August is officially the beginning of the Basotho year. It is a month for planting new crops and thus a month for new beginnings. In marking the beginning of ‘this year’, I thought I should write a blog each week for this month dedicated to the founder of the Basotho nation, Moshoeshoe I.

Moshoeshoe I was born 1870 and was named Lepoqo. A name that means disasters; for he was born in a period of no rain – this is emphasised because of the direct link to Basotho motto Khotso-Pula-Nala (Peace-Rain-Prosperity). Growing up, it is my opinion that Lepoqo was a ‘delinquent’ based on stories of him taking advantage of his strong physique to bully his peers. One such story suggests that he nearly clobbered to death a young man for ‘consuming’ milk from his favourite cow.

However, the man after going through initiation, he became a changed man. Reflecting on the period before his initiation, it is claimed that Moshoeshoe said:

‘Ke ne ke luma borena bo boholo!’

Roughly translated, he felt vibrations (or perhaps echoes) in him signalling a destiny of great leadership. So whilst bullying was not appropriate, he was in some sense trying to get the other boys to respect him (for the vibrations and echoes of power he felt in him).

The above is indeed who Lepoqo was before becoming Letlama (a name he got after initiation) or Moshoeshoe for that matter!