ROMA – MOHOSHO Pofane, who is the founder of the NUL Writers’ Club, that seeks to ignite the writing passion in students, is working on his second book after publishing his first one in 2021.

Pofane is a Mosotho man born in Ha-Mokhehle in Teya-Teyaneng, Berea.

He holds a BA in Development Studies and English Language and is currently in the fourth year of his second degree in LLB at the National University of Lesotho.

“My passion for writing started at a very young age,” Pofane says.

“I used to have a small journal while growing up. I would put every thought that came into my mind in that journal as articles,” he says.

“At one time, I submitted my articles to one of the well-known local newspapers for publication, but sadly, they got rejected because I was “too young””.

Although rejection was somewhat painful, this passionate writer says he was not discouraged from writing because, in 2016, he began writing the manuscript for his first book which was published in February 2021 with the tittle ‘Getting Played’.

Its conception was metered with self-doubt coupled with the traumatic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, amid all that uncertainty, he published a self-help book about dating, selling over 1000 copies on online platforms and thousands of others in bookstores.

How is the reception of the first book from people?

“People love the book: “Getting Played,” literally! I still receive random texts from people who purchased the book to relay how it has helped them with their relationships. I get flushed with triumph whenever I receive such reviews. To contribute to research and literature, to be able to add positivity and value to someone’s life by helping them navigate their relationship.”

We must not hasten to realise that relationships form the essence of interaction. If we have good relations, we automatically become a better society.

Being the founder of the NUL Writers’ Club tells how passionate Pofane is about writing.

No wonder he has already published his second book: “The Identity of Amahlubi – Matebele in Lesotho: Connecting the Pieces” on November 10, 2022.

While the first book was a “Relationship” book, the second one is more of an academic book that can help history enthusiasts.

This ardent writer says he drew inspiration for the second book from Professor Nqosa Mahao’s book titled “Bakhoele: Bafokeng ba ’Mantsukunyane oa Kata-Sefiri”.

“Apart from this book, I am a very prying and inquisitive person,” Pofane says.

“My whole life, I have been trying to establish my cultural identity to have a sense of belonging and be content with who I am,” he says.

“However, my quest was occasionally met with loose endings. It was until I was browsing through social media that I came across a Facebook group of people who called themselves AmaHlubi.”
Pofane says what was ironic about this group was that it was full of Basotho people living in Lesotho.

“It was from that moment that I learned I am a Hlubi.”

He says the group consisted of very kind and loving people who instantly taught him his “Izibongo”, something which he says his great-grandparents failed to teach his elders, including himself, for many years.

Everyone in that Facebook group contributed towards filling any uncertainties within his clan, he says.

Being an inquisitive writer that he is, he decided to conduct thorough research and codify the findings into a book with their help.

The book entails a detailed genealogy of the Matebele/Hlubi clan in Lesotho. It throws some light on the forgotten historical events of the AmaHlubi tribe, who found themselves disgruntled in Lesotho following the capture and arrest of King Langalibalele I.

That is to show that oral traditions can be used to reconstruct the history of non-literate people.

In this book, he shows that although oral prose literature like legends, proverbs and songs has essential historical data, the most critical genre is the Seboko (izibongo) of the kings.

Most writers on the Seboko, like Nqosa L. M., (2011), and Nyembezi C. L., (1948), all agree that the Seboko (izibongo) is significant as a historical document.

The book seeks to be the epoch and reference point for younger and coming generations of readers and researchers by answering the following questions:

l Who are the Hlubi people?
l How did they end up in Lesotho?
l Who was/is their King?
l Why are they called Matebele in Lesotho?
l What is their cultural identity?

Be sure to get your copy of the newly published: “The Identity of Amahlubi – Matebele in Lesotho: Connecting the Pieces” as well as “Getting Played,” here: 5955 5318 and at local bookshops including Lifestyle Books Lesotho among others.

Own Correspondent

ROMA – THE MSc in Sustainable Energy at the National University of Lesotho (NUL)’s Energy Research Centre (ERC) is only two years old but some are already using it as a model.

The ERC had its first graduates in September 2020, yet its achievements reach far beyond many university post-graduate programmes. It was only in 2019 when the ERC received M800 000 to revamp the young programme, that had hardly run for a year.

The funding was from UK Aid under the project: Transforming Energy Access — Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) managed by the University of Cape Town (UCT). The programme has been revamped and the incumbent cohort of first-year students will do a compulsory module on Energy Entrepreneurship.

This is not all that the current students will enjoy from the TEA-LP project. At the end of every module, a major assignment will be given. For any assignment that addresses energy access, the best performer on the assignment will be awarded a whopping M10 000.

As if this was not enough, at the end of the first semester, at least two students will get M44 000 scholarships for the rest of the year. The award will be based on performance and needs assessment of the prospecting students. The ERC recognises and rewards hard work.

“This confirms our high expectations of everything done by the ERC team,” says Leslie Ashburner, Project Manager, TEA-LP, South Africa.

Second-year research students are not forgotten, not in this programme. Two of the second-year students are recipients of the Southern African Solar Thermal Training & Demonstration Initiative (SOLTRAIN) research grants.

The grants are worth EUR2 100 (about M37 674) for research on the potential analysis of the use of solar thermal energy for the health sector and EUR700 (about M12 558) for analysis of the possibilities of using solar thermal energy in the brewing industry in Lesotho.

The primary aim of the financial support is to stimulate research work by students on solar thermal topics in order to build up knowledge and capacity in the SOLTRAIN partner countries.

These will further enhance cooperation on solar thermal issues between the NUL and SOLTRAIN. The MSc in Sustainable Energy has only had its first graduates this year. The success of the programme has exceeded all expectations, even for the most optimistic.

International energy stakeholders were able to attend during dissertation oral defence of the graduating students … thanks to Covid-19 as these were done online. It was during these presentations that one student caught the attention of a giant Belgian wind power developer, in the name of Hirundo.

Hirundo has since asked ERC to engage its students, under paid work, more like consultancy work, to assess the prospects of selling wind power to Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) — a regional market for trading electricity.

“We were really impressed by the organisation of the event, great time keeping and quality of the presentations” said Hirundo participants.

Well, the success of the ERC is largely due to its dedicated and motivated staff. Earlier this year, we reported that they were the pioneers of the lifeline tariff.

If you have forgotten what a lifeline tariff is, this is the policy that allows electricity consumers to buy the first 30 electricity units of the month at almost 75 cents. This was done to help the poorest of the poor to afford electricity.

The ERC has taken its work further to develop what is called a Pioneer Developer Refund Scheme for the utility company. Ever heard a household saying it owns an electricity transformer because it was the first to bring electricity to the village?

That household is called a Pioneer Developer. And rightfully, it must be compensated for bringing the electricity to the village at high costs. This problem has persisted since the inception of the electricity utility company. But now the ERC has come to the rescue and, soon, people fighting over the ownership of a transformer will be a thing of the past.

Due to the myriad of projects the ERC is both involved in and pursuing, it is the only unit on campus with a dedicated Project Manager. The ERC believes in its products hence it has acquired the services of one of its graduates to be the Project Manager, Matsoso Mothala.

“I honestly don’t know any other university department being so successful,” says Niklas Hayek, Development Consultant — Energy, Education & Climate Change, Germany.

Own Correspondent

ROMA – LINTLE Mafa, a Chemistry Technician at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), has developed some luxury lightweight cladding that looks like natural stones.

“The cladding “stones” are made from a variety of materials including plastic, cement-like materials and foam,” Mafa said.

They are lightweight and low-cost but strong and easy to handle.

Mafa is calling investors who are willing to provide space and or funding to help take this product to the market.

When he came to the NUL as a technician in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Mafa didn’t know what to expect.

He had no clue some of the most exciting moments would be in his dealings with Chemical Technology students.

He had always loved to be hands-on. That is why he is best known off-duty as a carpenter who produces elegant furniture.

But somewhere in 2010, he made contact with one lecturer who was teaching Plastic Science and Engineering at the NUL.

“Because I was required to assist his students in the labs, I enrolled for two courses” he said.

First, he went for a Plastic Technology course in Cape Town.

Before then, he was mostly dealing with chemistry but all of a sudden, a whole new world was opening in front of him.

The university would later send him to yet another Plastic and Composites Molding course in Johannesburg.

From these two experiences, he felt empowered to assist Professor Timothy Thamae’s students in a variety of research projects.

But then, his partnership with the lecturer did not end with helping students.

“We experimented with all kinds of things in a small room we used to call TIG.”

Mafa said he particularly fell in love with application of plastics in the Art and Science of Wall Covering, especially in the use of cladding materials.

As a person who produces furniture, the area of interior design has always appealed to him. Specifically, cladding captured his imagination.

So on his own, he started improving his skills and experiments in that area. His ability to chisel wood for making furniture came handy when he now had to make cladding stones.

He didn’t just want to make another cladding stone. He went for elegance.

The problem with modern interior cladding is that it is still tied to stones, ceramics, cement and so on.

Those things have one thing in common. They are heavy! He went for something different – lightweight cladding.

“You won’t believe it but about 95 percent volume of my cladding “stones” is lightweight foam,” he revealed.

Well, foam is a material similar to that used in foam packs—those white plastic plates used for carrying foods at events.

However, unlike foam packs, this particular foam is not only light but it is also strong and stiff (rigid).

Stiff means it is hard to bend. The “stones” are then coated with a hard cement-like material to protect and give them a desired shape.

All this process uses silicone technology.

This technology makes it possible for him to copy and reproduce natural or artificial stones into “stones” that look similar but are made of different materials.

Another good thing about this cladding is colour and texture. Since texture is provided by moulding rather than machining, there are no limits to the kind of texture you can provide on this material.

For instance, he made it possible for these materials to look like curved natural stones. However, he could have made them to have any texture of choice. Even more important is the colour.

Those who work with interior design know a thing or two about colour. The desired colour is one of the most difficult things to achieve. The problem with colour is not only in the colour itself but how that colour appears to the human eye.

Is it black or charcoal? Is it shiny or matt? Having realised that the modern trend is to move away from shininess to matt, Mafa went for matt.

“Bear in mind that this could be a matt of any colour of choice from white to black to anything in between.”

Now, Mafa is ready for a deal. If you have a space and/or funding for investment, he is ready to talk so that these products can get into the market.

Own Correspondent