MOSHOESHOE

King Moshoeshoe, or Mosweshwe, (born 1786, died March 1, 1870) was initially a minor chief of one of the Sotho-speaking people when he began his rule in the early 1820s. During his h alf-century reign, he transformed the then loose-knit Sotho-speaking people into a powerful confederation that galvanised the Sotho people into one nation.

PHOTO CAPTION: Moshoeshoe SOURCE: EA LIBRARY

Through his legendary diplomatic skills and fine military strategies, he steered the Sotho people through the tumultuous period of the “Wars of Calamity” and managed to hold the encroaching Boers at bay. The survival of the Basotho as a sovereign people is largely attributable to Moshoeshoe who through treaties, allegiances, battles, and absorptions had, by 1831, been widely acknowledged as the father of the Basotho nation.

While Moshoeshoe was engaged in the exercise of consolidating his people into a nation, another important historical drama was unfolding simultaneously. As Boer and British interests began to collide after the 1806 British occupation of the Cape Colony, advance parties of the Trek Boers first made their contact with the Sotho in 1831 around the Caledon River area.

Hungry for land where they could settle, these new arrivals gave presents and made tributes to Moshoeshoe which, unknown to the king, they interpreted as land purchases. While not hostile to the Boers, Moshoeshoe greeted their arrival with suspicion and eventually came to regard them as a serious problem.

In 1833 a German traveller gave Moshoeshoe a pistol and a horse as gifts. The king quickly realised the military value of these and promptly turned his once-unfriendly contact with the peripatetic Koran into a profitable business deal. They provided firearms and horses in exchange for the Basotho cattle. Thus a significant modernisation of the Basotho army began, which later earned them the distinction of being the finest horsemen in southern Africa. This ability was put to good use in their military encounters with the Boers and the British.

Another important development was the arrival at Thaba Bosiu, in June 1833, of French missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Society. After obtaining Moshoeshoe’s approval to start their proselytising, two settled in Morija and the other, Casalis, was stationed in Thaba Bosiu.

Eventually, Casalis was to become a friend and confidant of the king and handled his correspondence with the Boers and the British. Later on in 1862, two members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a French Catholic missionary order were granted permission to settle in Roma, where nearly a century later the only institution for higher learning, the Pius XII College (1945) was to be founded.

Importantly, however, in Moshoeshoe’s calculations, aside from the missionary and educational work they were to undertake, they were to be a European counterbalance, in addition to the arms and horses which he used to stem Boer encroachment. The missionaries became indispensable intermediaries between Moshoeshoe, the British, and the Boers.

The arrival of the trekking Boers in the fertile Caledon River area in 1836 in larger numbers and the establishment of permanent settlements ushered in a new era of constant conflict over land. In 1839 sensing the seriousness of the encounter with the Boers, Moshoeshoe complained against the Boers to the governor of the Cape Colony.

Three years later in 1842, Moshoeshoe requested British protection from the ever-growing territorial claims of the Boers. In 1843 an agreement was signed with Sir George Napier, the Cape Governor. The agreement recognised Moshoeshoe as “a friend and ally of the Cape Colony,” and roughly outlined the boundaries of the Basotho territory. In return, Moshoeshoe was obliged to maintain peace in the area and to refrain from engaging in any military action in the adjacent regions of the Cape Colony.

This document has been regarded since as constituting the foundation of Anglo-Sotho relations. A Resident Commissioner was appointed and stationed in Bloemfontein. His authority was to extend to the banks of the Vaal River to the North. Territorial conflicts between the Boers and the Basotho continued despite these arrangements.

In 1848 Sir Harry Smith, the Governor of the Cape, annexed all of the territory between the Orange and the Vaal Rivers including some of the territory belonging to Moshoeshoe and other minor Sotho chiefs. Moshoeshoe agreed to come under British jurisdiction provided that he be allowed to remain independent and govern his people according to their customs. A similar arrangement was made with Pretorius, the Boer leader. Five months after the Orange River Sovereignty proclamation, Pretorius attacked Bloemfontein but was defeated a month later by Sir Harry’s troops. Realising that the approaching self-government status for the Cape Colony would mean the reduction of British troops and hence encourage more flagrant Boer military adventures, Moshoeshoe began to equip his people with arms and horses.

It is reported that up to 7000 mounted men, almost all armed with muskets were mobilised. This appears to have served as a deterrent, for the sheer knowledge of a Basotho army of this magnitude restrained the Boers from launching any large-scale attacks for a while. At the same time, ironically, Pretorius is reported to have asked Moshoeshoe for help to fight against the British. Moshoeshoe rejected the request being obliged by his interests and the friendly provisions of the 1843 Napier Treaty.

In 1849 a large portion of Moshoeshoe’s territory was ceded to the Boers under the so-called Warden Line arrangement. Major Warden regarded Moshoeshoe as a principal cause of imperial Britain’s troubles in the area. The 1851 attack on the Moletsane villages by the British under Major Warden was successfully repulsed with the help of Moshoeshoe’s troops. A year later General Cathcart demanded that Moshoeshoe should hand over 100,000 cattle and 1,000 horses.

The king regarded this impossible demand as a provocation. When Moshoeshoe failed to comply with the demand, Cathcart dispatched a large military contingent to enforce his demand. In the short engagement that ensued, significant numbers of casualties were inflicted on both sides and Cathcart was forced to retreat. To forestall a renewed attack, Moshoeshoe even though he was the victor, quickly called for peace, an act that became widely regarded as a master stroke of diplomacy.

In 1854 the British renounced the Orange River Sovereignty proclamation and treaties with Moshoeshoe. This led the Boers to establish the republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The Boers attacked the Basotho in 1858. When they were defeated, the Boers sued for armistice and called on the Cape Governor, Sir George Grey, to mediate. The Warden Line was re-established with Moshoeshoe signing the agreement under vehement protest. A tenuous peace prevailed for seven years. As signs of more conflict became evident, Moshoeshoe once again asked for British protection in 1861.

The British wavered and, indeed, matters worsened between the Boers and the Basothos. Governor Woodehouse of the Cape was called to mediate the boundary disputes. He stuck to the Warden Line with minor changes. This was welcomed by the Boers but not the Basothos who wanted the return of their lost lands. A second war within seven years was launched by the Boers against the Basothos. This time the Boers were better prepared. Instead of a frontal attack on Thaba Bosiu, they captured Basotho cattle and grain reserves in the surrounding areas. This strategy worked as the Basotho could not fight for long without food provisions. To make matters worse, one of Moshoeshoe’s lieutenants, chief Molapo, surrendered to the Boers and provided strategic entry which made the king’s fortress at Thaba Bosiu vulnerable.

In 1866 Moshoeshoe, having no better options, signed the Treaty of Thaba Bosiu in which the Basotho lost one-half of their arable and rich land around the Caledon River Valley. Not satisfied with the terms of the Treaty, Moshoeshoe renewed the fight in 1867 but was defeated. Another appeal for protection was sent to Woodehouse.

Woodehouse recognised that the Imperial Government was responsible for the predicament of the Basotho because of the unilateral revocation of the Orange River Sovereignty proclamation and the lack of proper responses to past requests for protection by the Basotho. Angry at the expulsion of the missionaries from the Free State area and the fear that the Boers would make a break-through to the sea, Woodehouse annexed Basotholand in 1868, and in 1869 settled the boundaries between Basotholand and the Orange Free State.

Early the following year, in 1870, Moshoeshoe abdicated the throne in favour of his son, Letsie I. He died shortly thereafter. Moshoeshoe was truly one of the great African personages of the 19th century. Under extremely difficult conditions he forged the Sotho-speaking people into one nation under a central kingdom with its court, tributary chieftaincies, and a consultative pitso system.

Through a combination of diplomatic and military skills, he managed to check the total take-over of Basotho territory by the Boers, and out of necessity, sought British protection an arrangement that was to have long-term adverse effects on the autonomy of the Basotho. Missionary work resulted in the establishment of a broad-based elementary educational system as well as the Pius XI University College.

Important laws such as the 1854 prohibition of the sale of alcohol, the 1855 punishment of witchcraft, and the forbidding of permanent European ownership of land in the kingdom in 1859 were all passed during his reign.

MOKUBUNG NKOMO