Majoro must salvage ABC

ELSEWHERE in this issue we carry a story of the massive defections that are rocking the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party. The defections are taking place countrywide and could leave the ABC severely weakened. The majority of defectors are said to be joining Professor Nqosa Mahao’s newly minted Basotho Action Party (BAP) with others said to be crossing to the Democratic Congress (DC) party. Based on what is happening on the ground, it is becoming clear that Mahao’s three-week old party could pose the biggest threat to the ABC’s grip on power. The party will certainly knock off a huge chunk of the ABC’s power base. As reported in this issue, a numbers of MPs, councilors and ordinary supporters who had been sitting on the fence to see where the ball falls, are now joining the BAP in droves. It is the defection of the councilors and supporters that perhaps captures the mood on the ground in the ABC. They are clearly incensed with what has been happening in their party and want out, pronto. Their biggest gripe is that Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro was handing over control of the party to former premier Thomas Thabane and his deeply unpopular and belligerent wife ’Maesaiah. Most of these supporters have maintained their visceral hatred of the former first lady who they view as uncouth. Majoro, who is now the ABC deputy leader, might have clearly miscalculated and mis-read the mood on the ground when he connived with Thabane to push for Mahao’s ouster from the party. He must now deal with the consequences of this fall-out. In fact, the fresh crisis gripping the ABC will push Majoro’s powers of persuasion to the limit and his detractors would want to see if he can keep the ABC and the coalition government intact. It is clear that Majoro faces a herculean task. Majoro will square off against Mahao, an eloquent and charismatic law professor, who though remains untested in the cut-throat world of national politics. What is also clear is that Mahao’s exit from the ABC three weeks ago did not resolve the internal squabbles that have bedevilled the party for years. Instead, what the exit did was perhaps quicken the disintegration of a party that had dismally failed to manage its internal dynamics on the succession issue. Here was a man who had won the party’s internal elections but was never allowed to take over the reins because he was perceived as an outsider who was in haste to seize power. In our humble opinion, Thabane’s refusal to accept Mahao’s ascension to power two years ago will be his undoing. The deal that he cobbled with Majoro last month might now come back to haunt the ABC. The defections we are now seeing are in fact a rebellion against Thabane and the former first lady and all that they stand for. There is still a strong feeling within the ABC that while Thabane might have packed his bags for Makhoakhoeng, he retains a huge influence on what happens at State House and in government. They believe that ’Maesaiah is still pulling the strings behind the scenes. This is what has infuriated the party’s power base. Majoro must now find a way to extricate himself from the Thabanes if he is to salvage what remains of the ABC. Any other route would be politically suicidal. If he continues to flirt with the Thabanes, Majoro would be euthanising himself politically.