The Basutoland Congress Party is a pan-Africanist and left-wing political party in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. The Basutoland African Congress (BAC) was founded in 1952 by Ntsu Mokhehle and Potlako Leballo. The party was renamed the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) in 1957 and retained this name after independence in 1966, stating that Lesotho was not truly independent. Leballo left the party in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress of South Africa (PAC). The BCP lost the 1965 election but won in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. It was denied power by a coup d'état in support of the defeated prime minister Leabua Jonathan. In 1974, following an unsuccessful rising, the BCP sent 178 men for military training by the PAC in Gaddafi's Libya. In 1979 they began a guerrilla war as the

Lesotho Liberation Army The Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA) was a guerrilla movement in Lesotho, formed in the mid-1970s and connected to the anti-Apartheid Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA). It was the armed wing of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), a pan-African ...

(LLA). The party won a landslide victory at the 1993 general election, and its leader Ntsu Mokhehle became prime minister. Mokhehle left the party in 1997 with his faction to form the Lesotho Congress for Democracy. The BCP was led by Tseliso Makhakhe, Qhobela Molapo, Ntsukunyane Mphanya and (currently) Thulo Mahlakeng. At the 25 May 2002

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, the party won 2.6% of the vote and 3 out of 120 seats.

Election results

References

1952 establishments in Basutoland African socialist political parties Basutoland Political parties established in 1952 Pan-Africanism in Lesotho Pan-Africanist political parties in Africa Political parties in Lesotho Socialism in Lesotho Socialist parties in Africa {{Lesotho-party-stub