You were cheated, says Mokhothu

MASERU – DEMOCRATIC Congress (DC) leader Mathibeli Mokhothu last weekend said the Sam Matekane-led government had dismally failed to fulfil its electoral promises to Basotho.
Mokhothu was speaking at a rally in Mechachane constituency on Sunday.

He thanked his supporters for overwhelmingly voting for the DC in the constituency in last October’s general election.

“I hope you will show the same unity during the forthcoming local government elections,” Mokhothu said.

He said four months after voting for Matekane’s Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) it was now slowly dawning on Basotho that they had been hoodwinked.

“Basotho have seen that the rich men are playing with them,” he said.

Mokhothu and other opposition parties have been sarcastically referring to Matekane and his RFP as “the rich men’s government”, a barb that is meant to show that they are detached from the masses.

He said four months after Matekane was elected Prime Minister, the government was still to make any tangible progress on fundamental issues that affect Basotho.

They are slowly realising that running government is no child’s play, he said.
Mokhothu said the government is struggling to pass and complete the national reforms.

“They have had three months without doing anything,” he said.

He predicted that a new government will soon be in place to pass the reforms as Matekane had failed.

Mokhothu thanked the people of Mechachane for voting for the DC. Lekunya Jane of the DC won the constituency last October.

The DC leader lambasted the RFP government for watching helplessly while people died in hospitals.

He said as the official opposition, the DC will do its work as it is the government-in-waiting.

Mokhothu also attacked the government’s decision to dismiss 200 workers from the Ministry of Tourism.

“We will condemn that because the government should not discriminate against Basotho just because they are not part of their party,” Mokhothu said.

The government says the workers were hired without following the correct procedures when the DC was in power.

He also criticised the government’s decision to fire Principal Secretaries two weeks ago.

Mokhothu said the government had also failed to fix the crisis in the Ministry of Health that had seen it fail to pay nurses.

Staff at Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital have been struggling to get their salaries on time for months.

Mokhothu accused the government of failing to protect Basotho against their neighbours at the borders.

He said the government should stop moaning about money issues because when they were campaigning they claimed they would use their own money to fix Lesotho’s problems.

“They should build roads and schools. They should employ the youths and give chiefs proper salaries,” he said.

Mokhothu also lashed out at the government for failing to fulfil its 100-days action plan.

“No one forced them to talk about that,” he said.

He said Matekane’s government had presented the worst budget ever in the history of Lesotho.

He said he believes that his DC supporters had “now healed” following their loss in the general elections last year.

It was therefore now time to campaign for the party to win the upcoming local government elections scheduled for later this year.

Nkheli Liphoto