Question

The Rise and consolidation of the sotho Kingdom under King Moshoeshoe​

Answer 1

In 1820 the first son of Mokhachane, a Bakoteli chief, by the name of Leboqo, branched at the age of 34 to establish a SeSotho chieftaincy of his own based at Butha-Buthe Mountain (Olivier 2005, Lesotho Government Undated). In 1822 the first of several incursions by various Nguni speaking groups from KwaZulu-Natal that was to wreak havoc amongst the SeSotho and depopulate the land occurred, that of the Hlubi under the leadership of Mpangazita. The immediate response of the Moshoeshoe, as Leboqo was to be known, was to seek alliances with other SeSotho groups to counter the invaders, but after warding off an attack by the Hlubi on Butha-Buthe in 1824 he sought a less vulnerable position and occupied Thaba Bosiu in the winter of that year (Eldredge 1993, 2-3; Lesotho Government Undated).

The impregnability and obscurity of Thaba Bosiu (Mountain of the Night) provided the nucleus of the emerging kingdom with security from the waves of attacks that were to follow and a refuge for the victims of these attacks, who were then absorbed into the expanding polity (Eldredge 1993, 3; Olivier 2005; Lyle & Murray 1980, 48). The Hlubi were defeated and scattered by the Ngwane under Matiwani in 1825, who had likewise been driven across the Drakensberg by the Zulu king Shaka; Moshoeshoe subordinated himself to the Ngwane while absorbing into his people those of the Hlubi that took refuge with him (Lyle & Murray 1980, 32, Lesotho Government Undated).

In 1827 Shaka's impis crossed the Drakensberg in pursuit of the Ngwane and captured much of their cattle. The Ngwane attributed the Zulu raid to Moshoeshoe and assaulted Thaba Bosiu, but without success and they were ambushed on their return by the forces of the rebel Zulu general Matzilikazi (Lyle & Murray 1980, 32). The Ngwane then fled to Thembu country where they were routed by a joint colonial/Thembu forces and many of the survivors took refuge at Thaba Bosiu so that once more Moshoeshoe's forces were augmented (Lyle & Murray 1980, 32).

It was through a policy skilful diplomacy, of withdrawal under attack and magnimity to the vanquished combined with skilful political marriages, that Moshoeshoe wielded together the disparate elements that were to form the Basotho nation (Lesotho Government Undated, Olivier 2005). In the case of the Ngwane, for instance, Moshoeshoe persisted in requests for acceptance as a subject, and the protection that that implied, through offers of tribute all the while strengthening himself by absorbing the survivors of Matiwani's attacks. Later he became a tributary of the more distant Shaka to free himself of the nearer Matiwani and after Matiwani's fall he absorbed and incorporated much of the remnants of the Ngwane. "Thus by his following increased dramatically and, and by 1840 his population had trebled to about forty thousand in fifteen years" (Lyle & Murray 1980, 48).

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