MOSHOESHOEISM , POLICIES AND THE INFLUENCE OF MOHLOMI ON MOSHOESHOE’S BRAND OF LEADERSHIP

Writes Kalosi Bantu Ramakhula (D.O.A.H)

The 20^th of December 1852 is probably the most important day in the history of the Basotho nation. On this day the Basotho army defeated the largest army the Imperial United Kingdom had ever fielded in Southern Africa at the time. In what Casalis describes as “perhaps the the most conventional war ever fought in South Africa”, the Basotho regiments defeated the mighty British.” In this era, the army of Lesotho was, in shape and tactics, simply the best in Southern Africa. This fact is corroborated by Lieutenant General Sir George Cathcart, who after the battle of Berea commented thus; “They did very well, they are as good as Cossacks, and I have had a lot to do with Cossacks”. The Russian Cossacks are, in military science circles, considered the best horse regiments in the world.

On the evening of the same day as the Basotho celebrated their victory over the greatest fighting force in the world, Generalissimo Moshoeshoe summoned his national council to discuss the way forward. The outcome of that meeting was a letter to the Commander of the British force, General Cathcart. The contents of the letter included; granting cessation of hostilities, declaring the British victors in that war and the request for Britain to look at the Basotho nation as a loyal ally, not an enemy. Dr Martin Moloantoa Lelimo declares this letter; “the most diplomatic letter ever to be penned in Africa.”

This meeting Morena Moshoeshoe had with his councillors, and the letter it produced speaks to the level of intellectual perspicacity prevalent among the Basotho. The Basotho Council was aware that the British Empire possessed far more power than the Basotho and that if their pride was hurt the British could mobilise an army larger than the whole population of Lesotho.

I start this presentation with this date because within 24 hours of that day, two very important things happened that portray the astuteness of the Basotho nation physically, (shown by their ability to defeat such a great force on the field) and intellectually (the diplomatic letter that was so well crafted that General Cathcart’s crestfallen ego was restored…and that letter ensured that the British never attacked Lesotho directly ever again.) So deep was the impression the conduct of the Basotho had on the British that back in the Cape, Lieutenant General Sir Cathcart passed a decree prohibiting any agitation against Lesotho.

In 1852 Moshoeshoe’s state was at its zenith. Kings and Chiefs of different ranks came to Thaba Bosiu to pay homage to the Chief of the Mountain. In His Book “Survival in two worlds Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, 1786-1870”, Leonard Thompson declares that; “Thaba Bosiu was the centre of Pan African Political activity.” At this time King Moshoeshoe was the most successful Chief anywhere in the region. The Basotho were one of the wealthiest nations in South Africa, only second to the Cape.

For many years the Basotho nation would continue to weather political and military storms that included 10 years of military campaigns by the Boer Republics against the Basotho, the intention of which was to conquer Moshoeshoe’s people. The Basotho remained indomitable. This is the reason why today there is a country in the heart of the South Africa Republic called Lesotho. An island in the ocean of colonial domination for indeed even one of the mightiest African tribes, the Zulu, had been completely overrun and conquered. This is attributable to King Moshoeshoe’s leadership style and the national ideology of the Basotho nation… SeMoshoeshoe.

The topic to be discussed in this article is Moshoeshoeism; policies and the influence of Mohlomi on Moshoeshoe’s brand of leadership. What is SeMoshoeshoe? And how was it cultivated? What was it that shaped King Moshoeshoe’s leadership style?

The story behind the Philosophy

Moshoeshoe was born in Menkhoaneng in present day Leribe district of Lesotho. As a young man he craved to be a great chief. So great was his desire that he is said to have killed no less than 5 agemates of his, just because they did not accord him enough respect. Seeing this trait in his grandson, Peete, Moshoeshoe’s paternal grandfather took him to a great doctor and seer Mohlomi. This Mohlomi was not only a doctor, but he was also a great philosopher who travelled most of Southern Africa curing people and preaching living in love and in peace. Wherever he visited, it is said, people from around that place would flock to where he was to listen to him. And stories he had.

Mohlomi’-a-Matsie

This Mohlomi was a Mokoena by birth, a son of one Monyane a man of no significance and worse, a bearer of such unbecoming character that the young Mohlomi’s childhood was a thorny one. Mohlomi’s grandmother was the one who compensated for all his father’s ills. Mohlomi refers to his grandmother as the light that set him on the path of goodness. It was this grand dame who gave Mohlomi his first lessons on the efficacy of herbs. But as for his spirituality, it was the heaven itself that summoned him. Mohlomi tells a story of when he was the initiation school when he got a glimpse of the spiritual realm. He was asleep when he saw the roof of the hut he was in opening up and then a being he could not describe carried him through the open roof to a place up above the clouds. There in heaven, he met many people he knew who had died. It was there where he was advised to go rule people as if they were all his brothers and sisters. It was this experience that turned Mohlomi into the sage and ruler he became.

Mohlomi’s full name was Mohlomi-oa-Matsie. Loosely translated, this name means the one who establishes villages, or founder of villages. It would sound like this name he gave to himself at Lebollong (the initiation school) and his whole life would be a manifestation of its meaning. He was an establisher of villages. Mohlomi was not a Chief by birth, not even of the Bamonaheng who were his people. The sceptre of leadership slid into his capable hands due to a series of misfortunes that befell the rightful heirs to the throne of Bamonaheng including his father’s untimely death.

It was during Mohlomi’s rule that the Bamonaheng became a huge chiefdom that attracted many citizens due to his warm leadership. Though he was a great traveller, his villages seem to have held together even grown, his long spells of absence notwithstanding.

The Meeting:

The first time Moshoeshoe met Mohlomi was in Ngoliloe (present day Clocolan district), Moshoeshoe had been taken there by his grandfather Peete. The old timer had taken his grandson to Mohlomi with the intention to have him cured of his “anger issues.” But in their very first encounter Mohlomi is said to have recognised in Moshoeshoe a very powerful leadership energy. Moshoeshoe is said to have remained with Mohlomi who tutored him in matters of leadership. There are indications that Mohlomi was actually running a Political Academy which was attended by among others; Morena Sebetoane of the Bafokeng ba Patsa, who later founded the Kololo/Borotse Kingdom in Zambia and Morena Moletsane of the Bataung.

Mohlomi the originator of SeMoshoeshoe

Most of the lectures Mohlomi administered to Moshoeshoe are said to have happened at dawn. These lectures were conducted on a hill overlooking Ngoliloe, Mohlomi’s village. There, Mohlomi used daybreak and the hill as a metaphor of life, that the example of the hill that overlooked the rapidly changing time as dawn transformed the night sky into a glorious morning. From the hilltop Mohlomi would have Moshoeshoe observe the village as it started on a new day.

Below are the five most important tenets of leadership that Mohlomi gave to Moshoeshoe:

1. “Setlhare se seholo sa puso ke pelo.” The first one was a direct answer to Moshoeshoe’s plea. The young Moshoeshoe had confessed to Mohlomi his great desire to become a great Chief. He had besought Mohlomi to give him medicine that would render him thus.

Mohlomi told Moshoeshoe that if he wanted to be a great chief, he would have to learn to love those he wished to rule. “Setlhare se seholo sa puso ke pelo, pholoana ea Kali.” This is the first tenet of SeMoshoeshoe; deep and genuine love for one’s nation is the fundamental element of good leadership. This would translate into personally seeing to the basic welfare of the people one ruled. King Moshoeshoe was not only a man of court. It is said that he loved children very much,  so much that it was not unusual to find him playing with them ‘mantloane and other children’s games.

2. “U ba tsebe hore u tle u tsebe ho ba busa.” Know them so that you may be able to rule over them.  On his travels to the sources of Malibamatšo river with King Moshoeshoe in 1840, (Missionary Excursion into the Blue Mountains) one thing that fascinated Thomas Arbousett was how when meeting people even from the remotest villages, Moshoeshoe was able to make out who they were. Even if he did not know the particular person talking to him then, he knew his lineage. Mohlomi had embossed in Moshoeshoe’s heart that it was important to know the people he ruled, to know their strengths and their weaknesses, to know their aspirations and what they dreaded or loathed. It was for this reason that Moshoeshoe made sure that all felt free to talk their minds at khotla.
3. U ba nyalle hore u tle u tsebe ho amana le bona

Marry from them and marry for them so that you may relate with them in blood. Wherever Mohlomi went, he made sure to marry someone from that place. Even though he did not always bring all his wives home, those wives he left behind remained his wives, and the children begotten out of those marriages were regarded as his children. In, more cases than not, these maidens he married would be princesses or daughters of influential men in that community. This is one of the things that ensured that Mohlomi was safe wherever he went because he was a relative of many people.

But it did not end there …Mohlomi also advised Moshoeshoe to marry for his subjects who did not have the means to marry. Moshoeshoe would pay Mahali for a young man to get his maiden, but the children born out of that marriage became his. In Sesotho culture, a child belongs to he who paid mahali (dowry). “Ngoana ke oa Khomo”. This way, Moshoeshoe was not only loved by many, he was also a relative and father of many. Because of this, he commanded loyalty at many levels.

Though polygamy was a common practice among the Basotho, Mohlomi taught Moshoeshoe to use it as a deliberate act of building affinity with his people and with the leaders of other nations. It was through these marriages that Moshoeshoe was able to cement his diplomatic relations with “blood”.

4. U se ee ka tšobotsi ha u ahlola khotla/ Toka ho sera le motsoalle.

Justice to friend and foe alike. “When you make judgments at court, ensure that you administer judgments without favour. Nothing holds a community together than an administrative institution that is deemed credible by the people it serves.” “Your judgments must seek to be restorative to those aggrieved and not condemning to the perpetrator.”  Moshoeshoe adhered to this tenet strongly. Because of this, Basotho had complete faith in their judicial system.

5. U tsebe litsela tsa baholo ba hau, u hlomphe Molimo le Balimo ba chaba sa heno kamehla.

“Know where you come from. Know from whom you come. Learn from the good ways of your ancestry. Know thyself thoroughly.” Though he invited and supported the work of his Christian Missionaries among his people, Moshoeshoe himself was never converted. Not only that, he encouraged all his senior chiefs never to convert to a foreign religion. This he held on to until he was on his deathbed. And here he has a telling conversation with the daughter of his friend Adelle Mabille …. She is begging Moshoeshoe to convert to Christianity before he dies so that his soul may be saved. To which plea Moshoeshoe answers; “My ancestors have served me so well in my lifetime, it would be foolhardy for me to forsake them when I am about to join them.”

 

This is not only about religion and spirituality. The system of child upbringing in Lesotho ensured that the Basotho knew their history, traditions and culture very well. This ensured societal harmony.

 

In the political history of the foundation of the Basotho nation, its successes and resilience, where Mohlomi was the blueprint, Moshoeshoe was the execution. Of all the students of Mohlomi’s school of Political Science, Moshoeshoe was the most successful. This is because he executed what he had learnt from Mohlomi to the letter. It was his gift of leadership that ensured that these important nation building traits were practiced among his subjects and the result was a nation so successful it was the envy of all the neighbouring states.

 

The Lesotho of today is a far cry from the Lesotho of King Moshoeshoe and his peers. Where the Moshoeshoean Lesotho was a wealthy nation at peace with itself, our Lesotho is a beggar state afflicted by poverty and internal strife. As we march towards the national Bicentennial in 2024, we all have to put our hands together to search for these very important tenets enshrined in SeMoshoeshoe to reclaim our glory as a nation, together.