Ruling party split could lead to breakaway

A power struggle within the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party may lead to the creation of a new political party, news reports said on Friday. According to a Sapa news agency, it was reported that a faction of the LCD had planned to meet at a conference in Maseru at the weekend. They planned to seek a mandate from the party’s general membership to devise ways of end the bitter internal power struggle. The LCD itself broke away from the once powerful Basotholand Congress Party in 1997. The report said the internal conflict began with the election of a new national executive committee in January. The election results were disputed and were still being adjudicated by the Lesotho Court of Appeal, it added. This had led to some members of the outgoing executive committee refusing to hand over LCD property to members of the incoming executive. The party’s publicity secretary Pashu Mochesane was quoted as saying: “The situation has been worsened by LCD secretary-general and Minister to the Prime Minister, Sephiri Motanyane. He refused to recognise some party agents during voter registration. He accused them of supporting the outgoing executive committee.”