Just as was the case in last week’s edition, it would seem political parties are not yet done throwing shade at each other in a desperate attempt to woo the electorate for their ‘precious’ votes.
The common denominator to the two editions is Minister of Mining Serialong Qoo who is also member of the Democratic Congress (DC)s executive committee who has a lot of unpalatable things to say about fellow politicians if adversaries.
In this particular issue the bone of contention is South African business mogul Thulani Majola who has and continues to make political headlines for all the not-so-candid reasons being linked to this or that political scandal.
The controversial businessman alleged to enjoy political mileage on both sides of the Lesotho-South Africa border from the who-s-who in power, this time is in the news for his involvement in a tender for the refurbishment of the country’s lone derelict international airport- the Moshoeshoe I International Airport. This after it emerged that political patronage could be the reason why Majola scooped the multi-million tender and was defended by the Ministry of Transport over allegations his company could have unduly been granted the job, Newsday has learnt.
Addressing the media in a spirited attempt to justify government’s move to grant the tender to Majola’s company LTE Consultancy amidst allegations that the company had been liquidated by the order of the South African High Court hence unworthy of getting the tender, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Maile Masoebe labeled media reports attesting to the liquidation unfounded and lacking in substance and if anything, a desperate political smear-campaign by some politicians who are actually cabinet ministers whom he said he would if need be, “name and shameâ€.
Both co-ruling DC and the All Basotho Convention (ABC) have denied any ties with the mogul.
Spokespersons of the two parties have both spoken against their movements going into bed with the businessman alleged to be a political party financier.
As a matter of fact, Qoo threw his ABC counterparts under the bus as relates to Majola saying if there should be a political party affiliated to him, it is certainly the ABC.
However, ABC’s Montoeli Masoetsa would have none of that, saying that his party did not even know the man safe reading about him in the media only now.
Majola has been linked to and associated with the DC whose political campaigning he has alleged to be funding to a point of even renting it a mobile stage mounted on a truck, a claim strongly scoffed at by Qoo who told Newsday that there was no truth to the claim as he averred that he was nowhere near their campaign adding that the truck in question, branded DC colours but bearing South African registration number plates, was in fact the party’s and is undergoing registration processes so that it could carry a Lesotho registration plate. He said he would even show this publication the truck’s paperwork which prove it as theirs. However, until the time of going to press last night he had not availed the said paperwork.
Qoo explained to this paper that when DC assumed power in 2020, the tendering processes to facelift the airport had already been started by their predecessors in the former Prime Minister Motsoahae Thomas Thabane led-administration following the 2017 elections.
In all of this, if anything, there is something fishy which even in the least proves that indeed there is no smoke without fire as both political fronts finger-point each other in so far as relations with the businessman.
It wouldn’t even be surprising to discover that Majola is after all, funding both formations as had emerged in neighbouring South Africa with his dealings with both the African National Congress (ANC) as well as opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) thus enjoying dual partronage and being well-positioned for access to the fiscal cookie jar. It remains to be see, though, but one thing is as certain as certainty, and that is fact that in the end the truth will come out.
