ABSTRACT
Responsibility for the explosions was claimed by the Lesotho Liberation Army, the military arm of Ntsu Mokhehle's wing of the exiled Basutoland Congress party. In August 1970 he informed the opposition leaders that his government had decided to go it alone, and in October he felt sufficiently confident to declare a five-year holiday from politics. Mokhehle's demand for a genuine coalition government committed to the holding of early elections proved incompatible with Leabua Jonathan's insistence on a national government with some opposition representation but free from the divisive effects of party competition that a coalition government would inevitably entail. On assuming the office of prime minister, Chief Jonathan was clearly aware that his Basutoland National party government's retention of power, under the country's Westminster-style constitution, would depend to a large extent on its ability to satisfy the popular aspirations raised during the independence struggle.
