Africa-Press – Lesotho. Movement for Economic Change (MEC) leader, Selibe Mochoboroane, says he is not afraid to go to jail over the “trumped up” charges of treason. He told party supporters at a rally in Mechechane in Butha-Buthe last Sunday that there were people who were out to get him jailed.
Mochoboroane said he remains unshaken by the threats. “They are just politicking,” he said. “It’s a political game and I will play it. ” Two weeks ago, Mochoboroane and Mothetjoa Metsing, who leads the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party, lost a court case in which they sought to block the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) from charging them with treason.
The Court of Appeal ruled that “Clause 10” of an agreement signed by political parties and SADC that they should not be charged until after the national reforms are completed was unconstitutional. The DPP is now expected to charge them with treason.
Mochoboroane, Metsing and former Lesotho army commander Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli, who has been languishing in jail since 2017, are accused of plotting to topple the then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.
A defiant Mochoboroane however told his party supporters that the prosecution was political. “I am not scared of being taken to jail,” Mochoboroane said.
He said he will not skip the country like the late Ntsu Mokhehle did in the 1970s when the then BNP government threatened him. “Some people who have decided to arrest me should do so and jail me in Lesotho,” he said.
“They will always find me here.
” He said his followers should not panic because “this is how politics are played”.
“I am a politician in Lesotho and I will play politics in Lesotho,” he said. Mochoboroane said the MEC will never stop telling the truth and playing its watchdog role where things are not right.
He cited what he called the scandalous seizure of Lesotho’s assets abroad, saying these are some of the things the party will continue fighting irrespective of whether its leadership is imprisoned or not.
He said Frazer Solar company’s deal with the government did not make any business sense and the contract’s stipulation that disputes will be resolved in South African courts was stupid.
Lesotho is a sovereign state with its own courts for dispute resolution or arbitration. “It does not make sense that the seizure of Lesotho’s assets was made by a South African court,” he said.
“These things happen when people who do not care about this country get in power,” he said. He called on the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) to investigate the issue and find out what happened.
“People are only interested in arresting and jailing me instead of the real criminals out there.”
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