur energy on things u know have to happen? Le etsoa ke ho tlohela bo Tau hore ba campaigne e ntsele li PS! Its even more amazing when u talk of taxpayer’s money, its just a few weeks wen u demanded to be leader of opposition and enjoy taxpayer’s money ena e siko like u say, but kaha molao o tsehetsa such a position u were duly granted! Now d law supports the government so let it act! Gone r d days wen u wud site d law when it suits u n when it doesn’t suit u u just do by push or force!
Comment by Mokoko oa Lihlaba on 15 November 2012:
Banabesong,utluoang mehlolo ea mehlolo,utloang mahaltere,o tsebang ka chelete tse sengooang ,haele uena ea lihileng moruo oa naha ee,chee ka ‘nete o moikaketsi.’Ke utloa ke utloela ma poto ana a mathang ka mora lona.Ha ba khutle mono batho bano ba poto ,’muso ona oa rona o tsebe ho kenya batho ba tla ntsetsa maano a rona pele.
Hee moikaketsi eo.
Comment by monoang on 15 November 2012:
ae bo! ntate mllk athe o oa tseba hore hona le ho thoeng “tax payers’ money?” AMEN…athe o ne are ba pataloe kang? ka majoe? akere ehlile kaofela civil servants ba pataloa ka tax payers’ money? kapa ena ha ale pusong o na ntsa re ba pataloa ka chelete ea lapa la hae? ha a na ka bue joalo ka monna hle banna a tlohele ho bua joalo ka molisana tjena…jessses!
Comment by Marathon on 15 November 2012:
Be good to the other people on your way up becuase you may need them on your down…
Politics is about saying things people like to hear and not telling them what they should know…
Comment by Mokotla on 15 November 2012:
heneng le benya re fetlama? chuo coalition! ke utloile le hore some DA’s kae kae batlo e hlaba ka monkhoane…hae eeeeeeeeng,fots’ek!
Comment by Nkosazana Zuma on 15 November 2012:
Ao! tloha mona uena Mahaletere. Le ts’oana hantle kaofela Basotho ba matleng. U tseba ho bona hore ke ntho’e mpe ho khetholla Basotho ha ele e mong ea etsang seo le uena u neng u ntse u se etsa? Ha le ntse lere le isa fela litho tsa mekha ea lona e rekileng likarete, ebe teng le reng ka Basotho baa ba fetang 1,8 million ba le khethang leha ba sa reka likarete? Keng ha likhetho li fihla le sa re lona le batla hore le khethoe ke litho tsa lona tse ts’oereng likarete feela? Fela ere teng ha le khetha ba ilo ja lichelete le lona le re le nka fela ba nang le likarete le khetholla sechaba see sa Lesotho se sengata ka ba fokolang ka palo?
Joale, ke se ke itse ba ba khutlise liembassying khale ba ja, ba ba tebele bo-PSeng khale ba ja. akere ke eona mekhoa ea lona e mebe eona eo? Joale, aku utloeng le lona, haba ts’oanang le lona ba etsa liketso tseo tse mpe tsa ho khetholla le ho arola sechaba sa Lesotho ka lehare. Keng ha le sa re basebetsi ba ‘muso ba applye ha lipost tsa liembassy li tsoile joalokaha ba ntse ba applyaela liposts tsohle ‘musong? Tseo le khetholla basebetsi ba ‘muso hobane joale ke moo limillion million tsa naha li fellang teng hore bona ba ithuise ba le bang ka lichelete tsa sechaba? Le batla ho ba etsetsa favour hobane joale ba khola likete tse baloang ka mashome motho ka mong liembassying, ha barutehi ba bang ba sa batloeng bona ba ikholla fela liketenyana tse phoqang tse hlano ho isa ho tse supileng, ha barutehi ba liembassying bona ba khola likete tse hlamatsehang tse baloang ka mashome a mararo ho isa ho mashome a robeli, ke ka hona ba khonang le ho reka likoloi tsa limillion motho ka mong.
Joale, Mahaletere, Lesotho hase naha ea lona le le bang hleng Basotho ba hailang le ba famolang, ke naha ea Basotho kaofela leha lona le koaretse ka eona le ikhaba ka lichelete tsa naha lona ba fokolang ka palo, ha Basotho ba bangatahali ba futsanehile haholo ka baka la lona hoo le qetellang le ba hlapaola ka hore ke bo ‘malitjaale ba baputsoa-putsoa. E, ba baputsoa hobane chelete ea naha e itjelloa ke boralikhoka ba fokolang ka palo ha sechaba se sengata se sotlehile. Fela ka tsatsi le leng MOLIMO e tlaba moahloli holima lona baikhabi ting!!!
Comment by Oa Likoetseng on 15 November 2012:
Khaohana le bona uena Mahaletere ‘Nake. DC e tlatla iphetetsa le eona mohlang o seng ole Tona Kholo. Se lle litla boea.
Comment by Mosotho on 15 November 2012:
I think the government caught DC with its pants down by getting rid of its supporters. The noise that it is making about this leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps they thought they were going to oppose and stand in the way of the current government by using its members holding key positions in the government. I also think a lot of those DC supporters, who publicly and unashamedly showed support of their party yet they are in Lesotho’s embassies abroad, have very little to show, if they have anything to show at all, for what they had to do for Basotho. It appears as if a lot of them went there to enrich themselves and careless about Basotho’s interests, or the poor lads and girls were doing something and DC’s administration didnt meet them half way on this Southern Hemisphere’s end.
Comment by lindie on 15 November 2012:
‘Nake ‘na ke hee ha lijane maro ntja tsa setsumi! Politiki ea Lesotho ke ‘metla khola u lebisa ho oa habo, e bile ha se mohlolo se hlahileng. Mehleng e fitileng ha u bala history ea Lesotho, li officing mona e ne ba lifane li nkhang mafura a borena le polotiki, le kajeno ho ntse ho le joalo!
Comment by Tsehla on 15 November 2012:
It is in order for the ruling government to call them back home. In order for the government to deliver, must employ dedicated and loyal people who follow the mandate and principles of the current government. It is clear that the followers of DC won’t strive for the success of the current government. DC supporters are rivals to the current government and can make anything to ensure that it fails to deliver. I therefore, comment the government on the move.
Comment by chehe on 15 November 2012:
Haldi oe, o no batla ba ilo senyetsa mmuso o khethiloeng ke rona sechaba lilemo lemo tseo ba ilo lula mesing? Ba tle ba qetelle ba hahile li orphanage tsa maiketsetso le bona ka chelete tsa sechaba? Nahana hape Leqi hle!
Comment by Boss Tom on 15 November 2012:
Look who is talking it’s over the sooner you accept that you no longer have access to the cookie jar the better.guess you know how it feels now many and I say many people were overlooked by your government take it like a man.everything good or bad comes to an end.give others a chance,focus on the looted diamonds and let new brains lead the country.bye
Comment by Ache liabelaliahloeba haeba ke poto e llang tje. on 15 November 2012:
lestimes.com
Comment by Ache liabelaliahloeba haeba ke poto e llang tje. on 15 November 2012:
http://www.lestimes.com
Comment by lekholokoe on 15 November 2012:
Mahaletere must go straight to hell and burn, its surprisng that he is the one talking because he knows very well that senior civil servants positions are political vacancies filled by the ruling party and the same goes to jobs at all embassies of the country whereever it has an ambassy. Do us favour and shut your cakehole because your criticism is just cheap politics that we see DC practising lately becuase its not easy for them to accept defeat. Joale mapotoana a mabe letsatsi le chabile “toala”, save your healthies by keeping your mouths shut and go to hell with your tales between your legs like a dog that is defeated in a dog fight and stop making yourselves terrorist because you don’t qualify at all measures to become terrorists just like your leader (Pakalitha “mokoto” Mosisili) who has an ambitions of being a professor without a PHD because he holds a masters degree but calls himself a professor, sies le nyonts’a ele ka nnete uena mahaletere le size2 kea bona bokatana le boferekanye ke ntho ele e thabelang batho ting, shame on you, one day your day will come for severe embarassment that you bring upon yourselves.
Comment by Thuoela Rapelang on 15 November 2012:
I really appreciate de way in which de issue of political positions are bein handled ebile we nearly endedup being late by ten minutes. Lesotho needs to persue its missions of undertakin major positionin initiatives influencin local en foreign media reportin on Lesotho, ensure improved relations en co-operation with business, civil society, media en labour movements, play a crucial role in various branding en imaging initiatives e.t.c. Thez can be actively-persued when utilizin loyalists to thez coalition govt. Yah fooooooooofa!
Comment by moleko on 16 November 2012:
Hoa makatsa ho bona bacha ba ntse ba iphethotse lisebelisoa tsa bo ralipolotiki,to all youth out there LCD,BNP,DC or ABC make use of any oppotunity that come your way fact remain coalition is the present government so wake up Haldi will never do anything for you ha e se le motlatsi oa opposition ea sa o fang eona ha na le pusong.Some of you mostly DC followers you sound/talk bitter ,vulgar words without respect.Come up with youth programs that can improve you lifes than arguing on things that can’t change your life.O ke ke oa ea embassing ka form 5.Wish could learn from Hon.PM he always says “Ntate Mosisili” but rona we cum up with insulting dignitaries shame to us as youth lesotho future womder wat exmple we are setting for our kids.
Comment by max on 16 November 2012:
I dont understand why the govt afraid to take an action with the most corupt dog….Khetsi?
Comment by elephant on 16 November 2012:
but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. Its time DC batho bana ba lona ba ee tlaase!
Comment by elephant on 16 November 2012:
HA LI HLOE LEKHOARA!
Comment by oamokhele on 16 November 2012:
Ache he taxpayers money ho tsejoa ho buuoa ka eona, Haldy oa e tseba vocabulary eo? Ho fa Tau ea Thaba penchele ea botonakholo a ntse a le ka paramenteng ha se ho tlola molao? Ntate Mosisili ha a ee hae koana joalo ka ntate Lehohla a tle a je penchele or else everything e tlosoe ha a ntse a le paramenteng.
Li embassy li tla alosoa ke batho ba muso o litulong, ho etsahalang ha se mohlolo ke hoo ba ho entseng 93 le 2007 ha ba lula litulong joale ba hlajoa keng khetlong lee.
Comment by sematsatsa on 16 November 2012:
Politics khilik
Comment by Mokoko oa Lihlaba on 16 November 2012:
Lekholokoe ,Amen ngoaneso ,ha ba tlohe mona ba jele bo molelelki ,ba ithuisa ka lichete tsa sechaba ,ke barui hampe batho bana ,joale tsatsi le ba chabetse ,pitsanyana ena ea bona ba rotelitse halolo joale ba ea cha,ehlile ke ntse ke cho hore ha ba khutle mono ,muso ona oa rona o kenye batho ba rona li position s tseno.Oa bona ha baka tlosa ngoanaeo eo hothoeng ke Retselistsoe Khetsi le Mapulumo mosisili ke tla thaba haholo.Retselisitsoe o hahile ntlo e majabajaba hampe ka chelete tsa tjotjo,o bolisitse lekala leno hona hoo a sena boikarabello ,joale batho ba mofuta oo ke bona ba ka isa naha ee pele ,ha ba khutle ,ha ba lelekoe li ps tsena tsa poto.Ke utloa ke halefa oa tseba ke moleleki.
Comment by monatala on 16 November 2012:
when you take a political seat you are sure le wena ho re u lutse ka se le seng.
wise decision gvmt. that’s how it supposed to be.
Moleleki ena a tlohe a ke re ba ne ba beile bang ka bona hohle moo ba lebetse ka any other supporters bao e seng seng ka bona.
Comment by LAWYER KUBAEASHI on 16 November 2012:
Ke hotse ke rata lipotiki hona hoo, keneng ke ikemisilitse hoila lietsa sekolong kampa ka phoqoa ke hlooho e bohlale haholo, lipolotiki ke ntho tsa batho bahlooho lithata, ha o bone ha babang ba fihla ba etelloa pele ke motho ea entseng SESOTHO University.
anyway ha selemo se qala ke ile ka utloa bahanyetsi ba bacha bare, “WE ARE GOING TO BE BACK BENCHERS AND WE ARE GOING TO TEACH THEM HOW TO BE AN OPPOSITION” then I learned that, politics were going to be interesting in Lesotho so i prepared myself to watch this interesting game, BANNA to my dismay for the past months post the elction DC has always been crying “We are treated like this because we are DCs”, or ” ache ke bano what hav they done so far?” come on SERIOUSLY????????SERIOUSLY??????SERIOUSLY???? thats what you call opposition? stop whining men, with you opposing you can take this nation to the better hele!!!! lebaholo tlohelang ho tseka Makoenya, do something to win government again you still have monies, even better Mahaletere can fund your compaigns. HEY LET ME NOT HEAR THIS BABY CRY AGAIN.
Comment by Lefefooane on 16 November 2012:
DC seems to be missing on how to play opposition politics. Lona ba tsebang baetapele ba DC, tell them to consult me I will help them free of charge. You see the problem with DC is to try replicate all that ABC did even when some of the things are no longer relevant. DC must distinguish between pre-election and post-election issues. Since the elections DC has been spending a lot of time on what was supposed to be pre-election issues. DC must now pose itself as an alternative government. They must tell/ or demonstrate what alternatives they offer especially because they have just been removed from power. Unlike ABC which had never ruled, DC must demonstrate why the electorate must return it to power. They must tell us the alternatives and stop barking day in day out. In the ABC we kept telling the nation about the corruption, incompetence and nepotism of LCD. In that way, ABC positioned itself as a lesser corrupt and lesser nepotistic alternative. DC must again identify its market. DC must carefully sit down and decide who its typical supporter is. As of now DC is a hybrid combination of the old and the youth. Ke moule. DC, being a mule, it will never reproduce. Moulo ha o tsoale. In the ABC we segmented the electorate market into “ours being the young and the professionals”. Hence we were able to kick the then LCD out of all the urban centers of this country and 5 years later we are the government. DC must stop being a mule. Moulo ha o tsoale. Kea le eletsa.
Comment by Selaolo on 16 November 2012:
E kare le maqhekoana le maqheku a feela le ona in the rural areas, I wonder who is going to elect DC in the next election, ha eshoa e ea phinya, mosotho Selaola amen.
Comment by Koatake on 16 November 2012:
E senyeile reme.
Comment by Nevermind on 18 November 2012:
Rumour had it just after the DC hi-jacked the LCD government, all Diplomats were requested to declare whether or not they stayed with LCD or crossed over to DC. Apparently all of them claimed to have crossed over. Joale phoso ke efe ha ba khutla hoba they evidently are opposition by virtue of their declaration?
Comment by Mahaletere on 18 November 2012:
Hee banna ke mpa ke ba khothatsa feela ‘nete kehore bakhutle. Le ‘na Mokola ke ntse ketlo theohela ka banneng hang kamora Christmas.
Comment by mju on 19 November 2012:
Lefefooane,
ABC is not a government. It is too far from being one atleast in the forseeable future. So indeed DC has no business to replicate ABC (a loser). You see the people like you are many in the this country, but fortunately, are in the minority. When the national team Likuena loses one nil to Bafana they give it undeserved round of applause. Why? because it is an underdog. So the same thing applies to ABC which came second with 30 seats out of 120. You and your associates think ABC is victorious and as such something should be modelled from its style of campaign for run up to the office. Only a fool would do that. DC is already enjoying the victorious position in the mountain kingdom. For it to revert back to the office, it needs a few and minor things to sort out.
For me ABC has to copy from DC how it succeeded to win the elections in spite of the fact that it was only formed three months before the elections. The only party that had done the same thing was LCD. Guess who was in the leadership. All the offsprings of the LCD failed to win the popular vote in the elections except DC. Honestly my brother, if I were you, I wouldn’t be priding myself to be in a government that is made up of the losers parties. Ke manasi feela batho ba thabelang ho busa sechaba se sa ba rateng. The logic behind that is very simple. Desire for illigitimate power. You know what I mean.
Comment by fm on 19 November 2012:
u tla qala ho bona hore Molimo ha se moshanyana oa letsopa uena mahaletere, kea kholoa hore u e u utloe ha hothoe lefatse ke lebili la koloi, ho joang hee? u tla utloa ka letlalo! boy!
Comment by Lefefooane on 19 November 2012:
@MJU, you have not addressed by concerns about DC. I will repeat them.
1. DC is a mule. It is a hybrid organization made up of the old and the young, the rural and the urban. I am sure you will agree with me on this one. If so, then it will not reproduce because a mule cannot reproduce. It is quite difficult for DC to attract a new voter because it has not identified who “its typical voter is”. You need that in every form of business. You must identify the typical consumer of your product. DC has not done that hence it will not succeed. “A typical voter of ABC is a young professional who lives in an urban center of Lesotho”. Hence all messaging is well suited for the concerns of our typical voter.
2. DC was elected by 39% of the electorates. This means that 61% did not vote them hence DC could not form government as per sectiion 87(2) of our constitution. Suppose DC tried to form government, how could it pass legislation and budget if it had fewer members in parliament. Logically it could not try that.
3. Next DC needs to identify the agenda and messaging it sells to the electorates. In 2007 elections ABC sold “Change”/ “liphethoho”/ “ho hloka bophethahatsi”. Even our slogan ran “change”. In 2012 we sold “anticorruption, antinepotism”. Indeed they bought our messaging because we managed to increase our number of seats from 12 to 30 and our leader from being opposition to being prime minister. Tom is the prime minister. Taba eno o ne o e bine. Hase toro. It is a reality.
$. Now tell me what DC sells or tell me anything of interest about DC. Just one thing. Kea bothela.
Comment by mju on 20 November 2012:
Lefefooane,
I totally agree with you that, Tom is the prime minister of Lesotho. What I don’t agree with is that ABC is the government. Tom himself is heading a hybrid government (mule). If I were to use your model of a mule, the government that is led by Tom Thabane is likely not to reproduce (whatever it means). Yes, I do agree with you that ABC’s stronghold is urban based. From the basis of my knowledge of the country’s population distribution however, the urban population account for only 20% percent of the total population. As you rightly indicate, DC has some reasonable share in this portion as well. This is to say, while ABC may be commanding 50% of the urban population, DC and LCD share the 40% while the rest is distributed among the small parties including the BNP. On that score therefore, it means your celebration for victory is highly premature. And by so saying, your strategy to limit your scope to that particular section of the population is not working for you. In fact it does not prepare you to be the government. Not unless you are content with this disastrous form of government (PCG).
The fact that DC was elected by 39% of the electorate is undisputable. I don’t see why you brought up this issue. If you are still referring to the strategy that you think is working for you, perhaps you should have also indicated the percentage ABC received from the electorate, so that we objectively are able to compare which strategy is working and which is not.
The messaging sounded attractive, except that it was echoed by the coalition of the wounded. A very insignificant percentage of the Basotho population was impressed. That is why you got only 25% of the overall vote. If it was not the courtesy of DJ Waters whose message was also shortlived, the ABC would still be in the cold.
Likhomo.
Comment by mpa tshehla on 20 November 2012:
hona hona ke manyampetla,manyala feela tjena.MAHALATERE,HALETI, MAHALEHALEEE,U MOLEKO O LIRIFI MONNA!kehore taba tsa hau ketsa mautla hantle,ua makatsa hoba uena khale u sa tsebe ubile u shoele tsoalo lena hau tonetse chelete ea tax payers mahlo u lulellane leho leqetsa.hau soabe hle,u sebete usa ahisana le nyoko.u bitter ke liphethoho hoba joale lipokotho li masoba,tloha mona
Comment by Nkosazana Zuma on 20 November 2012:
@Lekholokoe, le uena u bitter too much. Hase motho ea entseng PhD fela eo ekang professor. Motho ea entseng PhD ke Doctor eseng professor, motho eba professor ho latela hore na o ngotse li-articles le libuka tse kae tsa boleng bo joang, ‘me ha a fihletse se batloang o tla bitsoa professor ho latela ts’ebetso ea hae ha fela a entse masters degree kapa Doctorate. Kea kholoa Basotho re sa le hole le ho ruteha ka baka la ho ba lefufa le lehloeo.
Comment by oa ribaneng on 20 November 2012:
li Directors tsona ho thoeng ka tsona?ho na le bao Mokola a ba fileng mesebetsi joale ntse ba tsebe morao.the likes Director of Defence and National Security Services.le mo tseba hantle motho eno na o joang.mo botseng Former Director-Generals of NSS likes THAHA and LEROTHOLI le ba bang.macoalition nkang likeletso esale nako
Comment by Lefefooane on 20 November 2012:
@Mju, Tell me the messaging that DC sells to the electorate. I told you every election has its theme, atleast for a political party. In 2008 in the US the Democratic party candidate preached ” Yes we can” as his theme. In 2012 he preached “Forward we go”. Similarly in 2007, the theme for ABC was “Change”. In 2012 we preached “Anticorruption, anti nepotsm and service delivery”. Now tell me what you in the DC sell. Put differently, why should an electorate vote for Democratic Congress? What message is preached by Democratic Congress? Exactly what values doe potoana stand for? To whom dfoes potoana play for? It is important to identify the crowd you play for. Unless you do that I am afraid you will not get a new voter. In business we call this market segmentation. Before you go into business you have to “define a typical customer/consumer” of your product. This does not mean you limit yourself to that segment only. But it is of paramount importance for a business to succeed to identify its customers. Political parties are business of politics. We in the ABC play for the “young urban professionals”. Now tell me more about Potoana. Who does it play for? What does it preach? Why should we vote for Potoana?
Kea bothela
Comment by Ntamane on 20 November 2012:
Lefefooane, you are correct DC has not yet identified its market segment as of now. They still believe in order to succeed is when your customer is everybody. I agree with you that most of the business fall because people do not identify the market and hence the needs of their market even the media of communication needed to communicate to customers.
DC has a market that consists of the urban voter and the rural voter and the young and the old.
ABC has the market as urban young professionals.
LCD has its market as the rural old, mostly in Leribe or north.
BNP has no market since it lost almost all its support base to ABC but only the old BNP stalwarts still remain.
Comment by Lekholokoe on 20 November 2012:
It looks like DC have not recognised that they are the opposition party not the ruling party, since they lost the vote they have not acted like an opposition and that in future will result in the downfall of DC for the 2017 general elections. @ mju you have shown that you are indeed DC’s dearest supporter and if you think DC won the elections you are wrong, the only thing they are good at is cheap politics which will not bring them any victory because they have no strategy to move forward and fix what they did wrong. It is a well known fact that every government regime has its own mandate and strategies and keeping DC memebers in senior government vacancies is not an option because no change will ever happen in the country senior vacancies are political vacancies that expire when the party loose votes. My fellow country man Mju stop being indenial and face the facts Tom Thabane ke ena a busang and ABC is the majority holder of seats in the coalition government while LCD and BNP are just subsidiaries of the government and i wont be surprised when DC loose all its seats except the Qacha constituancies in 2017 because of their arrogance and incompetence in opposition politics, they were quite sure that they already won the elections and their so-called mastermind and leader did not evin convince the voters why they should vote for his party and what will his government do for the people, the only reason the party got those seats is because they hijacked the LCD government of which most rural people liked and thought their leader was the mastermind in all LCD strategies and now that they are out of government for good DC will just end like BNP and BCP which were the political heavyweights in past politics so Mju tloha ka pitseng otla cha and otle letsatsing leo chabele, sefapano sa molimo ABC ke eona e busang and etlo busa for more and more decades to come because evin after it got into power it presented strategies and changes that they will introduce and fight corruption which we saw happening when some civil workers were released from their duties because of improper academic cridentials and that my brother it ripped huge number of supporters from the DC and they wisely crossed to their future of which is ABC.
LAAAACHAAAABAAAA!!!! TOALAAAA!!!
Comment by Makoetje on 21 November 2012:
Taxpayer, Mahaletere is not a taxpayer joale o cha a tshola eng tabeng tsa taxpayers? Welcome to the taxpayers club Halti u mpa u ‘makatsa ka ho lla u so kene ka hara club. Is it because u tseba hore na tax e ea rona e jeoa joang le hona ka lonya? Nevermind Halti this tym around etlo jeoa effectively for the benefit of every taxpayer in Lso. Ke u khothaletsa ho khafa u nto una litholoana tsa ho khafa eseng ho ipokella/ikoalla ka likhafa tsa Basotho tje ka lequloana le la Dicenyi (DC). Hopola borena hore ‘muso ke o mocha oa liphetoho ka hoo le boemeli machabeng etlaba bo bocha bo labalabelang CHANGE indeed. Take an advice bru, fetoha le oena u kheme le linako, move away from collision join coalition!
Comment by Nkosazana Zuma on 21 November 2012:
@Oa Ribaneng, tlohelang hore hloliea ka mabitso a batho mona. Aku ngole la hau lebitso le uena u ke u bue bobe boo u leng bona mosebetsing oa hau ‘me le uena u ikopele hore macoalition a o tebele mosebetsing. Ke molaong ofe Lesotho moo moo Director eleng political post? Le sa tla re tena basotho ka mona ona oa lona o laoloang ke lehloeo la lona basotho ba senang kelello. Hana ha u batla hore banna le basali ba bang ba tebeloe mosebetsing, u tla phelisa bana ba bona uena u le tjee?
Hee lea tena batho ba lipolotiki tsa manasi, le bonahala le ntse le tla le hulana ka mekhoa eane ea lona e mebe ea puso ea Leabua ea hore bana ba basotho ba tebeloe mesebetsing ho sale lona babolai. Tlohang mona. Ha le hloeane mesebetsing ea lona le nahana hore le tla bapalla pusong ena ea kopanelo. Batho ba tla tebeloa mohla ho busang lona le le bang manasi, kaha le nahana hore naha ena ea Lesotho kea lona le le bang ka likelello tse fofotsang.