Route to independence

Lesotho and Swaziland 

 

• Lesotho

  • Pre-colonial period

    • created by Moshoeshoe (minor chief)

    • welcomed European powers in order to protect land from Afrikaners taking their land

    • Moshoeshoe fascinated by European culture

  • Colonial period

    • added to Cape Colony after Moshoeshoe’s death

    • Gun War, in which Basotho couldn’t bear arms, led to uprising between them and white settlers

    • British then took hold of the land

    • went from flourishing agrarian region (maize, wool, sorghum) to labor source for South Africa

    • land redistributed mainly to South Africa, lack of rich farmland for Basutoland

    • After WWII, two major political parties emerged: BCP (led by Ntsu Mokhehle) and BNP (led by Chief Leabua Jonathan)

    • both wanted reforms (limit powers of chiefs, eventual independence) but BNP established relations with white South African government, which allowed them to campaign more freely, securing them seats in the first elections preluding independence

    • Chief Jonathan first prime minister

  • Post-colonial

    • Chief Jonathan and his regime not very good at addressing problems of post colonial Lesotho

    • poor farmland and lack of political direction

    • Lesotho citizens voted for majority BCP in next elections, but Chief Jonathan declared them void and declared state of emergency

    • Lesotho essentially police state

    • meanwhile, Ntsu Mokhehle and others planning to overthrow Leabua, eventually he was by Major General Justin Lekhanya

    • Lekhanya just as bad, and was overthrown later; government partially restored and BCP with Mokhehle put into power

    • Mokhehle did little to reduce political violence, King Letsie III (King Moeshoeshoe successor) dissolved National Assembly and tried to seize ultimate control, but only met with dissatisfaction and Mokhehle restored to power

    • Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) created  

• Swaziland (“the Switzerland”....bc of unusually peaceful transition from colonization to independence)

  • Pre-colonial period

    • British gave Swaziland independence during scramble for Africa, and was under protection from South Africa

    • land/mineral rights and other concessions led to triumviral administration where a government represented the Brits, Dutch and Swazi people residing there

    • Anglo-Boer War/Second Boer War with British victory gave Britain complete control over Swaziland

  • Colonial period

    • land distributed into two parts: European (⅔)  and non-European (⅓)

    • Queen Mother Labotsibeni had a council that protested terms of land partition (which was proclaimed in 1907 and divided Swaziland between Swazi, white settlers and British)

    • Sobhuza (political figure) created Swazi Commercial Amadoda which granted licenses to small businesses on reserves and established the Swazi National School, to counteract the dominance of mission schools

    • later in 1963 Swaziland granted limited self-government

    • 1968-granted complete independence

  • Post-colonial period

    • Sobhuza II becomes head of state

    • 1973 constitution suspended b/c King felt it didn’t reflect culture of Swazi people

    • ruled country by decree until his death in 1982 

• Commonalities/Themes? 

  • Both countries had the presence of a monarchy or a king, some sort of royalty in either an actual leadership role or a symbolic one. One reason why these countries were colonized so early or were targeted by Europe is possibly because they shared a monarchy system of government. Britain also had a monarch, so they might have seen Lesotho or Swaziland as more civilized or easier to colonize because they had some semblance of a monarchy-like government akin to Britain. These kings also posed problems later on in both countries' routes to independence, and showed a power struggle between the colonizers, the king, and the rulers and leaders following gaining independence. This poses the question: Do you think the power struggle between the kings and political leaders represents a bigger conflict between ideas of colonial Africa and pre-colonial Africa? 

  • Both countries were also had a sort of easy or less conflicted gain of independence. In both instances both countries seemed to have been given their independence quite easily from Britain. Why? Well both countries had little economic resources. The cost to maintain the colony and rule it outweighted the benefits of being one. This could explain why their independence was so freely given. 

• Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Swaziland

• http://africa.co.ls/aboutLesotho.html

• BBC News 2015. Lesotho Profile. January 25.

• Encyclopedia of the Nations. Lesotho-History <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Lesotho-HISTORY.html>

•  

  BBC News. 2014. Swaziland profile. October 20.

• Oxford University of Press. 2010. Encyclopedia of Africa. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kwame Anthony Appiah, ed.