Africa-Press – Lesotho. THEY took his money but blocked him when he wanted to be one of the party’s candidates in the elections. That is the story of Zhenyu Shao, a Mosotho of Chinese descent who has shocked many by declaring that he will be contesting in Ha-Tsolo as an independent candidate.
Had it not been for the Movement for Economic Change (MEC) fear of a backlash, Shao would have been its candidate. After all, he had been one of their main funders of the party for years.
The party embraced Shao and received his donations until he recently announced that he wanted to contest in Ha-Tsolo. Last week Shao, 46, threw his hat into the ring to stand in the October 7 elections.
If he wins, Shao will be the first Mosotho of Chinese descent to be an MP in Lesotho. Shao told thepost last night that he will contest as an independent candidate because his newly-formed party, Basotho Pele, is not yet registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Basotho Pele, which began as a self-help association, transformed into a political party after the MEC blocked Shao’s candidacy. A video of Shao in MEC regalia started trending on social media last week.
He was singing political songs while waving a stick. A few days later there was a campaign poster of Shao under Basotho Pele. The MEC had blocked his ambition but Shao, a businessman, was not about to give up.
Speaking from Johannesburg last night where he said he was printing his campaign T-shirts, Shao said the MEC rejected him. “They rejected me. They said they will lose votes in many constituencies if they allow me to be a candidate but now they are going to lose more votes,” Shao said.
Shao said he is not worried because the people of Ha-Tsolo support him. “Everyone is looking for me,” he said, adding that he is “100 percent sure that is doing right thing”.
“I want the people to judge. If they want me they will vote for me. If they don’t want me they will not vote for me. It’s simple,” he said last night.
Born in China’s Shanghai, Shao said he has been in Lesotho for the past 25 years. When Shao defected to Basotho Pele, some MEC constituency committee members followed.
Some of those who left with him said the MEC brought them “two Chinese businessmen but now they are asked to turn their backs on them”. “The MEC wants us to turn against those Chinese,” said one former MEC supporter.
Basotho Pele’s secretary general in Ha-Tsolo constituency, Rorisang Litšiba, said “Shao has been helping this community a lot,” Litšiba said. Litšiba said Shao had already printed MEC T-shirts when the party rejected him.
Litšiba said Shao even assisted them with bus fare to attend the MEC rallies. “We even ate at the rallies,” Litšiba said. “Maybe in the coming years, we will contest for the elections in other constituencies,” said Lebohang Moeletsi, another former MEC member, who claims to be the Basotho Pele’s adviser.
He said they were introduced to Shao by the MEC’s secretary general, Napo Moshoeshoe, who even gave Shao the party’s membership card. “We accepted him with open arms,” Moeletsi said.
Moeletsi said Shao went on to help them. He said before accepting Shao into the party they asked for his national ID, passport, and registration cards.
“He has all of them and he even voted in previous elections. He is a Mosotho,” Moeletsi argued. He said all hell broke loose when the constituency decided to make Shao their candidate for the coming general elections.
Then they were called to a meeting with Moshoeshoe and MEC’s spokesman “who asked us to look elsewhere as the MEC would not allow Shao to represent it”.
Moeletsi said in that meeting the MEC said they would rather plan to give Shao a diplomatic post instead of having him in parliament. “We made it clear that wherever Shao goes, we will follow him as he has helped our constituency with many things,” Moeletsi said.
“He has been sponsoring sports and helping with egg incubators for the unemployed,” The MEC deputy leader, Tšepang Tšita-Mosena, said she has seen the MEC card belonging to Shao on social media. Tšita-Mosena said they are still conducting primary elections at the branches’ level and they are waiting for a report from the constituencies.
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