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Mohloai Mpesi
NEWLY elected All Basotho Convention (ABC) secretary general, Thebe Mokoatle, is confident that the party’s newly elected executive committee (NEC) is fit for purpose and will catapult the party to victory at the next general elections in 2027.
According to Mr Mokoatle, the ABC’s elective indaba held at Leqele High School in Maseru almost a fortnight ago, produced the best combination of a team that “can and will withstand all the challenges…… the party has undergone in the past”. Mr Mokoatle also believes Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s government is failing and will pay a heavy political price at the next polls.
Mr Mokoatle met up with Lesotho Times (LT) political reporter, Mohloai Mpesi, to unpack the new NEC’s strategy to regain the sparkle of its glory days.
Excerpts:
LT: Please tell us about yourself. Who is Thebe Mokoatle?
Mokoatle: A man who hails from Quthing and studied economics. I worked for many years at the Lesotho Revenue Authority (now Revenue Services Lesotho). There I traversed almost every department of the LRA, so much that I was regarded as one of few LRA employees who knew the ins and outs of that organization. It was through that journey that in 2013, when I was working in the Department of Research and Strategic Planning, I was voted employee of the year, for going the extra mile.
LT: What about your political background.
Mokoatle: I Joined active politics in 2006 when the ABC was formed. I had a peculiar reason for joining active politics. I realized that our country, Lesotho, was like moving backwards while other countries were moving forward. It was then that I discovered that the main challenges Lesotho faced, could only be addressed at the topmost leadership- the political leadership.
We can’t change this country unless we get our politics right. If you want to destroy a nation, weaken democracy and administrative capacity within its political parties. Getting our politics right is through participating in them. No nation will prosper unless some of its citizens give up their luxuries, their comfort and their peace, for the good of the whole nation. I could not watch and wait for others to join politics for me – I had to do it myself.
Then on joining active politics I decided to join the ABC. I joined just to give my little support to democracy and strengthening our political system. I never expected that I could be considered for any leadership position. But it didn’t take long before the ABC youth elected me to the youth structures. In 2008 I was elected to the National Youth Committee, as secretary for recordings or secretary for deliberations. In 2010 I was again elected by the youth conference, with more than 90 percent of votes counted, voting me to be the secretary for the national youth committee. That position I held until 2012 when my term expired.
Then in 2014 I was elected for a five-year term as the ABC NEC’s secretary of recordings.
I was also deployed by the then Prime Minister Tom Thabane, as Principal Secretary of the Government of Lesotho in 2017, serving in the Ministries of Trade and Industry, The Ministry of Forestry, and the Ministry of Health.
In 2021, former Prime Minister Dr. Moeketsi Majoro, assigned me the role of the Public Sector Performance Evaluator. I held the position until 2022 when I resigned to contest national elections.
LT: You have now been elevated to the post of secretary general of the ABC. How do you feel about this new responsibility?
Mokoatle: It’s a great honour that ABC members entrusted me with holding such a critical position. It is a position in which if I succeed in executing my duties, will be of immense contribution to the growth of the party, the development of our democracy and our nation. Above all, I know very well that the most important and equally difficult part, is not just being elected to this kind of position of power. But it is more about what I do in that position after being elected. My greatest joy will come at the end of my term when I look back and realise that I have indeed achieved positive results for ABC members who have invested their trust in me.
LT: You have been an ABC mainstay, one of a few people who have the party’s history written in their hearts. Looking back, what really went wrong with the party for it to perform so badly in the last general elections?
Mokoatle: ABC has always been the party of the people who want to be listened to by the leadership. They want to play an active role in the affairs of their leadership. These are people who want true leadership and demand the best from their leadership. When you lead such people, you always must be on your toes, and be conscious to their changing trends and tastes. That way, as the leadership, you can adjust to their needs day-in and day-out.
During the second part of the 2017-2022 coalition administration that was led by our party, we may have failed to realize the changing demands of our followers. That time was also mostly the time of lockdowns that could not permit us to hold conferences. Such suspension of conferences could have also contributed to denying us the opportunity to realize that our supporters had become more and more uncomfortable. They were silently drifting away.
Secondly, our conflict management structures were weak. We faced some (internal) conflicts that proved too heavy for our conflict management structures to handle, and this affected us.
LT: Do you think your party has strong conflict management and resolution mechanisms now?
Mokoatle: That was an area we were weak at some point, and danger got through that door. But we have since sealed that door. We are deploying the best of the best to deal with such challenges.
LT: What is your strategy to rebuild the party in terms of structures? Functional branch, constituency and district committees are any political party’s pillars. Remember, while ABC was deemed a big party due to the numbers it garnered at previous polls, there was always that belief, that sympathy vote contributed to its success. How do you rebuild the ABC in such a way that with or without swing or sympathy votes, it becomes strong?
Mokoatle: To better coordinate the structures of the party, with open dialogue between the main party, the women’s league, and the youth league (will help achieve that). By also harnessing technology to strengthen our administration and improve communication with the lower structures of the party. It’s also important to strengthen feedback channels as a means to reconnect with the voters.
We have just also amended our constitution thoroughly, so much that our constitution has changed by about 60%. These are changes intended to decentralize power to the lower structures who have direct contact with the voters; and make them respond to the demands of the voters.
With the constitutional amendments, we have also managed to create clear roles and power boundaries between committees and their members.
We are also going to train our structures on administration, leadership, and conflict management.
On top of that, we have strengthened our conflict management committees to give them more power to intervene where conflict arises. We are now taking care of recruiting the best people for the conflict management committees. Our conflict management team should be staffed with capable people who command respect in the party and can address conflicts.
We are now going to engage in research to establish who and how many voters we can expect to recruit. We must know where to find these voters, and what their concerns are.
With this, we shall be able to know about voter perceptions and how to best address their concerns, employing our policies as solutions to public concerns. We will use a communication strategy that is best suited to reach our target voters.
We are developing a code of conduct that will be a guiding tool on how people who are chosen to lead at any level or area in the party, are expected to adhere to. The code of conduct will also prescribe specific measures to be taken where people are found to be in breach.
Such a code of conduct will even include what is expected from our members when they are deployed to government, and how to deal with officials who err in their running of public offices.
We are also going to partner with NGOs, civic groups, academics, and citizens to organize forums to discuss legislative reforms that are of importance to Basotho and the nation.
Lastly, we are already starting to develop the ABC’s Five-Year Strategic Plan, which will be the guiding document on the journey to rebuilding the party. Later this year we shall convene a national policy conference to adopt the strategic plan.
LT: What are those things that your predecessor (former SG Hlaele) could have overlooked, that you intend to fix, to help remedy the party’s problems?
Mokoatle: Ntate Hlaele was a staunch administrator who has vast experience gathered locally and abroad. I think he was just unlucky to get into office when ABC conflicts were at their peak. He had no control over most of the challenges he was facing. As a party, we had weak conflict management and resolution mechanisms. Our constitution has since addressed that by empowering the conflict management structures. I get into office at a time when I can benefit from the new conflict management structures. We have learnt from our past and have come up with remedies for such situations.
I will also benefit by making use of research reports that track fast changing attitudes and public tastes, which demand our party to be more agile.
LT: Founding ABC leader, Thomas Thabane, was deemed bigger than the brand ABC itself. Hence, it was a given that ABC would probably lose membership and go on a downward spiral in his absence. In fact, that has been the fate of Lesotho’s political parties since their founders are intricately entwined with them. Are you sure that you can restore the ABC’s glory to the level of the Thabane era?
Mokoatle: ABC voters have always been people whose tastes and preferences change very fast. Thus, they demand the leadership to be very agile. They constantly want change, and you move with the changes, or you will be changed (u tlisa phetoho kapa u tla fetoloa).
In the history of Lesotho’s politics, it is only the ABC that has always changed at least 90 percent of its NEC members at each election. We are a party of change, and when you are in its leadership you must constantly know what direction, the members want you to move. And you must be fast enough to move ahead in that direction.
To answer your question, studies are showing that in recent years, Basotho are slowly following international trends in moving towards looking at political parties as institutions rather than looking at the parties (as being) synonymous with their founders. With the changes that we are already employing in the ABC, it will come out a great party founded on institutional principles, to move Lesotho out of poverty.
LT: Do you think ABC’s policies (manifestos) have provided answers to Basotho’s problems and the entire country?
Mokoatle: Despite facing challenges such as explosive power wrangles while we were in government, the ABC managed to deliver developments that are still unmatched by the current government. Our achievements in attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals were remarkable. Our manifesto, which was renewed in 2022 towards National Elections, is still relevant to address the needs of our people.
LT: When you look at the new ABC NEC as a collective, do you see people who were elected to lead the party because they deserve to be in the NEC? Or are they just individuals who made it because they’ve been there?
Mokoatle: This is the fourth elected NEC of the ABC since the first was elected at Mazenod in 2008. This is the youngest NEC. Despite being the youngest, it is a combination of people who have served the longest in the ABC. This is the team that persevered through problems that rocked the party over the years. They got sharpened and are now at their best.
The ABC elective conference carefully selected the best combination, building this team not from one slate, but from different slates. Members had made up their minds that this time they are electing quality, not slates. This is the first combination of pure quality.
LT: The Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) won the polls and formed a coalition government with six other parties. Do you think the current government is delivering as per Basotho’s expectations?
Mokoatle: They are doing the opposite of everything they promised. They have completely lost touch with the masses who voted for them. Under their leadership our country is going through the darkest hour, and they have placed an iron curtain between themselves and the people. And their members could do a lot to advise them to make things right, but they aren’t. They have a highly experienced and skilled support base; but they are not utilizing it. This, they will regret.
