OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.30pm.
REPRESENTATIVES of Lesotho’s opposition parties were locked in discussions in Maseru on Monday night in an attempt to find a suitable venue for a meeting with the Lesotho government on the political crisis in the country.
Opposition part coalition spokesman Vincent Malebo said that he hopes the parties will reach an agreement sometime on Monday night. Opposition parties on Monday morning boycotted a planned meeting with the government.
Malebo on Monday night accused the Lesotho government of stalling for time and spreading false rumours about the opposition to further its own purposes. He said he suspects the Lesotho government of starting recent rumours about an attempted coup in the country because it wants to “present the opposition in a bad light to the outside world”.
Mamello Morrison, a spokeswoman for the alliance supports Malebo’s views, and said that the South African government’s attempts to resolve the crisis in Lesotho are probably well-intended, but the opposition believed the South Africans are favouring the government.
South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi said in Pretoria on Monday afternoon that a disagreement over a secure venue had forced the cancellation of Monday’s scheduled discussions between the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy and the opposition.
Mufamadi said the Lesotho opposition parties had rejected the offer of a neutral venue by the South African government, but Malebo denied that the opposition rejected the South African offer.
He said some opposition leaders, however, want Lesotho’s internal problems resolved within the country’s borders.