Lesotho

The original inhabitants of what is now Lesotho were the San. By the 16th century Sotho groups had settled in the region. In the early 19th century, Shaka, a Zulu chief in southeastern Africa, began to expand the Zulu empire, causing the forced migrations of many different peoples during a period known as the mfecane. At that time Moshoeshoe, a leader of a Basotho village, led his people to the mountain of Butha-Buthe, where they survived several battles. In 1824 Moshoeshoe moved to a better protected site on the top of another mountain, called Thaba Bosiu. His policy of granting protection to refugees from other conflicts meant that he gathered an increasingly large group of people under his authority. This group eventually formed Basutoland. In the 1830s white settlers from the Cape Colony, called Afrikaners, or Boers, left the colony because they felt oppressed by British rule and began to invade Moshoeshoe's territory. The Basotho fought the settlers in numerous border incidents. Fighting between Moshoeshoe's forces and those of the Afrikaners continued until the 1860s, and Moshoeshoe lost some of his land. In 1868 Moshoeshoe asked for British help, and Great Britain made Basutoland a protectorate. Moshoeshoe died in 1870. In 1871 Basutoland was placed under the control of the Cape Colony, but Great Britain resumed direct control in 1884, after a war between the Cape Colony government and the Basotho. Once the Cape Colony and other British colonies were united to form the Union of South Africa (later the Republic of South Africa) in 1910, the British government assumed that Basutoland would eventually be incorporated into South Africa. The South African government repeatedly requested this incorporation, but the Basotho consistently refused. The Basutoland National Council, created in 1910, asked the British government for internal self-government in 1955. In 1960 an elected legislative council was established. When general elections were held in 1965, the Basutoland National Party (BNP, which became the Basotho National Party at independence) won a majority of seats in the legislature; the leader of the BNP, Chief Joseph Leabua Jonathan, became prime minister. Basutoland became the independent country of Lesotho on October 4, 1966. The king, Moshoeshoe II, attempted to enlarge his authority, but his efforts were checked by the prime minister. In national elections held on January 27, 1970, the first since independence, the opposition Basotho Congress Party (BCP) seemed to have the winning edge. Prime Minister Jonathan then nullified the elections and declared a state of emergency. The constitution and parliament were suspended, and Jonathan undertook to govern the country by decree. In 1973 an interim National Assembly of nominated members absorbed the old assembly and Senate. Supporters of the BCP staged an armed uprising in 1974. When it failed, the leaders formed a Lesotho Liberation Army that during the following years engaged in frequent clashes with the paramilitary police. Jonathan accused South Africa of collusion with the rebels, and relations with that country were consequently strained. In 1986 Jonathan was overthrown; executive and legislative powers were then formally vested in King Moshoeshoe, although actually exercised by a military council. Moshoeshoe was stripped of power and exiled in March 1990; he was officially dethroned in November and his son, Letsie David Mohato Bereng Seeiso, was temporarily enthroned as Letsie III. In 1993 Lesotho ended a period of military rule when Ntsu Mokhehle, leader of the BCP, was sworn in as prime minister. However, in August 1994 King Letsie, claiming to respond to popular dissatisfaction with the Mokhehle regime, dissolved the cabinet. After other African leaders, including South African president Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, and Botswanan president Quett Ketumile Joni Masire, criticized Letsie, he restored power to Mokhehle in September. In 1995 Letsie abdicated and restored the crown to his father, Moshoeshoe II, who pledged to uphold the constitution. On January 15, 1996, Moshoeshoe II was killed in an automobile accident on his way back to Maseru from inspecting his cattle herds. Prince Letsie David Mohato succeeded him, taking the throne once again as Letsie III. Construction began in 1986 on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which will divert water from the headwaters of several rivers in Lesotho to the Witwatersrand region of South Africa. The project, which is expected to be completed in 2015, is intended to boost Lesotho's economy through the creation of jobs, improvements in infrastructure, and payments from South Africa for water use. It will also reduce Lesotho's dependence on South Africa for electricity through the construction of a hydroelectric power plant.