Wedding in Maseru
Corry, John
i i L _9 : ! l ~ "it i . q/c', : ]10]"~011i (? i ; ; 01-1 to}) { ~ , (;i . . . . : ~,: o d t Jn t~]~ii~.c,: :: , i , I]]OFC ])!lff';; , ; i 1 I : : Li q J L \ \ t l ( ? T e ! ] b ' , , J ~...
...They are citizens of South Africa, although familial ties reach across national boundaries, and they owe allegiance to Let- >_ sic III, just as their forefathers did to Moshoeshoe I. Nonethe- ~. less there are differences among the Basuto...
...But he knew realistically that time was not on his side, and more often than not he tried diplomacy...
...Then a Swazi praise singer introduced the Swazi king with a long ululation, and the Swazi king gave a flowery speech, and finally it was King Letsie's turn...
...When Moshoeshoe died in 187o, he was much revered, but he left behind him a still unsolved ontological mystery...
...There was speculation that he might even ask all the missionaries to preside jointly while he embraced a one-size-fits-all Christianity...
...In 1852, he sent a conciliatory letter to the Governor of the Cape Colony, even though the Brits had just done poorly against him in another battle: 32 July~August 2000 _9 The American Spectator ~bur }<xcdlencx...
...The Basuto could join in either opposing or supporting them, and they were something like unifying forces...
...The historical record suggests that Moshoeshoe was a multicnltnralist, willing to live and let live, while encouraging the Basuto to absorb anything useful...
...c~<i~,ks ~t all...
...Moshoeshoe I, Letsie III's ~rc~!-great-great-great-great grandfather, founded it early in Hie uineteenth century when he united the Basuto people...
...The church, or denomination, flrat captured King Moshoeshoe would gain great prestige, not to mention nrore influence in running Lcsotho...
...For example, there are two principal political parties in Lesotho: the Basutoland Congress Party and the Basuto National Party...
...Ioshoeshoe is Muh-SHWESH-\~'I~.Y...
...Moshoeshoe himself, though, was resistant Nonetheless competition for his soul among the missionaries was always keen...
...You may also see ponies in downtown urban Maseru, ridden by blanketed Basuto, daintily moving through traffic...
...The Boer War broke out 31 years later...
...Tradition was important, and a bride price l>~d re be paid...
...Flits cla, .\"x have ~ought against my people, and take~ roach c~lc..Zs rhc o >icc~ mr ,~, i~c}~ \-ow I mx c come is to have a compensatkm for the Bcc'rs...
...God was really the "Supreme Chief," according to 'Mantsopa, and so the road to His town was very broad, and always crowded with people on their way to His court...
...The blankets are symbols of the national identity...
...According to the diplomat, no one knew about the weapons, either...
...Obviously that was not literally true-someone had to know-but the diplomat was making a point...
...hiic he hard] 3 needed hc[ in i> J~t>]iq~;5 >~c J! ',, >, good politic...
...The royal wedding was also celebrated at a formal dinner: baby sole Parisienne, champagne, pan-fried breast of chicken, chocolate mousse, and 4zo guests of greater or lesser distinction...
...The French Protestants supposedly had the inside track here, although Moshoeshoe, ahvays the diplomat, was also close to the Anglicans and Catholics...
...Meanwhile the local journalist invoked another tradition...
...He thanked his wife's parents, and he thanked the Basuto for helping him in his search for a queen, but he said he had found her himself, and that she was "responsible, humble and lovely...
...The army general who led the coup that overthrew the Basuto Nationa] Party government in 1986 is now the head of that same party...
...So in the wake of the Soufh African invasion, Lesotho's army, or at least some part of it, took to the bunkers...
...rs, coups, and oId Commie vs...
...French Protestants arrived in I,esotho first, and thel~ came Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and others...
...You may think of the Free State as culturally deprived...
...Meanwhile Lesotho is now home to some 2 million Basuto...
...Who or what can be a rallying point now...
...md many people wanted in on { ',,:~,mt:~,~ Brc~\erv donated :4 o cases of beer . ~ : , r, :or the x,~eddiug guests, as well as 1,ooo mugs, : (' ( ) t l q O ~ . . . . , ~ ~our hulls Ltd...
...But the weather in the Free State is too warm for blankets, while the conical hats are optional, and the topography does not demand ponies...
...Once they blew up an apartment building in Maseru, and took the lives of innocent civilians...
...The fighting lasted three days, and when it was over the South Africans carted away a large cache of weapons...
...Like Lesotho itself, they endure...
...Britain did not want that, of course, and so Lesotho became a sovereign nation...
...The Lesotho prime minister mumbled a few words...
...Think of Masada, but with a happier outcome for the Basuto than for the Jewish Zealots...
...I,esotho is only slightly larger than Mary', ,~J...
...JOHN CORaY is The American Spectator's senior correspondent...
...But Alfred was not forthcoming, and most likely just forgot about it...
...The Basuto in Lesotho wrap themselves in blankets, ride ponies, and wear conical-shaped straw hats...
...Some of the soldiers even took off their uniforms, and fought while wearing traditional blankets...
...the other supported the more radical Pan-African Congress...
...the ponies are, too...
...This, of course, happened anyway...
...to fobr, c,:ttie...
...So let it be," King Letsie told a local journalisL "until the tradition is found irrelevant...
...Contemporary local scholars, however, think there may be a clue in the words of the prophetess 'Mantsopa, one of Moshoeshoe's favorite diviners...
...As military ruler of Lesotho, until he was overthrown himself in a coup, he had banned all partisan political activity...
...Lo~don, however, did not much care, and the policy.' went on as before, with unfortunate results for everyone, including, in time, the Boers...
...The ponies are small, and tough, and adaptable...
...When the Reagan administration had to withdraw its nominee as ambassador to Lesotho because of his financial improprieties, he was one of the first persons to know...
...But Lesotho was the soldiers' country, and Moshoeshoe and the spirit ofThaba Bosiu were still alive...
...Lesotho had lost almost all of its fertile land to the Boers by then, but Britain did not want Lesotho to wither away entirely...
...wo years ago, South Africa haphazardly sent troops into Lesotho, ostensibly to quell an army rebellion...
...Whether there really was a rebellion is unclear, but certainly civilian demonstrators were protesting government policies, and many had camped out on the grounds of the king's palace...
...Lesotho, of course, is leh-SOO-toe...
...Moshoeshoe signed the letter %'our humble servant," and the Cape Colony Governor ~\as s} mpathetic...
...Moshoeshoe had always encouraged missionaries to come to Lesotho...
...The blankets, after all, have patterns that denote particular villages, families, or even political persuasions, Everyone in Lesotho seems to own one, if not to wear every day, then to tuck away on a shelf, and be taken out on a special occasion, possibly a funeral...
...But apartheid is now dead, and so is the old Evil Empire, and while they were both wicked they did have their uses...
...Perhaps twice that many live across the border in the Free State...
...As it happens, Lesotho now has a democratically elected government, although whether it has improved public life is debatable...
...At the same time the Communist bloc countries were becoming active...
...cfEei...
...What happened after that is also unclear, although South Africa reportedly lost eight soldiers, while Lesotho lost =. But the Basuto say the South African death toll was much higher, and probably it was...
...they had useful ideas, and projects to put in place, on education, medicine, and farming...
...i } ( 1 C \ ( ] , ' , ~ i " . . . . i ~ ' ) ' , < l ] wedding ",v~s ~/~u;, ( i :. ' I challenge ~,!i oqS, >, , ; ~ . ,: . . . . . : , : ~ , ::c...
...eti~er the bride's f~unily wanted or needed t]~c~- was ~cic]ental...
...and since the deceased are often buried in their home villages, a blanket may be more appropriate to wear than a business suit...
...he also had forced Moshoeshoe II, King Letsie's late father, into exile...
...Meanwhile South African security forces conducted raids in Lesotho to eliminate the African National Congress cadre...
...The way to heaven is not a narrow road," she said, and "the missionaries are ridiculously mistaken in saying that it is...
...Whether it was because of that, or the work of the rioters, buildings on Kingsway, the main street, were burned to the ground...
...Ordinary people could rally around them one way or another...
...A peaceful co-existence between Basuto and Boer ought to have been possible, but instead there was more war...
...He realized that British colonial policy: tilted unfairty against the Basuto in order to placate the Boers...
...The party that won the election in 197o was cheated out of its victory when the constitution was suspended...
...qci if i~ surrounded entirely' by South Africa...
...Meanwhile there is, as always, South Africa...
...When the South Africans stormed its locked gates, rioting broke out in Maseru...
...By the 198o's, the KGB's man in Maseru, Boris Aswan , was one of the best informed men in Lesotho...
...for I r q x g] ' { 1 ' monarch\ \\as en ,@~?iHe O:~ kk: ,:., c oJ:t no wecldir_g, e\ ervone specu]ated about ~e i ) r ! d e p~ice...
...After independence one of Lesotho's two major parties supported the African National Congress...
...bc ku]s }ic \ v r o f r he exercised his " t r a - :~ ,on>n citizen, b} proi'fcring ad\ ice oll ban, ~: ira ,, ii:c amd mother o f ttne nation...
...L bc...
...Clearly ' :,:~<'<i ,,cso he...
...o: co, >,( ~t~,d...
...Something will happen--I don't know what," a lawyer in Maseru said lugubriously...
...In 1868, however, Britain declared sovereignty" over Lesotho...
...Things simply happen in Lesotho, as they do in much of Africa, and its politics are messy and often inscrutable, even to the people involved...
...Consequently there was high anticipation when Moshoeshoe announced that he would, on March t3, 187o , make a declaration of faith and undergo public baptism...
...Ioshoeshoe I is buried with all the other kings of Lesotho on Lhe p]ateau Thaba Bosiu, the site of one of his military triumphs...
...Free World i 1 ~c!~ ire,.,, ,r,\ c }rod flleir way with it, and the wonder is that ~c,:,~)d...
...North Korea, China, Cuba, and other members of the bloc sent military advisers, and in one of the better kept secrets of the Cold War some of them helped build mountain bunkers...
...Another election would not be held for 23 years...
...In r86o, Moshoeshoe met with Prince Alf)ed, Queen Victoria's son, when he visited southern Africa...
...Therefore ir is the onlx countn in the ~ orld-- the Vatican doesn't count-,x h o l i \ ' i ' \\~t;luq another's borders...
...Actually there is no sign of that yet, and the best, or worst, chance-depending how you feel about it--of it happening has already come and gone...
...Local lore says he always encouraged friendly visitors to bring more rocks...
...it was poorly trained and heavily politicized, and in what really was a rebellion, in 1994, some of its units fought against one another...
...i 1 I : : Li q J L \ \ t l ( ? T e ! ] b ' , , J ~ : i : : : : , \ , l c ' , m x x h i ] c , ~ . . . . ; ~ : , : , ~,,~<i Ha~s...
...Subsequent alliances waxed and waned...
...But Moshoeshoe died two days before the baptism, and so Lesotho will never know...
...When the Boers attacked, Moshoeshoe had his people roll rocks down the hillsides to stop them...
...No one quite agrees on what happened next, but the Basuto say South African helicopters then dropped some sort of inflammable substance...
...We will wake up one morning, and find we have been swallowed up...
...Whatever the religious reasons for a conversion, there were sound political reasons, as well...
...When 69 schoolchildren were shot in their backs at Sharpeville in 196o , South Africa finally came to world 34 JuZy/Augus t ~ o o o - The American Spectator attention...
...Governance in Lesotho became a mess...
...N The American Spectator _9 J~ly/August 2000 35...
...tnlqouil~ ei-noi~t WaS made about this, and good !~?aJ>-<z...
...Consequently the Basuto, generally speaking, respect and admire their kings more than they do their politicians...
...Subsequently the Boers withdrew, and in other battles Moshoeshoe went on to defeat the British...
...My God," says an otherwise wellinformed Lesotho diplomat, who for years represented his country in Europe, "we didn't know those things were there...
...t~}~!r~c] ]ook a r O l ~ l I l d for- :{ SL[Jtsq]){ j ) ) ; ; C Y ('1 ; J r :i }ii(~ \ ~/7 )']7<.g Oi-~]qC nation he mcam hi...
...came tip with commemo. :i ils cg~sx b;ll<e mixed flour all marked "The Royal : ( ; : :1 i.:<~'l~ttJztr monarchy o r n o t , Lesotho is still an improba,- '<,~ ~b...
...Politicians in Lesotho appear addicted to either stealing or squandering money, and any number of them should be in jail...
...And yes, obviously there are also The American Spectator _9 July~August ~ooo 33 Basuto in Lesotho who drive +x4's and BMW's, and are unlikely to wrap themselves in blankets, and would never wear conical hats...
...ld lqoke bOW that Basuto is bah-bOO-toe, and their language, ScsoLo, is seh-SOO-toe...
...If Britain would not protect Lesotho against the Boers' Orange Free State, Moshoeshoe asked him, then would it at least allow Lesotho to get enough guns to protect itself...
...Mbeki had missed the wedding, and sent Nelson Mandela in his place, and while King Letsie seemed to be speaking lightly, all the Basuto who heard him thought he was really annoyed...
...By professional standards, though, the army was not much...
...It owed that to apartheid, and indeed one way or another apartheid would affect Lesotho for the next 25 years...
...If it did, the Orange Free State might become strong enough to threaten the Crown's long-term interests...
...precluded people from aski n g - although in h laseru, ti~e cv;,J~,tl oi Lesotho, the informed consensus was tb, irt...
...But then he said he would invoke a royal prerogative and fine Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, an ox...
...Funerals are always held on Saturdays-no one seems to know why--and since everyone in Lesotho apparently knows almost everyone else, the funerals are well attended...
...They said he had told off South Africa, and that he had sounded like a king ofLesotho...
...oH will i;e satisfied with what you ha\c lakem ~"~ e~<~e~< ;r 7ron~ v.,m-vou who have shown 'mu cisecl...
...In the late 197o's, the Lesotho prime minister flirted with the Communist bloc...
...Subsequcmly many, and perhaps most, of the Basuto were converted to Christianity...
...bu hme c " ' , . . l ] let mc no lougcr bc consdcrcd an .~nemy oftL c Queen...
...If Britain had handed Lesotho over to its apartheid government when it granted it independence only six years later, international opinion would have been outraged...
...L~c it bc cnotlgh I pray you and your power...
...Even the king's ponies drew more cheers at the royal wedding than the prime minister did...
...Well...
...On Lesotho's glorious mountains and in its vast, empty, and achingly beautifnl green and brown spaces, they are the only really reliable form of transportation...
Vol. 33 • July 2000 • No. 6
