Lasting bonds

Months later Lehlanya was named as one of the suspects in the Mdlalose Tavern massacre that left 16 people dead in July 2022.

Yet even as he was wanted by the South African police, Lehlanya continued to openly hobnob with the ABC leadership.

Kabi later advised Lehlanya to surrender to the South African police but promised that there were lawyers ready to assist him and other suspects.

The donation at the rally and the Kabi’s subsequent support for Lehlanya and other suspects are emblematic of the ABC’s strong bond with Terene ea Mokata-Lirope and other famo gangs.

So strong is that relationship that the ABC has stood with Terene ea Mokata-Lirope and other famo gangs even after they were declared subversive and banned by the government.

The history of the ABC illustrates how this bond was started and nurtured.

When Thomas Thabane founded the party in 2006, he co-opted Terene through its leader Rethabile Mokete (Mosotho Chakela) and a now inactive gang called Fito, led by Lebajoa Lephatšoe, a popular famo musician known as Selomo.

Selomo, who was so loyal to Thabane that he christened himself Selomo Thabane, was shot dead in Maseru some years later.

The ABC’s relationship with the famo gangs was once entrenched in Section 1 of Part A of its constitution, which made it mandatory for Sesotho cultural musicians to have a representative in the national executive committee.

This position has been occupied by Terene ever since the ABC’s establishment in 2006. Its leaders occasionally addressed the party’s rallies.

The clause has since been amended to state that representatives should be elected by registered association, but it doesn’t change the relationship between the ABC and the famo gangs.

During the 2022 campaign, Kabi said the ABC regarded its union with Terene as righteous, praising the gang for its unwavering support.

Speaking at a rally in the Mechachane constituency, Kabi said Thabane had reminded him that Terene was “one of the ABC’s most special and important allies”.

He said Thabane instructed him to “take care of Terene because it always stood with the ABC”.

“I pledge to take over from where Ntate Thabane left and continue to strengthen our bond with this group,” he said.

Thabane appears to have nurtured his relationship with the gangs when he was police minister. Thabane formed police and army units to stop famo wars that were wreaking havoc in the country, especially in the Mafeteng district, home to the first identifiable gangs –Terene, Fito, and Seakhi.

When fighting violence with violence between gangsters and security agencies failed, Thabane used charisma to bring the warring factions to a round table for peace talks.

The then police boss in Mafeteng, Senior Superintendent ’Mampho Mokhele, was instrumental in helping Thabane bring together Terene leader Chakela, Fito leader Lebajoa Lephatšoe aka Selomo, and Seakhi’s Daniel Rampipi.

When Thabane defected from the LCD in October 2006 to found the ABC, Chakela and Selomo joined him together with their large groups numbering to the dozens of thousands, making the ABC the second largest party after the LCD.

Seakhi remained unattached to political parties until the 2012 election when its different factions joined the LCD and Mosisili’s DC.

When Terene split after Chakela and Thabane’s relationship soured over issues involving Thabane’s wife’s murder after the 2017 polls, Chakela and his faction defected to Mosisili’s DC.

A new faction in the Terene, Terene ea Mokata-Lirope, remained in the ABC, now led by Lehlanya.

The Democratic Congress (DC) has also openly embraced famo gangs.

Terene ea Chakela aggrievedly touted for the DC ahead of the 2022 polls, with its then leader the late Ntei Tšehlana and Nako Motseko using their popularity in the gang to drum up support for the former ruling party.

Tšehlana was later murdered by an unidentified gunman while attending a DC concert in Mokhotlong while Motseko was shot dead while campaigning for the party.

In April 2021, Mokherane Tsatsanyane, a prominent member of Terene, defected from the ADC to the DC.

Tsatsanyane was welcomed by the DC leader Mathibeli Mokhothu who implored them to recruit more members. Mokhothu said they were happy that Terene had recently joined them in numbers.

“They have found the Letlama’s Seakhi gang group already here working with us,” Mokhothu said.

He added that Seakhi members’ lives too should not be made difficult because of the colours of their blankets.

The gazette Police Minister Lebona Lephema issued three weeks ago has declared 12 famo gangs as subversive and unlawful organisations based on the Internal Security (General) Act of 1984.

The Act gives the police powers to arrest, detain, and charge anyone belonging to or professing to belong to an unlawful organisation and those seeking.

Police say in terms of the gazette, people are not allowed to sing, listen, or support famo music by any of the banned gangs such as Terene ea Mokata-Lirope.

Police say they are not supposed to wear any clothes bearing the gangs’ insignia.

The banned groups include Terene ea Chakela, Terene ea Mokata-Lirope, Letlama (Seakhi), Letlama le Lekhubelu, Liala Mabatha, Khang-Kholo, Sephiri, Phula-Bobete, Pharachuti, Tonado, Mahana-Puso, and Terata ea Hlaba and “any other organisation whose activity falls within the definition of subversive activity” in terms of the gazette Lephema issued.

Caswell Tlali