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Chapter 4. “Medicine murder” in Lesotho
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Chapter 4 “Medicine murder” in Lesotho1 Introduction Lesotho (officially the Kingdom of Lesotho) is a small country about 150 miles long by 100 miles wide (about 11,583 sq. mi) that is completely encircled by the Republic of South Africa to which it is economically dependent. Lesotho’s economy is predominantly agricultural, with the majority of its population dependent on subsistence farming. The majority of men have historically found employment in South Africa, especially in the mining sector. South Africa has an arrangement with Lesotho which facilitates the flow of workers’ remittances and receipts to Lesotho. The majority of the people are Basotho. However, the earliest inhabitants of what is Lesotho were the San, whose presence in southern Africa dates back at least 2000 years. These hunters and gatherers were later joined by Bantu-speaking peoples, who immigrated into southern Africa as early as 300 C.E., bringing with them agriculture, animal husbandry, and ironworking techniques. The San traded and even intermarried with the Bantu peoples, but by the nineteenth century, land-hungry Bantu speakers had driven the last of the hunter-gatherer societies from the area.2 The Basotho’s collective identity and centralized political organization did not coalesce before the 1820s. The founder of kingdom that came to be known as Basutoland was Moshoeshoe (aka Moshesh) the chief of the Sotho Kuena clan. Being a shrewd politician and diplomat, Moshoeshoe was able to maintain Lesotho’s independence from its powerful neighbor, South Africa. After he died in 1870 his successor Letsie was unable to pull the kingdom together. 1 The colonial name Basutoland was derived from the name of the people who call themselves Basotho. Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from Britain on October 4, 1966. Lesotho and Basutoland are used interchangeably in this chapter. 2 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience, edited by Kwame A. Appiah and Henry L Gates (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999): 1148. 72 Human Sacrifice and the Supernatural in African History In 1884 Basutoland was for the second time declared a British protectorate.3 Under colonial rule, Lesotho was transformed from a relatively self-sufficient agrarian country — a net exporter of maize, wool, and sorghum — into a labor reserve for South Africa.4 The redrawing of colonial boundaries made many of Basutoland’s pastures and farmlands part of South Africa. What little arable land existed could scarcely meet the demands of a growing population. Thus the second half of the nineteenth century was a time when the Basotho had to face and endure hardship due to economic and environmental crises. In order to cope with these crises the Basotho engaged in rituals aimed at warding off misfortune in the form of poverty, disease, or malevolent spirits. As we shall see, human body parts were used in “medicine” intended to ensure the fertility of the fields or to guarantee success in life. Because the required body parts had to be taken from the victim while alive such ritual murder was a terrifying and excruciating experience for the victims. Colonial authorities in Lesotho designated those who died as a result of the excision of their body parts as victims of “medicine” murder rather than victims of human sacrifice. The rationale of this designation was that their deaths had nothing to do with religious rituals but rather the making of “medicine” for use in “traditional healing.” However, the fact that the efficacy of the socalled “medicine” was derived from what the Basotho believed to be human vital forces, the excision of body parts was not just ritual murder but amounted to human sacrifice insofar as the victim ended up dead. Of all Basotho occult practices, it is “medicine murder” that reflects their strong beliefs in the power of the supernatural. The supernatural in Basotho folklore The Basotho have many legends and stories. The most famous are the legends of Moshoeshoe’s mountain fortress, Thaba Bosiu. One of these is the legend about its increase in size when night comes on.5 The mountain’s peculiarities added to the wideness of the belief in its supernatural powers. In size about two miles by less than a mile, and between three and four hundred feet high, it has 3 The first time was in 1868 when Moshoeshoe asked the British for support against the Afrikaners who were encroaching on his kingdom. 4 Africana, 1150. 5 Tylden, G. A History of Thaba Bosiu “A Mountain at Night” (Morija, Basutoland: Morija...