Our problems are basically economic

THE defection of three MPs from the Alliance of Democrats (AD) to join the newly formed Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party is a big personal blow to Monyane Moleleki.
While the party was never going to win the elections outright given its performance in the last elections, it was likely to be a kingmaker in Lesotho’s treacherous coalition politics after the October general elections.

The latest defections could deal a big blow to those ambitions as well as Moleleki’s quest to wrest political power after the elections.
The resignation by secretary general Mahali Phamotse must have been extremely hard for Moleleki to take. She has always been seen as a level headed technocrat who was close to Moleleki.

The intellectual gravitas she brought to the AD is now gone.
While the AD has sought to downplay the impact of these resignations, we are sure privately, the party leadership is hurting. We know that rejection is never easy to accept.

It is clear that the AD is now facing perhaps its biggest existential threat since its formation six years ago. Moleleki’s challenge is to keep the AD afloat amid rumours that some of his trusted lieutenants are also mulling jumping ship.

The AD’s deputy leader, Professor Ntoi Rapapa, has dismissed these rumours as the work of detractors who are bent on sowing confusion.
What has happened to the AD could as well happen to any other political party in Lesotho, in part largely due to the huge appeal of Sam Matekane’s political project. More parties are likely to be hit by similar waves of resignations as we head towards the October elections.

The reasons are clear: Matekane is a crowd favourite and is likely to pull in the crowds based solely on his charm and charisma as a successful businessman. They see Matekane as some kind of political messiah who will bring his charisma in business onto the political arena.

But while Matekane and his group might see these defections as a major coup for their three-week old party, there is need for caution. They must be wary that they do not allow the same old, tired faces to occupy positions of leadership in the RFP.

One of Matekane’s biggest assets is that he is not tainted by the toxic politics that have so often held back progress in Lesotho.
In a similar vein the people are crying out for a new set of leaders who are not contaminated by the politics of the past.
Matekane will need to properly vet these MPs to ensure he prunes any political chancers.

The danger with mass recruitment of the nature we have seen so far is that it runs the risk of assembling a rotten team of chancers who see the job of being an MP as a vehicle for accumulation.
Such individuals must not be allowed a free rein on the basis that they were the first to endorse Matekane. Some of them are chancers and must be seen for what they are.

What Lesotho needs is a new breed of politician who can provide fresh ideas to take this country forward. We are not shorn of talent in that regard.
Lesotho’s problems are fundamentally economic. Once we get the economy firing on all cylinders, we would have solved 90 percent of all our problems.

Any leader who wins power in October must provide a workable template of how he plans to build Lesotho’s economy so that it becomes resilient and diversified.
Any politician who fails to produce such a template must be punished by denying him our vote when we enter the voting booths in October.