ABC fight spills into Majoro’s office

MASERU – THE squabbles rocking the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have spilt into Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro’s office. thepost can reveal that two senior officials who belong to rival factions are locked in a nasty turf war that could cripple the office’s operations.

At loggerheads are Kabelo Lehora, the cabinet’s principal secretary, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Likopo Mahase. Lehora belongs to a faction led by ABC leader, Nkaku Kabi, while Mahase is aligned with Majoro. Accusations have been flying back and forth between the two.

Lehora accuses Mahase of using his position to fight political battles and pushing to get him fired because he is no longer in Majoro’s faction.

Mahase, in turn, accuses Lehora of bringing party politics into the office and being insubordinate. He is alleged to have intimated to his close allies that Lehora is being used by Kabi to sabotage Majoro.

Sources say the two have clashed on who should be in charge of the office’s operations and the office’s vehicles. This week, Lehora withdrew a vehicle that the transport department had allocated to Mahase.

He said Mahase is only entitled to two vehicles and not the three he is using. Mahase, who already has a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Toyota Fortuner, was recently allocated a Toyota Hilux which Mahase said he was withdrawing with immediate effect.

“The Honourable Minister will remain with which he is entitled to as gazetted,” Lehora said in a memo yesterday.

The memo is copied to the Government Secretary, Cabinet PS for Administration and Mahase’s private secretary. In another memo on the same day, Lehora reminds officials that he is the only one responsible for the allocation of vehicles in the Prime Minister’s office.

He said instructions on the allocation of vehicles should only come from him, the government secretary, the prime minister, the political advisers to the prime minister and deputy prime minister, the prime minister’s private secretary, the deputy principal secretary and the chief executive of the Disaster Management Authority.

The memo doesn’t mention Mahase. Lehora threatened to institute disciplinary action against anyone who refuses to follow his instructions.

thepost understands that the fights started after Lehora switched his allegiance from Majoro to Kabi soon after the ABC’s elective conference in January. Lehora openly supported Majoro in the run-up to the conference. He however switched to Kabi after he won the ABC leadership.

Sources said the fights intensified after Mahase started making moves to contest in Khubetsoana constituency in the upcoming election. Lehora is already transferring his voter registration from Mokhotlong to Khubetsoana.

Last night, Lehora said he was disturbed that his internal memos had been leaked. He however confirmed that there is bad blood between him and the minister.

“I know that the minister is at war with me. I don’t know whether the issue is administrative or political,” Lehora said.

“The minister is giving me problems every time. I have blocked any contact with him. I don’t attend his meetings and he doesn’t attend mine. I have also told his private secretary that I don’t want to see him in my office.”

Lehora said “the situation is so bad that the only solution is for one of us to be transferred to another office”.

“We just cannot work together. Things are that bad,” Lehora said.

Mahase said he was reluctant to comment about his office.

“All I can say is that I am the minister and the principal secretary has to do what I tell him,” Mahase said.

Staff Reporter