Power in Colonial Africa: Conflict and Discourse in Lesotho, 1870–1960

7. Lerotholi and “Masopha’s War”: The Colonial/Civil War of 1898

118 7 Lerotholi and “Masopha’s War” The Colonial/Civil War of 1898 The Basuto are in a bottle and should not get out of it. The resumption of direct British Imperial rule over Basutoland in 1884 prevented the alienation of land in Lesotho for white settlement and allowed the BaSotho to keep their guns, but administrative goals and strategies remained largely the same. A typical British policy of indirect rule was implemented through increasing reliance on chiefly authority under the watchful eyes of the new British Resident Commissioner and his District Commissioners. Politically, British colonial officials directed their attention to subduing the still restive Masopha and asserting the dominance of the Paramount Chieftaincy toward the end of achieving a greater centralization of authority. This would only be achieved by eventually resorting again to the force of arms, in 1898, after rhetoric and diplomacy had failed. Effective colonial rule was reestablished after the end of the Gun War when Col. Marshal Clarke, RA, set out from England in January 1884 to take up his new appointment as the British Resident Commissioner in Basutoland. He took two officers from England to serve under him: Sir Godfrey Lagden himself, appointed to the posts of Secretary, Accountant, and Assistant Commissioner; and J. C. Macgregor, appointed as Police Officer and later Assistant Commissioner.1 Lagden described the surprise of the BaSotho that their arrival on 16 March was so unceremonious, but the next day they went with Lerotholi to hold a pitso at Maseru, where they were welcomed by all the chiefs except Masopha and Ramanella and their rebellious followers. From this moment Lagden became a reporter of events he not only witnessed but directly influenced and for which he was held responsible as a colonial official. Nevertheless, his observations, upon which historical inquiry inevitably depends for this period, were generally acute, and even when faulty his reports reflect accurately the impressions that shaped the decisions he made and in turn influenced history. His two-volume history was written with the benefit of hindsight for publication but for the most part reflects the contents of the annual published Colonial Reports for which he was responsible during his many years in office and that contain the contemporaneous accounts of himself and his District Resident Commissioners . In his later, published work Lagden assessed Basutoland as it was on his arrival in early 1884: At heart the nation as a whole, though shy, was willing to be governed mildly and anxious to progress. But the success of Masupha in defying authority was a serious bar to unity. He was able to centralize disaffection and detach a strong body of ardent rebels who kept alive opposition to any form of government and hatred of the loyals. In this attitude there is reason to believe he received the moral countenance of the Paramount Chief Letsie whose secret purpose it was, while affecting to condemn his brother, to gain protection without forfeiting independence.2 Some of the former rebels, including Masopha’s following, kept alive hostility toward the BaSotho who had fought on the side of the colonial government during the Gun War because they wanted to keep the booty of land and cattle that they had confiscated from the former “loyals.” Although Joel, like Lerotholi, did break from his uncle Masopha and join Letsie in declaring acceptance of the new Imperial dispensation , his popularity and political base had been artificially strengthened by his role as a rebel, and he wanted to retain the political leverage he had gained over his senior brother Jonathan to press his claim for the Leribe chieftaincy. The “loyals,” whose homes were in the central Berea and Thaba Bosiu districts, were at continued risk from the depredations of Masopha’s intrusions, and those whose homes were in Leribe remained physically vulnerable to Joel’s attacks. However, the junior sons of Moshoeshoe, Letsie’s half-brothers George Tlali Moshoeshoe and Sofonia Moshoeshoe, both accepted land from the government in Griqualand East outside of Basutoland, where they settled permanently and their descendents can still be found today.3 Lerotholi and “Masopha’s War” 119 It is not surprising that the Leribe dispute festered. As Burman’s evidence shows, on his 1882 trip to Basutoland in the company of General Gordon, Sauer had inflamed the situation in Leribe by offering Jonathan ’s lands to Joel as a bribe if Joel would support Lerotholi against Masopha, while...