{"id":32015,"date":"2023-07-31T09:48:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T09:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause"},"modified":"2023-07-31T10:07:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T10:07:30","slug":"mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause","title":{"rendered":"Mahali: a rebel with a cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>In 2015 Mahali Phamotse lost the Democratic Congress (DC)\u2019s primary election for Matlakeng to seasoned politician Mothobi Nkhahle. Phamotse rejected the result and accused Nkhahle of rigging.<\/p>\n

Her supporters thronged the DC offices in Maseru in a protest to demand a re-run. The party obliged but an incident that night would change Phamotse\u2019s political career forever.<\/p>\n

Nkhahle was viciously assaulted and left for dead in a village in Matlakeng. Although he would defeat Phamotse with one vote in the re-run, Nkhahle could not recover quick enough for the general election campaign.<\/p>\n

The DC asked Phamotse to replace him as the Matlakeng candidate. Phamotse lost to an All Basotho Convention (ABC) candidate but made it to parliament through proportional representation and became the Minister of Education and Training.<\/p>\n

She was thrilled but would have preferred a less controversial route to both parliament and cabinet. The rumour that she had organised the attack on Nkhahle persisted despite the lack of evidence and her strenuous denial.<\/p>\n

Not that her protest of innocence and the absence of evidence would have changed the storyline her enemies were aggressively flogging as her political career shimmered.<\/p>\n

Phamotse was battling a vile political system that thrives on character assassination and conspiracy theories. The coincidental chain of events made for a perfect template for a plausible conspiracy in which Phamotse had the motive to organise a hit on Nkhahle.<\/p>\n

She had lost a primary and rejected the result. Nkhahle had been attacked on the same day Phamotse and another candidate had staged a protest that forced the party to order a fresh election.<\/p>\n

Phamotse\u2019s political career appeared to have taken off because of the health complications Nkhahle suffered after the beating which forced him to pull out of the race.<\/p>\n

She replaced him as the DC candidate, made it to parliament and became a minister. Her enemies and rumour-mongers had therefore seized on what looked, sounded and smelt like a perfect crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had absolutely nothing to do with that man\u2019s attack but it remains a stain on my reputation as a politician,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That reputation depends on who you talk to. Some describe her as a rabble-rouser always spoiling for trouble. Others say she is an irrepressibly independent woman who will not walk away from a brawl.<\/p>\n

The bellicose reserve some of the most foul-tasting adjectives for her. The annoyed refer to her as \u201cthat woman\u201d. Phamotse says she has become accustomed to being blamed for things she neither instigated nor did.<\/p>\n

At times she is singled out for doing exactly what other politicians have done. For instance, she was not the first politician to challenge the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP)\u2019s decision to block some politicians who won primaries from representing the party in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

She says she had initially accepted the party\u2019s decision but had a change of heart after some candidates in a similar situation won their court case. Although 20 candidates eventually won their court case against the RFP, Phamotse has emerged as the poster girl of that rebellion against the leadership.<\/p>\n

The narrative is that she is still leading the group of rebellious MPs who still pose an existential threat to Sam Matekane\u2019s government. Her victory celebration in Matlakeng was viewed through the same lenses by those who accused her of inviting opposition leaders as part of the plot to topple the government.<\/p>\n

Never mind that she was not the first RFP MP to invite opposition leaders to her celebration. \u201cI am just an easy target for people who see shadows everywhere,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

With time, Phamotse has learned to accept that this is a dubious reputation she cannot change. She doesn\u2019t have to embrace it but just acknowledge that this is what some people think of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is. It\u2019s the nature of our politics. I just have to continue being true to my values. \u201d Born in Ha Shepheseli in 1969, Phamotse\u2019s childhood was one long struggle with abject poverty and witnessed political brutality at its worst.<\/p>\n

She had barely uttered her first words when her mother took her and two siblings to live with their maternal grandmother in Mokhotlong. She says life with her mother was bliss but they would occasionally \u201csee people coming into the house with ghastly injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those were the dark days of Lesotho\u2019s politics when Leabua Jonathan\u2019s government had unleashed a reign of terror against the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) politicians and all those suspected of supporting them.<\/p>\n

Most of those who ended up being nursed in her village or in her grandmother\u2019s house were members of the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA), a ragtag militia of the BCP, injured in skirmishes with Jonathan\u2019s ruthless army.<\/p>\n

Phamotse and her siblings would sometimes visit their mother who was now working at Sani Hotel where their maternal grandfather was a manager. There, they lived through a different kind of political violence.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s apartheid government, which was at its most vicious, was pursuing ANC freedom fighters who fled to Lesotho. Sounds of gunshots would ring in the night.<\/p>\n

And the next morning they would hear adults whisper about the \u201cfreedom fighters\u201d caught, injured or killed. Sometimes South African soldiers would ransack the hotel looking for \u201cfreedom fighters\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the war escalated, Phamotse knew the drill by heart. Don\u2019t take off your clothes and shoes when you sleep. When trouble starts, wake your brother and sister, and head for the mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would hide in the cold mountains for hours as soldiers searched for freedom fighters. We could hear gunshots and screams of pain. \u201d Their grandmother died when Phamotse was about six and they had to move back to Leribe to live with their uncle.<\/p>\n

Phamotse and her siblings were moving from a life of decent meals and scrumptious hotel food to join a wretchedly poor family of eight other children.<\/p>\n

Their father, who held a diploma in agriculture, was now working in the mines in South Africa after being fired from the government for being a BCP supporter.<\/p>\n

Years earlier, their father\u2019s diploma was destroyed when his house was torched by Lebotho La Khotso, a pitiless BNP paramilitary gang that terrorised villages across the country.<\/p>\n

With their mother still in Sani Pass, Phamotse became a \u2018mother\u2019 to her brother and sister. \u201cWe were the youngest in that family (uncle\u2019s) and I had to take care of my siblings because no one cared.<\/p>\n

I was a child taking care of children. \u201d Phamotse had to bathe her siblings and wash their clothes. Food was a daily struggle. \u201cI had to make sure my brother and sister were there when food was served because if they missed that chance they would starve.<\/p>\n

There was no plate for small children in that house. \u201d Sometimes there was nothing to eat for days and they had to rely on what they got from the school feeding scheme.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lebotho La Khotso was upending their already miserable lives. The militia would raid their home looking for her uncle who was a staunch BCP member.<\/p>\n

She recalls how he would disappear from home for days as the militia pursued him. Phamotse experienced this politics of vengeance and violence in three ways.<\/p>\n

The first was the general havoc unleashed on her family and the village by the militia. Her uncle was a marked man and her family suffered for it. The second was in the form of something that children of her age never experienced.<\/p>\n

The seeds of what she endured in Leribe were unwittingly sown in Mokhotlong when her grandmother asked a friend, who was a Grade One teacher, to \u201cbabysit\u201d Phamotse while she worked her fields.<\/p>\n

Phamotse would sit in the friend\u2019s class with children three years older than her. Soon she was learning to read and write even though she was supposed to be in cre\u0300che.<\/p>\n

By the time they moved back to Leribe, she could read Sesotho fluently. She was a godsend for her uncle who was an avid consumer of political news but could not read.<\/p>\n

His newspaper of choice was the now-defunct Leselinyana La Lesotho, published by the Lesotho Evangelical Church whose sympathies lay with the BCP. The newspaper carried grisly stories about the BNP government\u2019s violence against political opponents.<\/p>\n

Phamotse became her uncle\u2019s reader. She recalls how her uncle would summon her to a windowless roundvel in the homestead, seat her under a table and read him every story in the newspaper.<\/p>\n

From under the table, little Phamotse would broadcast nerve-wracking articles that sometimes gave her nightmares. There were stories about people killed or buried alive.<\/p>\n

Children shot in their mothers\u2019 back. People bombed, electrocuted or amputated. Villages burnt to ashes. Sometimes her uncle would ask her to pause a little bit so he could narrate how he knew some of the victims.<\/p>\n

Some of the victims were his friends or party comrades. At times her voice would be punctuated with sounds of gunshots. There were also days when her reading would be abruptly stopped when soldiers or the Lebotho La Khotso militia kicked the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy uncle would always escape and I would be left under the table reading the news.<\/p>\n

The militia members would pull me from under the table and burn the newspaper. \u201d Then there were her father\u2019s tribulations at the hands of Jonathan\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

She says her father paid dearly for his striking resemblance to Ntsu Mokhehle, the BCP leader that Jonathan wanted to eliminate because of his politics.<\/p>\n

On several occasions, her father was mistaken for Mokhehle and arrested at the border as he came back from the mines in South Africa. He would be detained for days until the government was sure they had the wrong person.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they would beat and take every penny from him. He would arrive home dirty and bruised. \u201d Phamotse believes that trauma, repeated several times, pushed her father to the bottle.<\/p>\n

Her mother moved back to Leribe when she was about to start high school but their misery continued. Their father was still drinking heavily and being harassed for \u201cbeing Mokhehle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Money was tight and meals were intermittent morsels. Phamotse dropped out of school in Form C when her father died. She started looking for a job. The plan, she says, was that the family would use the little they had to send her sister and brother to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ready to work and contribute something to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201d Her return to school was a result of a stroke of luck. Her headmaster saw her lining up for a job and asked why she was not at school.<\/p>\n

She told her story and the headmaster ordered her to come to school the next day. Phamotse went through high school without being asked for fees. Only when she went to pick her final Form E results did she discover why.<\/p>\n

A Ugandan expatriate teacher, Manuel Raposo, had quietly paid her fees. \u201cAfter hearing that I broke down and cried. Raposo was the teacher I disliked (most) because he was always strict with me.<\/p>\n

I was a very naughty student. \u201d It would be several years before she could track down Raposo to give her \u201cgratitude and apologise\u201d. They have been communicating since then.<\/p>\n

Her decision on what to study at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) was not based on ambition but pragmatism. She desperately wanted to read law but knew it would be difficult to get a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI opted for education because there was a serious shortage of teachers at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201d After graduation, she taught at a high school in Butha-Buthe for six years before leaving for Wits University to earn her Honours, Masters and PhD.<\/p>\n

After a brief stint at the National Health Technical College she joined the NUL where she taught education and ethics for more than a decade. Phamotse says she avoided active politics \u201cbecause I hated what it had done to my father, family and life\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet no matter how much she tried to stay away from it, politics would always find her. If not directly then through her former students who would always tell her how they are struggling to get jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would meet them years after graduation and they would be disillusioned.
\n\u201cI began to think there was a way for me to make a difference. I thought I could make a difference. \u201d<\/p>\n

She agonised about joining politics until 2014 when she took the plunge. Taking on Nkhahle was as ambitious as it was risky. She was a novice going against an incumbent who is a veteran politician.<\/p>\n

The people of Matlakeng knew her as a university lecturer, not a politician. Some openly told her they would not vote for a \u201cyoung girl\u201d. It wasn\u2019t long before she learned that politics is a game played by those willing to use crude means to get their way.<\/p>\n

She says Nkhahle rigged the primary election in a \u201cbrazen way\u201d. She lost the rerun ordered by the party but ended up being the candidate when Nkhahle had to pull out due to ill-health caused by the brutal assault he suffered just as Phamotse was protesting his initial victory.<\/p>\n

That was eight years ago but some people still believe Phamotse instigated Nkhahle\u2019s attack. Phamotse says she is not surprised because \u201cit is simply the result of the politics of lies that is so pervasive in our country\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a nasty brand of politics in which people thrive on malicious lies instead of ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201d She says she experienced it when she followed Monyane Moleleki after he left the DC to form the Alliance of Democrats (AD).<\/p>\n

Back then, she was described as an ungrateful politician who had betrayed Pakalitha Mosilili, the man who had made her political career. She endured it again early last year when she resigned as the AD\u2019s secretary general to join Matekane\u2019s RFP.<\/p>\n

An angry Moleleki insinuated that she was a \u201csellout\u201d conniving with enemies to destroy the AD. Phamotse says she initially ignored her cold welcome from some in the RFP because she thought this was a chance to do politics differently.<\/p>\n

She was also ready to accept the use of meritocracy to select candidates. \u201cI wanted to give this a chance until I found the real reason. Along the way, I discovered this had nothing to do with meritocracy but a sinister agenda of some people to block their perceived enemies.
\n\u201cThe meritocracy came up as an afterthought because they wanted to exclude other people like me. It was not a principle but a plan based on a hidden agenda and I could not stand for that. \u201d<\/p>\n

What irked her was that the leadership was \u201cviolating the will of the people and defeating democratic principles that were supposed to be the foundation of a political movement that was supposed to do things differently.<\/p>\n

\u201d She still has faith in Matekane but fears things are beginning to go astray.<\/p>\n

Her concern, which she insists is not an attack on anyone in particular, is that \u201csome people are carving out centres of power that have nothing to do with achieving the party\u2019s goal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants the leader\u2019s attention. The real focus is being lost because there is no principle to guide the policy.<\/p>\n

It looks like we are learning as we go but I think we need to go back to the drawing board. \u201d Those words are likely to get her in trouble with some in the party but this is Phamotse and she will speak her mind.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. In 2015 Mahali Phamotse lost the Democratic Congress (DC)\u2019s primary election for Matlakeng to seasoned politician Mothobi Nkhahle. Phamotse rejected the result and accused Nkhahle of rigging. Her supporters thronged the DC offices in Maseru in a protest to demand a re-run. The party obliged but an incident that night would change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,245,884],"class_list":["post-32015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-politician"],"yoast_head":"\nMahali: a rebel with a cause - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2015 Mahali Phamotse lost the Democratic Congress (DC)\u2019s primary election for Matlakeng to seasoned politician Mothob ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mahali: a rebel with a cause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2015 Mahali Phamotse lost the Democratic Congress (DC)\u2019s primary election for Matlakeng to seasoned politician Mothob ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-31T09:48:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-31T10:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1690785292.127012.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mahali: a rebel with a cause\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-31T09:48:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-31T10:07:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\"},\"wordCount\":2624,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1690785292.127012.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"politician\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahali-a-rebel-with-a-cause\",\"name\":\"Mahali: a rebel with a cause - 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