(MENAFN- The Post)
THE Alliance of Democrats (AD) boss, Professor Ntoi Rapapa, says party founder Monyane Moleleki is not part of leaders who are plotting to topple the government.
Rapapa told a press conference in Maseru on Monday that Moleleki“cannot plot to topple a government he is part of”.
He vehemently rejected charges that his former boss was at the centre of the plot to oust Prime Minister Sam Matekane when parliament reopens this month after the winter break.
Rapapa said all the party's MPs voted with the government during the recent vote in parliament which was a clear indication that they are all behind the Matekane-led government.
The AD, which is in a coalition government with Matekane's Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) and Selibe Mochoboroane's Movement for Economic Change (MEC), has four MPs in parliament.
They are Rapapa, Moleleki, Mokoto Hloaele, and 'Maboiketlo Maliehe.
Moleleki, he said, was not available in parliament to vote because he had attended his sister's funeral in South Africa“otherwise he would have voted with us to show that he supports the government”.
The press conference was called as the AD scrambled to bat off allegations that Moleleki was part of a group of MPs who met at his home in Qoatsaneng in Maseru to plot Matekane's ouster.
The RFP's Thaba Moea MP, Puseletso Lejone, told the media last week that Moleleki recently hosted the plotters at his home.
He claimed that he was offered a M2.2 million bribe and a ministerial position to back the plot.
Lejone said Moleleki told him that he should imitate his example as he was loyal to the Democratic Congress (DC) founder Pakalitha Mosisili but the need arose, he sought to topple him in parliament in 2015.
Contacted for comment, Moleleki told thepost last week that“I don't want to comment on these issues at all. I am unavailable for comment”.
This week Rapapa was fighting in Moleleki's corner saying it defies logic that the AD MPs would want“to overturn the car they are travelling in”.
“The AD supports the ruling government together with the Movement for Economic Change (MEC),” Rapapa said.
“Imagine if we connived with other parties and destroyed the government. Would Basotho ever trust us?” he said.
He said those who think Moleleki voted with the opposition in parliament are wrong because he was simply not present during the vote.
Speaking at the same conference, the AD secretary general Tieho 'Mamasiane said the government is still intact and there should be no panic.
He said apart from its own coalition MPs, it is supported by Hope, United for Change (UFC), the LCD, and the Lesotho People's Congress (LPC).
The UFC's only MP, Mohlominyane Tota, has openly defied his party's instruction to always vote with the government in parliament, bluntly saying he will not toe the party line but would be guided by his conscience.
Hope has one MP, the LCD three, while the LPC has one.
The RFP has 57 MPs, while MEC and the AD have four each.
This puts the government at 70 MPs out of a total of 120.
However, Lejone said when he was being touted to dump Matekane he was given an impression that there was a total of 60 MPs who were supporting the bid to topple the government and that his vote would be the deciding one.
Alice Samuel
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