GRIFFITH

Paramount Chief Griffith (circa 1870-July 1939) was the second son of Paramount Chief Lerotholi of Basutholand. He reigned as paramount chief for 26 years, from 1913-39. His reign, which took place during the era of British colonial rule, was characterised by a significant reduction in the powers and authority of the paramount chief and of his subordinate chiefs.

Griffith was named after Colonel Charles D. Griffith of Cape Colony, founder of the Basutoland Mounted Police. In the 1890s, he became a chief at Phamong, in the Orange River valley, in an area inhabited among others by the Baphuthl. When the Baphuthl refused to recognise Griffith’s authority, he came into conflict with them in December 1897 at which time the Baphuthi fled for a time to the Herschel district of Cape Colony. In 1898 Griffith was a participant in the war waged by his father, Lerotholi, against Masopha. Together with his brother Letsie, who became Paramount Chief Letsie II on Lerotholi’s death, he helped lead his father’s forces to victory against Masopha.

In 1912 he became a Roman Catholic, and was given the baptismal name of Nathaniel. From this time onward he was a firm supporter of the work of the Catholic missions.

On the death of his brother Letsie II, it was proposed that Griffith act as regent for Tau, the young heir to the chieftainship. This he refused to do, and on Tau’s death he became paramount chief.

Following some popular dissatisfaction expressed in the 1920s with the administration of justice by various Basotho chiefs, the British government issued the Pim Report in 1935, which recommended unifying the traditional and colonial administrations into a single system. On the basis of these recommendations, the British, in the person of the resident commissioner, urged Paramount Chief Griffith, to accept the “wisdom and inevitability” of reform. In order to avoid the conflicts the British had experienced in the Bechuanaland Protectorate a few years earlier when the implementation of administrative changes was ordered without input from the local African authorities, the British coyly consulted Griffith and modified their administrative changes accordingly. As a result, two far-reaching proclamations were promulgated in 1938 with the paramount chief’s endorsement.

The first was the so-called Native Administration Proclamation No. 61, assuring the high commissioner substantial control over indigenous administration (including that of the paramount chief). The high commissioner had the right, in consultation with the chief, to list all those persons (chiefs, subchiefs and headmen) who constituted the traditional indigenous administration. It was estimated that in 1939 there were, 1,340 chiefs and headmen who were formally recognised by the British colonial administration, although these represented only about half the number of those exercising authority. Significantly, the high commissioner was vested by the proclamation with authority to revoke such recognition at his discretion. Thus the paramount chieftainship and the indigenous system of recognition, succession, and consultation among the Basotho were subverted-a process that had started earlier with the replacement of the pitso system by the British-imposed Basotho Council. (The pitso was a gathering of notables who met with the chief to discuss issues and help to make decisions, thus constituting a form of general assembly.) Moreover, the paramount chief and his subordinate chiefs were obliged by statute to maintain law and order. Curiously, however, the powers of arrest of the traditional authorities were abridged, although the proclamation “empowered” the paramount chief, with the approval of the resident commissioner, to make judgments on such matters as noxious weeds, soil erosion and grazing.

The second proclamation, No. 62, curtailed traditional judicial authority by the requiring that only those issued warrants by the resident commissioner could preside over judicial cases. The effect of this provision was substantially to reduce the number of traditional courts, which numbered 1,300 in 1938. At the same time British judicial authority was strengthened.

Unlike the situation in the neighbouring protectorate of Bechuanaland, the two proclamations were well received in Basotholand, mainly because Paramount Chief Griffith had endorsed these administrative reforms, and also because of widespread disenchantment with what were viewed as abuses of powers by some of the chiefs.

MOKUBUNG NKOMO