King Moshoeshoe I Passes On

King Moshoeshoe Passes On

On 11 March 1870, King Moshoeshoe I, founder and first Paramount Chief of the Basotho nation passed on and was buried on Thaba Bosiu, which he used as a hideout and his subjects after they migrated from Butha-Buthe in 1824 escaping the ravages of the contentious Mfecane or Difaqane Wars.

Moshoeshoe, whose real name was Lepoqo, was born around 1786 at Menkhoaneng in the northern part of present-day Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a chief of the Bamokoteli sub-clan of the Basotho people. Following an initiation process that lasted for six months, during which Lepoqo was circumcised, he was taught the customs of his people, military tactics and ancient songs. He also composed praise poetry about himself and received a new name, Letlama, meaning “the Binder/Glue”. Letlama, as the son of the chief, became the leader of the other boys who underwent initiation with him, forming a strong personal bond with each one of them.

Following his graduation from the initiation school, Letlama led his band on a successful cattle raid against Chief RaMonaheng’s village. As was the tradition, Moshoeshoe composed a poem praising himself as “a razor which has shaved all Ramonaheng’s beards”, referring to his successful cattle raids where he captured several herds. In Sesotho, a razor is said to make a “shoe…shoe…” sound, and after that he was affectionately called Moshoeshoe: “the Shaver”.

Moshoeshoe and his followers, mostly the Bakoena Bamokoteli, established his village at Butha-Buthe, where his settlement and reign coincided with the growth in power of the well-known Zulu King, Shaka, who raided many smaller chiefdoms along the eastern coast of southern Africa, incorporating parts of them into his steadily growing Zulu kingdom. Various small clans were forced to flee, and the attacks also forced Moshoeshoe to move his settlement to the Qiloane plateau. This was later renamed Thaba Bosiu or “mountain at night”, because it was believed to grow during the night and shrink during day. It proved to be an impassable stronghold against enemies. Moshoeshoe’s move to Thaba Bosiu was precipitated by the advice he received from a philosopher, a seer, and his mentor, Morena Mohlomi (aka “Morwa Monyane”), who predicted “Mfecane/Difaqane as a dark cloud that would fall upon African nations” (Molope).

The most significant role Moshoeshoe played was as a benevolent warrior, a diplomat, and a gentle giant. His acts of friendship towards his beaten enemies, to whom he provided land and protection, and this strengthened the growing Basotho nation. His influence and followers grew with the integration of a number of refugees and victims of the wars of calamity. Guns were introduced with the arrival of the Dutch from the Cape Colony and Moshoeshoe was determined that he needed these. In the 1820s, the Basotho faced a few cattle raids from the Griquas, who were sometimes referred to as the Koranna or the Khoemana. It was during this time that they first encountered horses and guns in a combat setting. After several initial setbacks, the Basotho managed to either capture or acquire horses and guns of their own and began stockpiling gunpowder.

In the late 1830s, Boer trekkers from the Cape Colony showed up on the western borders of Basutoland and subsequently claimed land rights. As more farmers were moving into the area, they tried to colonise the land between the Caledon and Orange rivers, claiming that it had been “abandoned” by the Sotho people. Moshoeshoe, when hearing of the trekker settlement, stated that “… the ground on which they were belonged to me, but I had no objections…that they remained in peace with my people and recognised my authority”.

From 1837 to 1855, Eugene Casalis, from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, played the role of being Moshoeshoe’s Foreign Advisor, who was able to inform, advise, and acted as an interpreter to the king in his dealings with hostile foreigners, as well as documented the Sesotho language. Casalis, spent twenty-three years among the Basotho, who became fondly known as “Mohloana-Matsoana” (“The man with the small eyes”) and “the friend of Moshoeshoe”. On his arrival in South Africa, he made the strategic decision not to serve with either the colonists of Huguenot stock or with the Khoi and San, but with the Africans of the interior. Casalis established the mission at a place he called “Morija”, at the foot of the royal mountain, Thaba Bosiu, where he served for 20 years.

Moshoeshoe signed a treaty with the British Governor, George Thomas Napier, whose terms included the annexation of a tract of land, “the Orange Free State”, on which many Boers had settled. The Napier Treaty of 1843 greatly increased Moshoeshoe’s status as a leader. Although it deprived him of some lands he had laid claim to, it also recognised his rule over various ethnic groups living in the region. On 3 February 1848, Cape Governor Harry Smith pressured Moshoeshoe into signing an agreement whereby he recognised British paramount authority over the lands north of the Orange River, the Orange River Sovereignty, while retaining his traditional rights. The agreement also envisioned the creation of an alliance between the British and the Basotho.

Unfortunately, this outraged the Boers, who were suppressed in a brief skirmish in 1848 with the Basotho and remained bitter at both the British and the Basotho. On 25 June 1851, the situation erupted, when Major Henry Douglas Warden demanded that the Basuto restore cattle and horses to the victims of their past cattle raids. Warden had assembled a mixed force of British, Boer and African troops numbering approximately 2 500 men at Platberg. On 28 June, Warden moved his force against the Basotho-Taung in an effort to seize stolen cattle. However, on 30 June, Warden’s force was defeated by a Basotho-Taung army at the Battle of Viervoet, or Kolonyama, touching off an embarrassing war for the British.

With the intention of exercising vengeance on Moshoeshoe, on 20 December 1852, a British expeditionary force clashed with the Basotho in the Battle of Berea. This battle resulted in a temporary British retreat from the area, as a consequence of poor British planning and determined Basotho resistance. Anticipating a second British assault which could result in his military defeat, Moshoeshoe sent an appeal to the British commander for peace, thus attaining favourable terms and restoring amicable relations with the British. Accordingly, diplomacy saved the Sotho kingdom.

In 1853, Moshoeshoe grew tired of Sekonyela, whose Batlokoa followers continued to conduct cattle raids against the Basotho. Moshoeshoe thus deciding to decisively deal with the Batlokoa. After a final defeat of a combined force of the Batlokoa and their Koranna allies at the Battle of Khoro-e-Betloa, in November 1853, Moshoeshoe reigned supreme, subsequently seizing their stronghold of Jwalaboholo. The majority of the Batlokoa either scattered or became part of the Basotho nation.

In 1858, hostilities broke out between the Basotho and the Boers of the Orange Free State, in what became known as Senekal’s War, over boundary disagreements. Moshoeshoe defeated the Boers in that Free State-Basotho War. However, due to inferiority in both marksmanship and a shortage of logistical material, the Basotho were defeated in the two Free State-Basotho Wars that followed, which lasted until 1868. Subsequently, in 1865 Moshoeshoe lost a great portion of the western lowlands, between the Caledon and Orange rivers, from present day Wepener to Zastron, and the area north of the Caledon River, which included present day Harrismith and the area further westwards.

The last war in 1867 ended only when the British and Moshoeshoe appealed to Queen Victoria, who agreed to make Basutoland a British protectorate in 1868. The British were eager to check Boer advances, and in 1869, the British signed a treaty at Aliwal with the Boers. It defined the boundaries of Basutoland, reducing Moshoeshoe’s kingdom to half its previous size. The arable land west of the Caledon River remained in Boer hands and continues to be referred to as the Lost or Conquered Territory. In 1966, Basotholand gained its independence and was renamed Lesotho.

“You who are fond of praising the ancestors,
Your praises are poor when you leave out the warrior,
When you leave out Thesele, the son of Mokhachane;
For it is he who is the warrior of the wars:
Thesele is brave and strong,
That is Moshoeshoe-Moshaila.” – African Poems

Sources:
Wikipedia.
South African History Online (SAHO).
South African History Archives (SAHA).
Frederick Quinn, “African Saints: Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa”, Crossroads Publishing Company, 2002.
Nthebe Molope, “King Mzilikazi kaMashobane: The Brave Warrior Who Defied Shaka, Defended the Land and Confronted Colonial Forces”, Madibana Publishers, 2024.

Castro Khwela
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