The impact of the Anglo-Boer/South African War as a seminal influence on the development of Afrikaner nationalist politics became apparent in subsequent years. The Boer leaders most notably Louis Botha, Jan Smuts and JBM Hertzog played a dominant role in the country´s politics for the next half defeated Afrikaners through the education system and numerical swamping through British immigration were abandoned as impractical, the British looked to the Afrikaners as collaborators in securing imperial political and economic interests. During 1907 and 1908, the two former Boer republics were granted self-government but, crucially, with a whites-only franchise. Despite promises to the contrary, black interests were sacrificed in the interest of white nation-building across the white language divided. The National Convention drew up a constitution and the four colonies became an independent dominion called the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910 (Burger, 2007, p.34-35).
Segregation and Apartheid
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica “Segregation is the practice of restricting people to certain circumscribed areas of residence or to separate institutions (e.g, school, churches) and facilities (parks, playgrounds, restaurants, restrooms) on the basis of race or alleged race.” While “Apartheid” is an official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.
In South Africa the principles of segregationist thinking were laid down in a 1905 report by the South African Native Affairs Commission and continued to evolve in response to these economic, social and political pressures. In keeping with its recommendations, the first union government enacted the seminal Natives Land Act in 1913. Administrative and legal dualism reinforced the division between white citizen and black non-citizen, a dispensation personified by the governor-general who, as “supreme chief” over the country´s African majority, was empowered to rule them by administrative fiat and decree. The government also regularized the job color bar, reserving skilled work for whites and denying African workers the right to organize. Legislation, which was consolidated in the Natives (Urban Areas) Act, 1923, entrenched urban segregation and controlled African mobility by means of pass laws. The pass laws were intended to enmesh Africans in a web of coercion designed to force them into labour and keep them there under conditions and at wage levels that suited white employers, and to deny them any bargaining power. In 1924, a pact government under Hertzog, comprising Afrikaners nationalists and representatives of immigrant labour, ousted the Smuts regime. The pact was based on a common suspicion of the dominance of mining capital, and a determination to protect the interest of white labour by intensifying discrimination against blacks (Burger, 2007, p.35-37)
After the Second World War in 1948, the National Party, with its ideology of apartheid that brought an even more rigorous and authoritarian approach than the segregationist policies of previous governments, won the general elections. The changed was marked by the formation of the ANC Youth League in 1943, fostering the leadership of figures such as Anton Lembede, AP Mda, Nelson Mandela (See appendix “B-1”), Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, who were to inspire the struggle for decades to come. In 1961, the NP Government under Prime Minister HF Verwoerd declared South Africa a republic, after winning a whites-only referendum on the issue. A new currency, the Rand, and a new flag, anthem and coat of arms were formally introduced. South Africa, having become a republic, had to apply for continued membership of the Commonwealth. (Burger, 2007, p. 37-38)
Moreover, for the first time, the colored people, who had always been subjected to informal discrimination, were brought within the ambit of discriminatory laws. In the mid-1950s, government took the drastic step of overriding an entrenched clause in the 1910 Constitution of the Union so as to be able to remove coloured voters from the common voters´ roll. It also enforced residential segregation, expropriating homes where necessary and policing massive forced removals into colored “group areas.” Their policy, which they termed “separate development”, divided the African population into artificial ethnic “nations”, each with its own “homeland” and the prospect of “independence” supposedly in keeping with trends elsewhere on the continent (Burger, 2007, p.38).
The End of Apartheid
The Defiance Campaign of 1952 carried mass mobilization to new heights under the banner of non-violent resistance to the pass laws. These actions were influenced in part by the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi. On a demonstration called by the PAC in March 1960, 69 anti-pass demonstrators were killed when police fired. A state of emergency was imposed and detention without trials was introduced. The 1960s was a decade of overwhelming repression and relative political disarray among blacks in the country. Armed action was contained by the state. The resurgence of resistance politics from the early 1970s was dramatic. The Black Consciousness Movement, led by Steve Biko (who was killed in detention in 1977; See Appendix B-2), reawakened a sense of pride and self-esteem in black people. News of the brutal death of Biko reverberated around the globe and led to unprecedented outrage. A number of business, student and academic Afrikaners held meeting publicly and privately with the ANC in exile. Secret talks were held between the imprisoned Mandela and government ministers about a new dispensation for South Africa, with blacks forming a major part of it (Burger, 2007, p.38-39).
On February 2 1990, FW de Klerk lifted restrictions on 33 opposition groups, including the ANC, the PAC and the Communist Party, at the opening of Parliament. On February 11 Mandela, who had maintained a tough negotiating stance on the issue, was released after 27 years in prison. The piecemeal dismantling of restrictive legislation began. Political groups started negotiating the ending of white minority rule, and in early 1992 the white electorate endorsed De Klerk's stance on these negotiations in a referendum. Violence continued unabated, a massacre at the township of Boipatong causing the ANC to withdraw temporarily from constitutional talks. In 1993, however, an agreement was reached on a Government of National Unity which would allow a partnership of the old regime and the new (South Africa.Info, 2011).
The beginning of Freedom
South Africa's first democratic election was held on 26, 27 and 28 April 1994, with victory going to the ANC in an alliance with the Communist Party and Cosatu. Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President on May 10 with FW de Klerk and the ANC's Thabo Mbeki as Deputy Presidents. Mandela's presidency was characterized by the successful negotiation of a new constitution; a start on the massive task of restructuring the civil service and attempts to redirect national priorities to address the results of apartheid; and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up primarily to investigate the wrongs of the past. In the country's second democratic election on 2 June 1999 the ANC marginally increased its majority and Thabo Mbeki became President. The New Nationalist Party, previously the official opposition, lost ground and ceded that position to the Democratic Party, which later became the Democratic Alliance. In 2004 South Africa's third democratic election went off peacefully, with Thabo Mbeki and the ANC again returning to power, and the Democratic Alliance retaining its position as official opposition (South Africa Info, 2011). The actual president of the country since 2009 is Jacob Zuma.
In 2010, the country was prepared to offer one of the most important events worldwide; “The FIFA World´s Cup” South Africa was placed in the eyes of millions of people. Even though these events have taken place in countries that has the necessary resources for conduct this events, on this occasion a third world country as South Africa had the opportunity to make this sporting event and South Africa became in the first African country in organizing an event of such magnitude (Washington Post, 2010).
LITERATURE
South Africa literature has a vibrant and rich oral tradition. This form of expression goes back many centuries and has been passed down from one generation to the next as an important way of sharing advice, remembering history, telling stories and reflecting on contemporary society. Among the most relevant authors we can mention:
From the colonial period; Rider Haggard, who wrote many mythical and adventure stories, beginning in the early 1880s. His most famous book is King Solomon's Mines (1886), a bestseller in its day. Another author Olive Schreiner with her novel The Story of an African Farm (1883) is generally considered to be the founding text of South African literature. Moreover, Douglas Blackburn who was a British journalist who wrote two novels set in this world, Prinsloo of Prinsloosdorp (1899) and A Burgher Quixote (1903), capturing with a great deal of sly humour the personality and situation of the Boer at the time (South Africa´s Official Gateway, 2010).
It was not until the 20th century that literature by black South Africans emerged. The first generation of mission-educated African writers sought to restore dignity to Africans by invoking and reconstructing a heroic African past. The first novel by a black South African was Mhudi (completed in 1920 but only published in 1930) by Solomon Plaatje (Sol). Furthermore, Thomas Mofolo with his novel Chaka reinvents the legendary Zulu king (commonly referred to as Shaka). Mofolo portrays him as a heroic but tragic figure, a monarch to rival Shakespeare's Macbeth. Other author from that period are William Plomer, who shocked colonial society with his novel Turbott Wolfe (1926), it tackled the highly sensitive issue of inter-racial love (South Africa´s Official Gateway, 2010).
The 1940s saw the beginnings of a flowering of literature by black South African. Among them were HIE Dhlomo, Herman Charles Bosman; Alan Paton who became famous around the world with his novel Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) possibly the most famous novel to have come out of South Africa. At the same time as the Drum generation was creating the first urban black voice, one of South Africa's most important white writers was beginning her long, distinguished career. Nadine Gordimer published her first short stories in the early 1950s; in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (South Africa´s Official Gateway, 2010).
In the early 1960s, the state of emergency used by the apartheid state to crack down on dissidents, the banning of political organisations such as the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress, and the jailing of leaders such as Nelson Mandela, sent many black writers into exile. Among them was Alex la Guma, Breyten Breytenbach, Andre Brink and Wilbur Smith. The 1960s also saw the emergence of a new generation of white South African poets, among them Douglas Livingstone, Sidney Clouts, Ruth Miller, Lionel Abrahams and Stephen Gray. Their work ranges from powerful apprehensions of natural life (Livingstone) to more interior, meditative considerations (Abrahams), and a sardonic socio-political sensibility (Gray).
KINGDOM OF LESOTHO
GEOGRAPHY
Lesotho is a small mountainous country located in southern Africa, where its four cardinal points are surrounded by the South African Republic. This independent territory is constituted by Maseru as its capital and most important city in spite of the fact that there are other major cities inside Lesotho which are bigger than the metropolis in terms of land extension (See Appendix C-2). With more than 30,000 square kilometers, Lesotho possesses a “soil that is composed by highlands where the natives plant cereals and graze large herds” (The New Thematic Encyclopedia, 1970, p. 579). Due to the nutritional properties this prodigious land has, the people who belong to that state is able to grow different kinds of vegetables or cereals and obtain medicinal natural products from the herbs and animals also.
At the same time, the mountains of the Kingdom of Lesotho, official Lesotho name, are the ones bordering 2,067,000 inhabitants of the population. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1980) states, each human being speaks different languages, such as “English and Sesotho which are both official languages” (p. 448) despite the last tongue remains the one spoken by the significant majority of the individuals. Zulu, Phuthi and Xhosa are still languages people speak in Lesotho small places. The whole area comprises a total land extension of “30,355 square kilometers which means 11,720 square millimeters and a water extension that lies in 0 square kilometers” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009).
WEATHER
According to Jenkins, Philip & Son, Lye, and others (2002) “climate is affected by the altitude, because most of the country lies above 4,921 ft” (p.205). The average climate is moderate every time the season changes and varies during the whole year. “The climate is dry and sunny from June to August. Showers, thunderstorms and hail are prevalent from October to April. Between January and March snow falls quite heavily around the foothills of the Maluti Mountains” (Bainbridge, J., 2009, p.372-373). As it is perceived seasonal variations are numerous which allows the Lesotho land to preserve the cultivated food, waters and other natural resources. Nevertheless, Lesotho presents shortcomings with respect to the whether. On the word of Showers (2005), “The combination of high temperatures, desiccating winds, and erratic rains can limit plan yields and the productivity of animals” (p.72).
BASOTHO LIFE STYLE
Southern African social groups tend to be at odds. That is to say that they are divided into urban factions and rural factions, whose features determine most Basotho –inhabitants from Lesotho- lives. Nevertheless, most of them behave likewise with regard to their traditions without taking into account classism. A traditional scheme men practice is to start another relationship outside his marriage if the wife is not able to have a baby or she has dead in order to increment the man’s family. Because of the Sesotho aphorism said nowadays by its people, taken from Itano (2007) “a man is a pumpkin, with many vines stretching out in different directions. A woman, in contrast, is a cabbage: she stays close-up, waiting for her man to come home” (p. 48), not only woman relapse with AIDS but also man shrink the disease. It is, in addition, very relevant to indicate the powerlessness many women have when they leave their houses to go to the husband’s house, which is also rural, and are completely dependent of what he brings home. In different occasions, “Lesotho society is, therefore, one in which women do most of agriculture and social reproduction” (Henshall, 1991, p. 23). Women are supposed to do so while men carry out South African migrations.
EDUCATION
Consistent with Lesotho Constitution, a wide percentage of free primary education is given to children. Nonetheless, learning developments have not been implemented in higher levels despite the fact that they have no cost; that is because the law is theoretically established but immune in real life context. Accordingly, a set of regulations are tried to be put into practice: “The Youth Policy, Children’s Proclamation of 1959, the Children Protection Act of 1980”, for instance, among others. The students who abandon their studies, do so for many reasons, as it is pointed out by the International Monetary Fund (2006):
The high level of adult and youth unemployment may contribute to forms of child labour (sic) since when parents are unable to find gainful employment, a young boy of the family is often sent to herd animals and a young girl is sent to work as a domestic worker. Because these children are often far from home, they are easily exploited and even abused by their employers. Moreover, the money earned is usually paid directly to the parents or guardians; in cases were the children have been orphaned, the money is often taken by the guardians and not used for the child`s benefit. Many young girls drop out of school in order to care for younger siblings after mothers leave home in order to seek employment in urban areas (p.107).
GOVERNMENT
The Kingdom of Lesotho is made up of a Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy, which has power over ten districts. Its administration has been well-recognized as the command that tries to provide the highest stage of happiness ever to its entire people.
As the essence of its name says, Lesotho is a nation which reflects the monarchy a person presides over King Letsie III. He, on the one hand, received the throne, previously occupied by his father Moshoeshoe II, on November 1990 since his father was exiled. But it was until February 1995 that the King finished governing his homeland. On the other hand, the King Letsie III took possession as leader of state ones more due to his father’s death one year later and continues governing until today’s sunshine. This King, but primarily the College of Chiefs, has as his responsibility to designate the next King of the same Basotho family tree. Another person that belongs to the Executive Command is the Prime Minister Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili, who is in charge of ruling the majority parliamentary party (East and Thomas, 2003, p.304). His mission is to head the government and to defend the Lesotho nation.
RELIGION
Apart from practicing the Christian religion in an 80%, population in Lesotho carries out some other beliefs as well. In accordance with Robbers (2007), the religious rights of Lesotho “provides for freedom of conscience, which includes freedom of thought and of religion and the right to propagate one’s religion or belief, reaching practice and observance” (p.530-531). That freedom of worship sets aside the tolerance that should exist between the people who are living in the same community, communication through sharing different opinions of parallel philosophies of verve, and, the most important thing, a time-honored dialog established by the citizens and the government on the streets public institutions and schools that depend on traditional creed.
ECONOMY
Lesotho is a country that has been predicted to be a prosperous land by many professionals that deal with the economic field, even though in present-day life it is one of the deprived countries in the entire world. As stated by Ruled and Mapetla (2000) “Overall most respondents held the view that the government should play a prominent role in the economy, because the private sector and market forces are unlikely to solve the complex economic problems of the country” (p.75-76). Instead of paying attention to the own financial Lesotho benefits, the government struggles the private sector and forgets where awareness must be placed. Hence, the cost-cutting measure weakens and the priority is forgiven in the overwhelming country area.
Thanks God Lesotho has particular strategies to tackle its niggling situation, with the intention of keeping up the people’s existence. The water volume and the sanitization it surrounds make available the reliable liquid consumption, so as the influence of this natural resource also nourishes other important living creatures encompassed in the agriculture zone almost left. Besides, due to Lesotho water abundance another nation took control of what are now its rivers. South Africa’s economic and water conditions were polar opposite to Lesotho. “Home to approximately 33% of the Southern continent’s population, South Africa consumed 80% of the regions water resources despite containing only 10% of the region`s water resources within its borders” (Gordon F., 2008, p.83). For that reason, The Lesotho Highlands Water Project was signed in October 1986 for assisting South African needs and that Treaty is composed of “the largest engineering process currently under way in the world. When the £840 million first phase opens in 1998, it will be transferring 18m3/s of water from new reservoirs in Lesotho to the industrial heartland of South Africa and generating 72 MW of hydroelectricity” (Fullalove, 1997, p.3).
The hydroelectric potential power turns the energy of Lesotho out in order to generate light into the urban and rural cities without polluting the environment in an elevated scale and using any type of fuel. In this basin a series of natural elements interacts –relief, whether, soil, fauna and vegetation- which are part of the geographical atmosphere and necessary to be protected for the ecological advantage and natives’ wealth. It should not have been missed the fact that water, vegetation and soil are renewable resources for human kinds’ survival. As an answer given, enhancing the employment of international hydroelectric watershed, from which two countries take advantage of, distributed by Lesotho and South Africa, makes water more approachable to its supplying, prepare healthy food, satisfy thirsting sensations and encourage grooming. With intensifying efforts, the government with the help of water would move toward success and can invest in other necessities, contributing with ways of communication and transportation, touristic centers, recreation, industry and business. In consequence, as stated by Hirji and Davis (2009) “it would be economically defensive to increase the environmental flows for green or social reasons” (p.107). This cause should make us reflect on the importance of the environmental conservation that will be offered to future generations.
As the International Monetary Fund indicates (2008) Lesotho economy is “largely based on limited agricultural and pastoral production and on light manufacturing. About 70% of Lesotho’s population lives in rural regions and mountainous areas where income is generated from traditional, largely subsistence, low-value-added agriculture and herding. The average household plot holding is about half a hectare, only two-thirds of households have access to land and 70 percent of the plots are sharecropped informally. The poor performance of the agricultural sector in recent years has lead to negative per-capita growth in agriculture output… in addition agricultural performance is heavily affected by an eroding natural resource base, lack of infrastructure and the high HIV/AIDS prevalence” (p.8). Because absence of agricultural sources dominates in the southern area of the African continent, men migrate from Lesotho to South Africa looking for jobs doing excavation in mines, which indirectly accelerates the economical basis of the big Republic due to the immigrants’ abilities and strength. When they come back to their mother country, they bring with them food that is not produced or is limited in Lesotho. Poor people are the ones who experience this terrible circumstance as it is seen while travelling throughout the connection of the two familiar nations and, as they do not take the benefits their own soil provides them.
However, a very significant progress has been detected since the last decade. “Government has had to erect structures for the continued growth and development potential of Lesotho most important export product” , and , 1993, p.217). This led Lesotho people avoid the release of dramatic circumstances and extreme poverty due to the lack of food products. Technological investments are now implemented in high levels with the aim of building reservoirs, incrementing the electricity advantage in almost the complete national territory and eradicating lethal disease.
HISTORY
The history of Lesotho is closely associated with the South African olden times which were explained in the previous pages. To sum up, at the time of the African discovery, the country that is known today as Lesotho was firstly populated by the San, a nomadic tribe with high cultural development degrees. Taking into consideration the most accepted hypothesis, the primitives from Lesotho also consisted of the Bantu-speaking groups settling in limited waves as the time passed by. In such a large period, the two peoples were established and developed cultural scenarios, languages and social organizations throughout the aboriginal encounter. Based on Fitzpatrick and Blond (2004) major archaeological findings were done in 1998 in which there is shown “that the Bantu speakers and the Khoisan mixed is certain, as evidenced by rock paintings showing the two different groups interacting” (p. 29). In accordance with these same authors, the Khoisan tribe has been known as the result of the San who are rugged and the San group division –better known as the KhoiKhoi- arrangement, in which they second took the decision of becoming pastoralists.
EUROPEAN AND BASOTHO ENCOUNTER WITH SUBSEQUENT BRITISH DOMINANCE
In ancient times, when the first white people arrival happened an interesting event was in front of their eyes -there were primitive inhabitants in the Lesotho region. According to Eldredge (2002) “cultural and economic contacts across wide areas were not new with the arrival of the Europeans, but rather were pre-existing and created a local dynamic for change” (p. 6). The interaction between the San and Bantu- speaking peoples introduced an always- surprising way to survive owing to that spirit of power. Aborigines, on discovery times, were in the period of savagery. They used to live in independent tribes with different cultural levels ranging from simple collectors, fishermen and hunters to farmers. Taking into account the available vehicles and how to obtain their livelihood, basis for the development of a population and, therefore, of major territories assisted to hold out any stirring crisis.
The first and later Europeans who arrived in Lesotho were the ones that equally settled South Africa. As said by Eldredge (2007), “.…From the late 1820s the Sesotho-speaking peoples, who, joined by others, had crested emerging kingdom of Lesotho under their first Morena e Moholo (Great Chief), Moshoeshoe began to feel the repercussions of violence to their west” (p.21). Thirteen years later, “the first Christian missionaries, of French origin arrived in Lesotho” (Andrzejewski, Pilaszewicz, and Tyloch, 2010, p.610). But successive wars with first Boers and later British settlers induced Moshoshoe in 1868 to seek formal protection from the British Queen (Eldredge, 2007, p.21).
A journey in the analysis of Eldredge`s narration (2007) reveals that “Although a brief period of rule by the Cape Colony itself distinguished the Basotho experience from that of Africa elsewhere in the region and from colonial subjects in other British colonies, the reestablishment of direct British rule in 1884 initiated colonial rule that was fairly typical of British colonial Africa. The extensive colonial records for Lesotho provide an unusual opportunity for a close scrutiny of the dynamics of power in a colonial setting. They reveal hidden diplomatic tactics, including threats and conciliation, shedding light on the nuances of the African response to colonial rule individually and collectively. She continues saying that the episode contributes to develop a deeper understanding of mechanisms through which colonial officers exercised domination, tried to exercise domination, and were subject to constraints in the exercise of power because of the strategies employed by colonized, which are not readily apparent without a close examination of dialogue and discourse. I explore hidden discourse and dissent among the Basotho as well as open conflicts that reveal the cracks in the colonial order and the failure of the colonial ideology to take root and establish “hegemonic” control through channels of consents. Instances of over conflict forced the colonizers to show their hand and revealed the constant threat of force that undergirded colonial rule” (p. 21).
The New Thematic Encyclopedia (1970), states that during the Twentieth Century a very dramatic event happened: The Apartheid. More than oppression, in real life, racial politics white South Africans applied remains one of the most disgusting aspects of the Nazi Germany. Apparently, the global reprobation exacerbated the Boers, by Parliamentary majority, and announced a plebiscite, to decide the government wanted. Despite the vote against British, the majority favored the Republic, which was installed on May 1961. The same year, opponents to the members that belonged to the Commonwealth of Nations allowed the Republic of South Africa to break relations with the association” (p.178).
“As a result of the African division made by the Europeans, two English protectorates were enclosed in the territory of the Republic of South Africa, called Basutoland and Swaziland. As a consequence, the English decided to wake those peoples’ community senses up in order to avoid native dominance into South African hands. For that reason, many efforts were done to enhance education in Lesotho and to create a council that advices British Commissioners to ensure greatest tribal heads participation in governmental facts.” (The New Thematic Encyclopedia, 1970, p. 578-579).
In 1959, a constitutional system was created. On 4th October 1966 independence was declared in Lesotho. As a consequence, the territory that existed the day before monarchical democracy under the name of Basutholand was abolished.
LITERATURE
Lesotho literature encompasses the most essential manner to express any people`s thoughts through playing with words in an artistic way. Evidently, this way of life in which human beings mix up mirrors the touchable living experiences and the factual meaning of what is behind a barrier but is actually in front of your eyes just by the use of words. Since ancient times, the paradigms we highlighted before were told someone around in an immediate time; nonetheless, the evidence of what was said started to be needed. Therefore, the oral message is considered one kind of transmission code as well as written communication.
According to the authors , , (2010) “although at the time of the arrival of the missionaries there was no written literature, there was an abundance of oral literature, some of which has been preserved thanks to the efforts of several collectors. One of the most common types of Sotho oral literature is the prose narrative ditshomo (litsȏmo), a comprehensive term which covers legends, folk-tales and fables. Among the best collections of this genre is that of E. Jacottet, an Early French missionary, published in two volumes in 1908 and 1911in Morija under the title Litsȏmo (Tales). There is also a recent collection under the same title by B. Tlali and O. Chevrier, published in Mazenod in 1974” (p. 611). These three authors also state that “The Basotho had an abundance of historical narratives which were told in episodic form, and each of them formed a self-contained unit, mostly concerned with important events in the history of the tribes, their rulers, heroes and warriors” (p.611). Various stories narrated seem to be altered as a consequence of their substitution with the written form over the years, that is why the dimension of words and the beauty of old scenarios withered, and in some cases modified the actual meaning of the content.
Afterward, the second way of communication known as the written system started to revolutionize Lesotho peoples’ lives. “During the first half of the nineteenth century a new era dawned amongst the Basotho (i.e. Sotho-speaking people) in their mountainous enclave of Lesotho. In order to spread the gospel the missionaries saw the need of the printed word, and a printing press was started at Morija. Most of the earlier books in Sesotho were printed in there” (, , , 2010, p. 611). Thus, it can be said that a linguistic exchange occurred between both groups in spite of the fact that the missionaries prevailed since superior stereotyped authorities were characterized by taking the decisions.
During the colonization period, several religious organizations were involved in the territory they were sent so as to undertake Christianization. According to (1997) “Since the majority of these schools were set up by missionaries, religious indoctrination was a major objective in the educational program” (p. 129). This reference tries to put into evidence that teaching history, religion among other topics was indirectly a style to be exposed to literature. “School readers, too, played their part in the spread of literacy and the creation of a written literature, and while the earliest were produced by foreign missionaries this task was later taken over by Southern Sotho Speakers themselves.” (Andrzejewski, Pilaszewicz, and Tyloch, 2010, p.610-611). At this moment, we talk about a colony that is interested in expressing the misdeeds which occurred before independence.
In the lines above, it was established that literature integrates a language which is creative and releases motivational feelings into different real-life events. In effect, most of the time books and poetry in Lesotho comprises a diversity of native writers’ opinions, all related with the negative impact government, discrimination and poverty have had in their lives. In proportion to K. Limakatso Kendall afterword in the book Singing Away the Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman (1995), “Nthunya presumes a kind of hearer who can and will contribute what one might call the “politics or the messages imbedded in the tales. She never tells the reader/listener what to feel or what she felt. She evokes feelings, responses, questions in the reader. She leaves the process of synthesis to a reader who is presumed to be sympathetic.” (p.169). The works that settle in these parameters clearly makes people more conscious of the political sphere they breath and the economical balance that subsists and can be broken at any moment. Obviously, she or someone else would like to call the people to go to the streets and insist on work and public services improvement. Another greatest writer from Lesotho called Thomas Mofolo, on the other hand, shows the beauty of myths and makes persons fall in love with literary genres (See Appendix B-3).
For the reason that many critics in Lesotho have caused a stir by their labor, books and poetry have been presented in other countries with a language adapted to their own. Killam and Kerfoot (2008) comments that “poetry of English and translated into English from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho… is compiled in Musaemura Bonas Zimunya’s Birthright” (p.38). By putting into operation this business scheme, the Lesotho small world may be universal and the same point of view will be understood in different parts of the globe with the same intension. Although the Basotho people indicate a distinction with its cultural practice and attitudes, the philosophy of perceiving how things should work on life through the use of words joins communities isolated geographically.
CONCLUSIONS
As it was read during the present research paper, both the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho were countries in which significant sources are taken for granted. Therefore, the components the two nations involve known as geography -with its physical and human impacts-, history, politics religion and literature were analyzed in the previous sections and will be useful for Venezuelan studies as well.
Firstly, we started talking about the geography of the African territories, whose continent is shared by them. In contrast, Venezuela is located in the American Continent, just next to Africa. On account of this geographical position, both continents share the Atlantic Ocean at the south, allowing the connection between the three cultures by means of the sea since American colonization. At the same time, weather definitions -in terms of hurricanes, cold waves and heat stroke- in the Latin American country are moderate and make people’ s lives comfortable as they do not have to migrate to another terrain and look for refugees. Nonetheless, there are seasons in which many South Africans and Basotho people die because of the weather condition variations; that is to say, they are not prepared with the adequate resources to survive when the period drastically changes. Despite the fact that South Africa, Lesotho and Venezuela are characterized by having privileged soils containing nutrients, minerals and proteins, little effort is done in order to cultivate as much food products as possible. Consequently, natural resources that can be generated in the same homeland stay at highest levels of scarcity since recent years ago, and, hence, economical advantages get threaten.
With regard their culture, there are tangible proves that African and American live styles are deeply rooted with their ancestors. The folklores these countries built are still practice today with some variations according to the decade. In Venezuela, there was a fusion between the groups belonging to Africa and America since colored slavers were sent to our native land to execute hard work: their way of dancing with instruments made of wood and traditional dishes Venezuelans currently prepare and consume have been some of the features we have borrowed from them. Nowadays, we can observe direct descendants who live in Barlovento and other areas in the coast.
At the following point, it is precise to stop some minutes since a difference is evolved between South Africa, Lesotho and our motherland. South Africa comprises a Republic, which is a form of governing under popular support and during a determined period of time. On the other hand, a Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy belongs to Lesotho, a country described as a way of government in which a monarch decides what his nation necessities are; he has the throne until his time-death; while Venezuela represents a Federal Republic, which means that the nation is conform by a federation of states completely autonomous governed by a Republican and governors in each state. The only aspect that makes these countries similar is the fact that education is almost destroyed: institutional structures decline at every moment because the Ministry does not give financial sources to maintain the public services; the majority of teachers are not well-paid for their jobs; children prefer to work due to they are hungry and need immediate satisfaction; there is no good schooling supervision.
The constitutions from South Africa, Lesotho and Venezuela are described as written documents in which the religious tolerance and freedom of worship reign. Christianity is the religion practiced by the countries mentioned above in higher percentages; albeit Venezuela leans towards Catholic beliefs at the same level. Nonetheless, different other dogmas have been introduced into the community emerging every year. For instance, South Africans and Basotho people comprise many tribes that make spiritual ceremonies to invoke their ancestors; while, some Venezuelans have adopted the issue of admiring figures or prints such as María Lionza, “la Corte Malandra”, among others by making ritual connections between humanity and famous personalities who have passed away.
There is also an event that lets South Africa, Lesotho and Venezuela get closer concerning with the history of colonization. On the one hand, South Africans and Basotho oppressions and territorial domination took part of British and other European control. In colonization times, various religious organizations get involved to settle in certain regions and promote Christianization through the language they imposed and teaching the historical stages of the doctrine. Fortunately, neither South Africa nor Lesotho abandoned their native languages.
Nevertheless, the English language remained alive even after the independence owing to the need of transmitting the dramatic or emotional sphere societies used to experience. Spanish, on the other hand, instilled a Spanish Colony made of military forces with soldiers taking control of iron swords and weapons for indigenous disappearance. Afterward, the Missionaries arrival began to undertake the Christianization process, subjected by their authorities; they were able to establish people whose nucleus constituted a mission in order to stimulate Indians to be evangelized in Spanish and to be effective when working. Because the Spanish language supremacy occurred, indigenous languages were about to be extinct. Nowadays, the most predominant language in Venezuela is Spanish. Furthermore, a very relevant phenomenon illustrated what are now the history book pages as the Indian people, Spanish people and African people combination; as a consequence, the emergence of new living species was and is nowadays the richest European contribution though.
The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho allowed us, during this journey of life one deserve, to appreciate both the spectacular and unfortunate scenarios that usually appear in front of our eyes and we are not acquainted of. In view of that, we as EFL teachers must make all the cultural and literary tools available to each of our Spanish-speaking students in order to make them aware of learning the English language through analyzing where it comes from and how people from those African countries use it to communicate functionally and not structurally. Therefore, we propose that school and IPC teachers use this research paper as a pedagogical strategy to teach countries pupils need to study by means of the English language.
APPENDIX A
[APPENDIX A-1]
[Chart of South Africa]
Central intelligence Agency. South Africa,(2010). [Online web page]. Available: [Consulted:2010, December 20]
Encyclopedia of the Nations (2010), [Online web page]. Available: , December 20]
World Trade Organizations. (2010). [Online web page] Available: [Consulted: 2010, December 26]
[APPENDIX A-2]
[Chart of Lesotho]
Central intelligence Agency. Lesotho. (2010). [Online web page]. Available: [Consulted:2010, December 28]
Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year. (1980). United States of America: Chicago. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Bennet, M. (2006). Lesotho’s Export Textiles & Garment Industry [Online Document]. Available: [Consulted: 2010, December 20]
[APPENDIX B]
[APPENDIX B-1]
[Mandela´s Biography]
One of the most important figures of South Africa is Nelson Mandela, who is known for being a prisoner for over twenty five years for being against segregation and apartheid in his country. After his released on February 11, 1990; Mr. Mandela continued with his ideas against Apartheid and the oppression that black people suffered because of the political system implemented by white minorities in South Africa.
Mandela was born in Mvezo in the Transkei, on July 18, 1918, his name was Rolihlahla Mandela. Throughout his life he was a person dedicated to the interests and liberation of his people. While studying his law degree, he entered in politic and joined the African National Congress in 1943. It is known worldwide because it was one of the first to oppose the "Apartheid", That is why, government tried to stop him many times; In June 12, 1964, Mandela and other defendants were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The prisoners were secretly transferred to Robben Island immediately after the trial. He was released on February 11, 1990; Mr Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life’s work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after being banned for decades, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organization’s National Chairperson.
During his government he brought and contributed to the improvement of his country in different areas. According to information obtained at the online web: After his release in 1990, Mandela traveled the world trying to earn money to support anti-apartheid movement. Mandela continues to advocate for equality for all South Africans, regardless of their ethnicity. In 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in improving human rights. His presidency was marked by the successful negotiation of a new South African Constitution, but their main goal was the restructuring of South Africa after the damage caused by apartheid. Mandela is a man worthy of admiration not only for his fight to defend and to eliminate apartheid in his country but also because after 27 years in state prison, Mandela came out with a determination to pursue policies that benefited primarily the black community and the poor. As he stated during a court: “I hate racism whether it comes from a black person or a white person." (Nelson Mandela and the apartheid, 2010)
[APPENDIX B-2]
[Biko´s Biography]
Biko, Bantu Stephen (Steve) (King William´s Town, 18 December 1946- Pretoria, 12 September 1977), Black Consciousness spokesperson, community worker and political activist, was the third child and second son of Mzingaye Matheu and Alice Duna. At the end of 1965 Biko entered the medical school of the University of Natal (non-European section), Durban. He wanted to do law at university but there was a popular conception in the Eastern Cape that equated law with political activism, and that (under the circumstances Biko found himself) was to be discouraged. Medicine was the safe alternative for a good profession, and Biko won a scholarship to study it.
During these years Biko progressively identified with the concept of Black Consciousness. He encouraged black students to dissociate themselves from white and multiracial student’s organizations. In 1968 Biko and his allies formed the South African Students´ Organization (SASO), based on Biko´s ideology of Black Consciousness, rejecting all white-conceived evolutionary solutions and renewing the trend away from liberal principles of reconciliation and nonviolence. He terminated his studies at the university in 1972 and began to work for the Black Community programmes (BCP) in Durban. The government´s reaction to Black Consciousness came in March 1973 when eight leaders were banned and restricted to King William´s Town. Following the Soweto riots in June 1976 and at a time of general mass demonstrations against apartheid and the government, Biko was arrested in August 1976 and detained for 101 days under section 6 of the terrorism Act, 1967. In March and July 1977 he was again arrested; in March he was detained and then released and in July released on bail.
On 19 August 1977, driving back to the Eastern Cape from Cape Town, he was stopped at a police roadblock near Grahams Town, outside his restricted area, and arrested. He was taken to Port Elizabeth and detained for questioned during which he was seriously injured. On 11 September he was taken to Pretoria for medical attention, but he died on 12 September 1977. The cause of his death was a brain hemorrhage. During the subsequent inquest into the cause of Biko´s death which started in November 1977 details of the maltreatment of political prisoners were revealed. However, as the exact events could not be reconstructed the police were exonerated. Biko was described as a person of charm and personality. He was an orator of the highest quality whose perception and energy freed people psychologically to take their destiny into their own hands. Verwey. E.J, (1995) (New Dictionary of South African Biographies, 1995, p.18-20)
Biko Biko dead
[APPENDIX B-2]
[Mofolo´s Biography]
Mofolo, Thomas (Mokopu) (b. Aug.2, 1877, Khojang Lesotho-d. Sept. 8, 1948, Lesotho), generally regarded as the first important African novelist in the 20th century and foremost among Bantu writers for three novels written in his native Sesotho language. Educated as a Christian in mission schools, he obtained a teacher’s certificate in 1898 and worked for several years as a clerk and proofreader at the missionary Book Depot in Morija. His employers encouraged him to write; and his first novel, Moeti oa Bochabela (Eng. trans., The Traveller to the East, 1934) was serialized in the Sesotho paperLeselinyana in 1906 and published in book from a year later. The story is a Christian parable about a youth who, repelled by the ways of his fellow tribesmen, sets off on a journey in search of God, who, he feels, must also be disgusted by man´s corruption. Pitseng (“At the Pot” –the name of a town), appearing first in 1910 in serialized from, is largely an autobiographical account of the childhood, education, and courtship of a 20th-century Mosotho (singular of Basotho, the people of Lesotho) (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974, p.965).
Both novels show the conflict in Mofolo’s writings between a Christian attitude condemning pre-missionary Africa as cannibalistic and “clothed in darkness,” and his own common sense, which sees clearly the ill effects of the missionaries on tribal life (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974, p.965).
His third novel, Chaka (1925; Eng. trans. Chaka, a Historical Romance, 1931), is a Sesotho classic. Conceiving the idea very early, in 1909 Mofolo had bicycled through Natal, gathering material for his novel about the great 19th-century Zulu Chief Chaca (Shaca), who United tribesmen and made himself master over a vast area of South and Central Africa. Mofolo traces sympathetically Chaka’s development from his rejection for his illegitimate birth by the father’s tribe through his revengeful desire to make a pact with sorcerers in exchange for power. At first rejected by the missionaries in 1911-12 because they saw it as too much as a glorification of paganism, the book was finally published 13 years later (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974, p.965).
After World War I, Mofolo became involved in politics; and from 1922 he was a businessman and a farmer until deprived of his farm by colour-bar laws. He died in poverty. Although he wrote little during 30 years of his life, he was retained his reputation as Lesotho’s greatest writer (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974, p.965).
[APPENDIX C]
[APPENDIX C-1]
[South Africa Map]
Graphic 1. South Africa Map, Cities and Roads. Taken from Central Intelligence Agency online webpage (Library: CIA Maps & Publications).
[APPENDIX C-2]
[Lesotho Map]
Graphic 2. Lesotho Map, Cities and Roads. Taken from Central Intelligence Agency online webpage (Library: CIA Maps & Publications).
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