Africa-Press – Lesotho. DEMOCRATIC Congress (DC) leader Mathibeli Mokhothu has accused soldiers who were offered to guard him of spying on him. Mokhothu told a rally in Hololo constituency in Butha-Buthe on Sunday that the government had given him “spies instead of bodyguards”.
The bodyguards were present at the rally when he made the startling accusation. The statement came hardly a week after army Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela controversially withdrew the bodyguards from him.
They were reinstated last week on Monday after the DC leadership held talks with the commander. Both the party and the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) have not revealed why the guards were withdrawn and declined to divulge any issues discussed during their talks.
Mokhothu, as the official leader of opposition in parliament, is entitled to security provided by the army, a salary and other privileges equal to a cabinet minister’s.
He said the army has to guard him and not spy on him. “They should not investigate who I meet; they must only protect me,” Mokhothu said. He added that he could live without the army security “because God protects me”.
“I do not like that the guards next to me have turned into spies. They are not anyone’s dog,” he said. “They can take their (soldiers), I do not care. I am guarded by the Most High. ” Mokhothu said he did not need the army’s protection as he would still “sleep soundly at night without them”.
He accused the government of seeking succour from the security agencies that threatened the opposition after it sought to pass a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Sam Matekane in parliament.
Mokhothu also berated the courts for delaying to hear a case that challenged the no-confidence motion against Matekane. He said the High Court had delayed the matter to allow Matekane to source support from opposition MPs to thwart the no-confidence motion.
While the case was pending, Matekane went on a charm offensive when he successfully persuaded Professor Nqosa Mahao’s Basotho Action Party (BAP) to join the coalition government.
Mahao was at one time a vociferous opponent of the government led by Matekane. Mokhothu said the moves by the government to delay the motion “will only delay the government’s ouster”.
He said the current government that is fighting him is “dominated by very old people, some of whom are 23 years older than me”. Matekane and Professor Mahao are 19 years older than Mokhothu while Mothetjoa Metsing, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) leader, is 10 years older than him.
The Alliance of Democrats (AD) leader Professor Ntoi Rapapa is nine years older than Mokhothu while the Movement for Economic Change (MEC) leader, Selibe Mochoboroane, is only a year older.
He said even the security agencies bosses who are fighting him are also older than him. Mokhothu is 45-years-old. “They will not stop me from governing this country.
They can only delay me,” he said. “I do not care if they are security agencies bosses, but they are old and on their way to the grave. ” He vowed to win the 2027 general elections against the RFP-led government, in light of how the DC has performed in the local government polls this year.
Mokhothu said security agencies will not be able to save Matekane’s government come the 2027 general elections. He said he remains unmoved by the threats from the army as he is “the last person on earth to fear men in uniform”.
“The government has turned the security agencies into their property,” he said.
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