MASERU – THE Movement for Economic Change (MEC) leader, Selibe Mochoboroane, says he will push for the government to acquire a 51 percent stake in all companies where it has shares if his party wins election next Friday.

Mochoboroane says that should not rattle investors who currently own as much as 70 percent in diamond mines with the government owning the remaining 30 percent.

He says such a structure will ensure Basotho benefit fully from their natural resources.

“How do you have a say as government over your natural resources with a shareholding of 30 percent? We just do not have control,” he says.

“When I get into power we will ensure that the government increases shareholding to 51 percent so that we are in control. We still need foreign investors but we need to be in control.”

It is strategy that has been tried elsewhere in Africa with devastating consequences as investors, unnerved by the radical rhetoric, quickly fled.

But Mochoboroane is adamant that such a radical economic policy will not trigger investor flight.

“It will not threaten investors. What we will have to do is to buy the shares to have one more share. They’ll still do the work but we have to be in control,” he says.

“A diamond is a non-renewable resource. Once extracted it is gone and will not be replaced.”

An MEC government, Mochoboroane says, will create a sovereign development fund to ensure that Basotho benefit fully from their natural resources.

“When we sell diamonds, a certain percentage has to go to the investment so that the next generation can benefit from the extraction of our diamonds.”

Funds generated from the sale of the diamonds will then be channeled towards infrastructure development “to ensure we leave a legacy for the next generation”.

“We have to have some means of ensuring that the generations to come also benefit from the same resources that we kept. They should not just see the dongas that came as a result of extracting diamonds.”

Mochoboroane is a strong admirer of the Botswana model; how the government has used its vast mineral wealth to educate and place thousands of Batswana into top universities around the world.

“Here in Lesotho we cannot take our students to study at Oxford University because we can’t afford that. But Batswana, with their investments in mining, are able to do that,” he says.

“We must therefore create a sovereign wealth fund so that the future generations can benefit from our resources. Such a fund will save us from borrowing from the IMF and World Bank. We will borrow from our resource.”

Mochoboroane also wants a shake-up of the government’s pension fund which he says is currently working for the benefit of South Africa.

“Look at how fast Sandton is growing. They get these resources from Lesotho and we are not able to tap into our own resource,” he says.

Sandton is the richest square mile in Africa with big businesses headquartered there.

For Mochoboroane the key to fixing what’s ailing Lesotho lies in adopting radical economic transformation programmes for the country.

He thinks he is, judged on past performance alone, the best candidate for the country’s biggest job, come October 7.

He says Basotho should vote for his MEC next Friday “because it preaches the gospel of service delivery”.

“It doesn’t just preach but it also delivers (on its campaign promises),” he says.

Mochoboroane is quick to point to what he says is a “solid track-record” of service delivery first when he was Deputy Minister of Local Government.

“This is the kind of politics I am sharing with the people. They know that was the basis of the formation of the MEC, it is nothing but service delivery,” he says.

“Wherever we are, whether we are in opposition, or in government, we deliver. I served as chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee.

There was never a time when the PAC performed the way it did. Look at the number of motions filed by the deputy leader of the MEC in parliament.”

He says all this is because of the ethos of the MEC – to deliver on their mandate to the people of Lesotho.

He says the MEC should be judged at the ballot box “on the basis of our past performance”.

If the MEC wins the elections next week, Mochoboroane says he wants Lesotho to go back to the ideals of the National Strategic Development Plan that was penned under former Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.

Under the Maputo Declaration, Mochoboroane says, Lesotho pledged to channel ten percent of its national budget to agriculture.

That grand plan has never been implemented, leaving Lesotho to survive on handouts from international relief agencies.

Instead, what we have seen from successive governments is a starving of the agriculture sector leaving the country food-insecure.

“As we speak, there has never been a time when we go beyond 2.5 percent. We’ve been between two percent and 2.7 percent (being allocated to agriculture). We have not even got to five percent of our total budget yet agriculture is the backbone for the growth of the economy,” he says.

“There is just no way that we as a country can depend on another (to feed ourselves),” he says.

“If you are not able to produce your own products there is no way that you will be able to stimulate the growth of the economy.”

“The declaration Mosisili signed in 2009 in Maputo must be implemented.”

If the MEC wins the polls, Mochoboroane says apart from revamping agriculture, they will also channel their energies on fighting corruption which has resulted in massive leakages in tax mobilisation.

“When Basotho have elected me into power, I will work to (uproot) corruption to ensure that we collect as much revenue as possible.”

To boost Lesotho’s revenue, Mochoboroane says he wants the 1986 Water Treaty signed with South Africa reviewed significantly because the current deal is heavily skewed in Pretoria’s favour.

“That treaty was signed by the apartheid regime and the military regime which was not elected by the people. We are going to engage South Africa to review the treaty,” he says.

“The royalties we get from selling water are far low as compared to the benefits South Africa gets from our water. We will have to sit down with South Africa and convince them that we need to review that treaty.”

Judging by the attendance at his rallies and the aggressive recruitment of members behind the scenes, Mochoboroane says he expects his MEC to put up a stellar show at the polls this time around.

“You will be shocked when the results are announced,” he says.

Mochoboroane was in a bullish mood when thepost spoke to him at his party’s offices this week.

“I’m certain that we are going to do very well looking at how I performed in the previous elections and how we are doing now in terms of the campaign. I’m hopeful that we are going to do well.”

He says they have been on the ground campaigning since the last election in 2017, setting up structures for the MEC.

The results, he says, have been outstanding.

“But looking at the membership and the successes of our rallies, I am certain that at least I will be able to compete in 20 constituencies and participate in the rest of the constituencies.”

Mochoboroane won the Thabana-Morena constituency in the 2017 snap election, the only constituency his MEC won outright.

He hopes to retain that constituency whilst adding a few more.

“I am not quite sure how many seats I am going to win but I will be in a position to compete and when you compete there can only be two outcomes: either you win or you lose. But even if you lose, you lose with very good numbers.”

He says he has no qualms with the manner in which the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has run the election so far.

He however would have wanted voter education and advertising to have been done a little earlier to ensure Basotho access relevant voter education.

Mochoboroane is realistic enough to keep his ambitions in check. He says he acknowledges that no single political party is going to romp to victory and win the necessary 61 seats to form government on its own.

“We are in the era of coalition governments,” he says. “There is no way we can run away from coalition governments. We will have to live with coalition governments for the next 20 years or so.”

He says despite that reality, he still believes the MEC can lead the next coalition government. But even after forming a coalition government, political parties should not use that as an excuse to fail to deliver on their electoral promises.

“Nobody should give an excuse that they failed to deliver because they were in a coalition government. Coalition governments do not stop anyone from delivering quality services,” he says.

“With or without a coalition government we have to deliver.”

He says Basotho must vote for the MEC, a “party that believes in service delivery that has a vision of moving Lesotho from where it is now to a Lesotho that will be prosperous in the next five years”.

The MEC is a fiercely pro-Basotho political formation whose election manifesto promises “to kill corruption” whilst promising to “create jobs” for Basotho.

With an image of a hand watch, the MEC says “2022 should be the dawn of a new Lesotho that turns the tide on the downward trend of the past 10 years”.

“This is a moment of renewal. It is an opportunity to build democratic institutions and return our country to a path of transformation, growth and development,” the party says in its manifesto.

It says an MEC government will be anchored on five thematic areas:
• Fiercely fighting corruption and enforcement of the law
• Promoting private sector development
• Infrastructure development, economic recovery and growth
• Strengthening patriotism and social cohesion
• Improving social security services

Mochoboroane says while there was nothing fundamentally with Zhen Yu Shao, a Mosotho of Chinese descent, joining a political party of his choice, he just cannot understand why the man should be allowed to run for elections in Lesotho.

“That is an insult to Basotho,” he says bluntly.

Shao initially wanted to stand for elections under the MEC banner but was given short thrift by the party that felt he was a liability and would damage the reputation of a party that projects itself as fiercely pro-Basotho.

When the MEC rejected him, Shao packed his bags and formed his Basotho Pele party under which he is running for elections in the Ha-Tsolo constituency.

This week, a group of Basotho launched a legal challenge against Shao’s candidacy.

Mochoboroane says it would be a travesty of justice to Basotho to allow Shao to run in the elections.

“We are Africans living in Africa. We are Basotho living in Lesotho. Now can you think of a parliament run by a Chinese?”

“We have a problem of an economy that is not too strong, that depends on other countries such as China. Now think of a situation where we are now led by a Chinese national. I take that as an insult to Basotho.”

“Even the Basotho who are voting for the Chinese national, does that mean that even amongst themselves no one can stand for elections? Does that mean they have lost hope even in themselves? I take it as an insult to Basotho.”

He says when he first picked information that Shao had joined his party, he immediately dispatched a delegation led by the party’s secretary general “to find out what was happening”.

“We agreed that if it’s true (that Shao was a member) it had come to an end immediately. We cannot afford as a party to have a Chinese national who will stand the elections under the flag of the party.”

Abel Chapatarongo & Khotsofalang Koloi