Mokotjo Maseli
As Basotho celebrate 200 years as a nation founded at Thaba-Bosiu there is very little to show for. The why of that touches on many a facet, one of which is the role of the Central Government in developing a nation. It has been relayed orally and in written text that Basotho as a nation we have come to know was founded on the backdrop of perilous times, Lifaqane. Moshoeshoe and his small band of people even moved from Botha-Bothe to Thaba-Bosiu in search of a haven. Just to demonstrate the jeopardy of then, Peete, Moshoeshoe’s grandfather was devoured by cannibals en route to the sanctuary that was Thaba-Bosiu.
Post settlement at Thaba-Bosiu and the waning of Lifaqane, Moshoeshoe embarked on a deliberate nation-building on the cornerstone of peace and social welfare, perhaps having witnessed the devastation of Lifaqane and also recalling the teachings of Morena Mohlomi. This nation-building saw Thaba-Bosiu becoming an asylum for refugees of Lifaqane. Moshoeshoe went further and made alliances with neighbouring kingdoms, as well as those far off, prevention of war, being better than cure.
A proper modern analysis of Moshoeshoe’s life as a chief and king reveals a remarkable and complex leader with an unusual philosophy of leadership, and a surprising grasp of the realities and challenges facing him and his people during the mid-1800s. Morena Moshoeshoe had earlier realised that poverty and hunger were the main enemies of stability and a strong state after all, a Sesotho proverb says lela le lapileng ha le na tsebe, he, therefore, started what was called Mafisa, cattle on loan to the poor among his subjects. They could use the fruits of these animals, like milk and offspring, but they remained his property – (Ngale, 2021). Mafisa was a social grant before social grants became social grants and that was in the 1800s. Make a note.
Morena Moshoeshoe embodied the noble qualities of a chief who loved and served his people based on the understanding that his power depended on the goodwill or grace of the people, thereby fulfilling the Sesotho proverb – morena ke morena ka sechaba. He greatly understood that the justification for the use of power by the public (leadership) is the advancement of the public interest – (Ngale, 2021). This philosophy is nowhere to be found in modern-day political leadership.
The dearth of a government for the people is a glaring contradiction to the governing political system of democracy, the government of the people by the people. The government is of the people yet surprisingly serves other interests that are not necessarily for the people, odd. In Lesotho’s democratic dispensation, a government of the people by the people was elected in October of 2022. Prime Minister Matekane’s government is of a philosophy of free market capital/trickle-down economy/private sector-led development, which suspiciously sounds like a government repudiating its responsibilities, passing the buck of development when the buck should stop with the government. A stark contrast to what Morena Moshoeshoe was about.
A trickle-down economy breeds monsters, hoarders of wealth, and exploiters of labour, of the environment, of laws of the land. Private-led growth is collusions, cartel behaviour, price fixing, and price gouging become an order of the day. Remember 2-3 years back during the COVID-19 pandemic when retailers decided to astronomically increase prices of basic commodities? Yes. Those are the pitfalls of private sector-led growth because the private sector is only concerned with increased price and profitability instead of human needs, and that is who our government wants to rely on in terms of state development, a non-Moshoeshoe philosophy.
Private-sector-led economy is based on the premise that the self-interest of the businesspeople is sure to benefit the nation; that the best way to get things done is to let capitalists make as large a profit as possible and, as a certain byproduct of the process, the needs of the people will be served. Ludicrous. How so, when the governments couldn’t control price gouging by retail conglomerates during the Covid-19 pandemic? To whose advantage is that being done? The economic welfare of the nation can best be achieved, industrialists assure us, not by careful comprehensive planning to that end, but by allowing individual capitalists to decide what is best for the rest of us. The very same entities that collude to fix the price of bread want us to put our fate in their hands.
Instead of “handling their business” as Morena Moshoeshoe did during times of distress, our government seeks to only become a servant of private capital, a gatekeeper, something that the father of economics, Adam Smith long foresaw as far back as 1776 as he laid it out in his famed book (The Wealth of Nations), “Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
For the class that rules economically, that owns the means of production, also rules politically – (Leo & Sybil H., 1953). We see this whenever workers take to the streets to fight for better work and/or living conditions. The wrath of government response is lightning quick, unsurprisingly utterly slow in improving workers’ conditions. In the surrounding Republic of South Africa, the Red Berets have realised that having political power without economic power is of little use when pursuing an equal society, hence their urging for state capacitation economically for the benefit of all. Morena Moshoeshoe saw that in the 1800s, hence the devising of a Citizen Economic Empowerment (CEE) system called mafisa.
The lip service by corporations, in the boardrooms and annual reports is ethics and sustainability, yet practically, it is competition, self-interest, sharp dealing, dog eat dog, cutthroat, push your rival to the wall, anything goes that you can get away with. Private capital has polluted the air we breathe, the land we live on, and the water we drink, because that is their nature. In a system where the primary motive for the production of goods is the making of a profit, profit should inevitably be regarded as all-important, more important even than lives. And so it is. Profit at all costs. Societal welfare is a by-product of the world of free market capital. However, in the world of our Lord, Morena Moshoeshoe The First of His Name, instead of competition, cooperation (matsema); instead of hate, love; instead of grabbing for yourself, service to others; instead of climbing to the top on the other fellow’s back, help your fellow-man; instead of “how much is there in it for me?”, “will it benefit others?”; instead of the lust for riches, the desire to serve. Conscious, intentional leadership.
We need a government like that of the People’s Republic of China, which took charge of the welfare of its people via Centralised Planning instead of leaving that to private capital because the increase in man’s power to produce should have resulted in the abolition of need and poverty. It has not had that result even in the United States of America, the land of the free, home of the brave, pursuers of the American Dream, the strongest, richest, and most productive capitalist country in the world. Instead, homelessness, exorbitant healthcare, and working multiple jobs to make ends meet. It, therefore, can be said that China’s success has eroded the belief that free markets represent the best development strategy for everyone.
The People’s Republic of China has managed to uplift millions out of poverty because it did not leave up the functions of a state to a private individual, it became fully hands-on and intentional, with centralised planning. China leads in many aspects of the economy and technology. Its success is built on centralised planning and control.
The Kingdom of Lesotho saw a glimpse of centralised planning when the Government of Lesotho (GoL) had a fully functioning National Planning Board (NPB), continuity and ability to translate policy goals into concrete projects and programs, with visible benefits for the entire population, not just the elite was the order of the day, until power-hungry, self-infatuated politicians decided to render it useless.
Just a few years back the then Minister of Development Planning Mr Selibe Mochoboroane decried the pandemic of abandoned projects in Lesotho, which one can say is a result of frequent changes of governments in the dawn of coalitions (lack of continuity/monitoring, lack of NPB). Selibe Mochoboroane, blamed the delays in completing the projects and the resultant cost escalations on rampant corruption among government officials and a general lack of political will to ensure efficient and prompt completion of projects. Unchecked, unbalanced.
Clarity is clear to see, Lesotho does not need a private sector-led development, Lesotho needs SeMoshoeshoe, a hands-on approach, a centralised planning style where the people come before profitability, only then will our kinfolk settle in their homeland and not form part of gangs that fight over abandoned mines in the neighbouring states. A welfare state society is possible, when everyone feels part and benefits from the resources of their fatherland. After all, freedom means living life to the fullest, the economic ability to satisfy the needs of the body in regard to adequate food, clothing, and shelter, plus an effective opportunity to cultivate the mind, develop one’s personality, and assert one’s individuality as prescribed in the constitution of the Kingdom. That becomes a task too far to achieve when the development of the sovereignty is left in the hands of a few elites who are controlled by a profit motive
Sekoele to 200 years ago when Morena Moshoeshoe settled at Thaba-Bosiu. A clarion call to retreat, retreat to the prosperity(Nala) that will see Khotso multiplying and maybe our ancestors in seeing that we have not forgotten our ways will beg the gods to open the skies and Pula will come down on us. The prosperity that our founder envisioned for us, the prosperity that Morena Moshoeshoe greatly made an effort manifest. Moshoeshoe, an enigma, a philosopher, a graduate of Morena Mohlomi School of Political Leadership and Governance.
