Lekhotla la Bafo

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Lekhotla la Bafo ( Sesotho ; German about: "Council of the simple people") was a political group in Basutoland . It was founded in 1919 and was the forerunner of Basutoland's first party, the Basutoland African Congress (BAC, later BCP).

history

Lekhotla la Bafo was founded on September 27, 1919 by Josiel Lefela (1885-1965) in his home town of Mapoteng in the Berea district . Lefela had been a member of the Basutoland National Council (BNC) since 1916 and before the establishment of the Lekhotla la Bafo had tried in vain to achieve the establishment of a chamber that corresponded to the British House of Commons . Another initiative by Lefela concerned support for Basotho , who had crashed in the mines in South Africa . However, the colonial administration rejected his proposals.

Lefela's younger brother Maphutseng Lefela became the secretary of Lekhatlo la Bafo. The first president was Eleazar Lerata Masopha, a son of morena Masopha and thus grandson of the founding father of the Basotho nation, Moshoeshoes I. He was in office until 1930. On November 1, 1920, Lefela was expelled from the BNC by the British colonial administration.

The Lekhotla la Bafo was rejected by most of the barena . Nevertheless, the main focus of the Lekhotla la Bafo was the colonial authorities and the missionaries of the large churches, while Moshoeshoe I was seen as a model. In his honor, the Lekhotla la Bafo held a meeting every March 12th, the then Moshoeshoe's Day, on the plateau of Thaba Bosiu , which had once been Moshoeshoe's seat of government. The possible connection of Basutoland to the South African Union was fought; education in Christian schools according to western values ​​was rejected. Lekhatlo la Bafo encouraged the population not to buy Western goods and worked with some small, independent churches. Lekhotla la Bafo campaigned for the release of the Jamaican Marcus Garvey , a black symbolic figure , in 1927 . Lekhotla la Bafo had good relations with the South African Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). However, the colonial administration forbade representatives of these groups to come to Basutoland. In 1930 Libenyane Jobo became president of the Lekhotla la Bafo, another descendant of Moshoeshoe I. The Lekhotla la Bafo was in fact still run by Lefela. The maximum number of members was a few thousand.

In 1942 Lekhotla la Bafo appealed to the Basotho not to take part in the “white” war - the Second World War. Lefela was subsequently imprisoned for incitement until the end of 1943. The work of Lekhotla la Bafo was banned until 1946 , when Lefela threatened to bring the ban before the United Nations . Lefela was elected to the BNC as a member of the Berea District MP in 1946. In 1947 Lefela and other members of the Lekhotla la Bafo were charged with arson resulting in death, but almost all of the accused, including Lefela, were acquitted. In June 1955, Lefela was charged with treason and imprisoned until March 1956.

During a demonstration in Thaba Bosiu in 1957, the Lekhotla la Bafo symbolically presented a torch to representatives of the Basutoland Congress Party , whose chairman Ntsu Mokhehle had previously been a member of the Lekhotla la Bafo. The Lekhotla la Bafo existed until at least 1965, but did not take part in the parliamentary elections and quickly lost its importance.

See also

literature

  • Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 147-152.
  • Robert Edgar: Prophets with Honor: A Documentary History of Lekhotla la Bafo. Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1987

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 147.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 148.
  3. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 149.
  4. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 150.
  5. ↑ Marcus Garvey: The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, Vol. X: Africa for the Africans, 1923-1945 . In: Robert Abraham Hill (Ed.): The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers . tape 10 . University of California Press, 2006, ISBN 0-520-93275-7 , pp. 402 (English, 975 pages, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ^ A b c Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 151.