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Trouble in the Big House

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Polygamy is African, in fact, the feminist view holds the view that polygamy is a patriarchal practice that subjugates women and infringes on their rights. There is a more simplistic view that the crew playing moraba-raba hold: there are more women than men and those ones that form the extension should not be left to languish alone and lonely, stuck in spinsterhood till death. They too need to be married to someone, even if it is ‘their’ someone that they share.

I am not against both views, I am against the idea of divorce where one spouse is left for a new ‘babe’ and the children from the first marriage are abandoned by the father. Drunk in the clutches and embraces of a new marriage, many divorced men have the tendency to leave their exes stuck with the load of taking care of the children begot from the once happy union. The poor women have to then deal with the arduous task of caring for children that miss their father that has gone into the arms of the new woman and totally forgotten about them.

It is a painful experience for a child to long for what cannot be got, even more painful for the child to yearn for the love of a parent that has forgotten about them. We have the so-called democratic systems of rule and clear laws on the rights of the child with regard to the maintenance of good relations between the parent and the child. Where such laws are flawed is at the point where they draw the line between what constitutes a minor and an adult. The simple logic lies in the fact that one never stops being a child to their parent, even beyond the legal age. Father stays father till death, and this in essence means that one can consult their father as a child should at any point in their lives.

It is escapism legalised that one is considered an adult at a certain point in their lives, and this means that the chain of continuity in terms of morals and family principles is broken as the parent moves on into other relationships and the child walks on into adulthood. One can safely assume that the laws regarding childhood and adulthood should be reviewed. There are far too many runaway parents, and it is at the expense of the poor children and the processes related to social cohesion.

It is in a democratic state of the present times where one sees practices that threaten the stability of the social structure being allowed to go on unchecked. Usually clustered under the guise of progress, new age practices that have their platform on social media websites are slowly but steadily eroding the very fabric of society that keeps the basic unit that the family is together.

Minors have access to material that is not suitable for their eyes and minds on the now relatively uncontrolled World Wide Web. Individuals air dangerous opinions and views at the expense of social peace and stability, there just seems to be no control against the airing of dangerous views and opinions on social media. This has bred a culture of callouts that are in simple terms meant to shame one side for the aggrandisement of another.

It could well be right that people are granted the basic right to freedom of expression; but what if such freedom of expression is outright abused? What if details that could prove dangerous to the general stability of society and state are aired without apparent concern for the ears and minds of other citizens? The peace of the general public should in an ideal environment come before the interests of the individual. It should be understood that I am only making mention of the ‘ideal’ and know that sometimes the ideal is not easily attained.

This is where personal refrain should take the fore and anyone that feels they cannot restrain their emotion should resort to the more honourable method of personal confrontation before resorting to the bullhorn tactics of social media callouts. It is not right to use the loudhailer if one could have addressed a private issue in private. Using the loudspeaker to address a domestic affair labels the speaker as a rabble-rouser. Being demagogic about issues shall never get the individual that needs to sort a domestic matter the desired result, all it will beget is more trouble if the party being called chooses to respond in silence.

The public as aforementioned in an earlier post is basically a coward willing to follow anyone that stands out or takes the first step towards some goal or stands up against what they perceive as an injustice. Social-media has given birth to a callout culture that thrives on shaming individuals considered to have committed offences with the primary goal being to punish them. We have had such incidences in the new regime heading the Lesotho government with the last spat being in the form of voice recordings of someone supposed to be the First Daughter haranguing the current First Lady.

The accusations such an individual laid bare on social media are of a nature so serious that they threaten the peace of the state. The basic threat is in the integrity of the family she is a part of as the daughter. It is not a wise move to besmirch the image of a family that is by right meant to be the model and image of the state, for doing so may lead to the common man and woman losing their bearing in terms of how to behave in a manner that is prudent.

We are a society whose origin lies in the extended family model and this means that there are a thousand other family members to consult when there is a glitch in the machine that is the family. There are a thousand uncles, a thousand aunties, a few hundred family elders, cousins, brothers and sisters that can be asked for help when the immediate family is in feud. A series of troubles or unfortunate events can be dealt with if the family is put first, but it seems that we have become victims to a type of progress that leans more on external cultural influences than the tried and tested ways of old.

The smart-phone or device has become a platform on which those whose anger gets the better of air their dirty laundry, and the danger in the long run lies in the fact that it will wash off onto the younger generation. A disaster awaits the society that does not consider the influence of their deeds and words on the younger children who may or may not adopt the attitudes and practices of their elders. We have let technology take advantage of us not the other way round where we use technology for our benefit.
I honestly am not impressed by the expensive smart-phones Africans tote around like sceptres because the honest fact of the matter is that they are used for cheap purposes. Slander and gossip are cheap, so cheap that the high official’s daughter sees no wrong in airing dirty laundry in public with the lame defence that such audio-clips as those we heard were ‘leaked’.

The simple piece of advice I give to such an individual is that they should not be speaking private matters on a public platform because the recipients may not be as prudent about keeping such spoken secrets private, leading to the disaster one heard in the past week being sent from phone to phone via social media. The reputation of one takes a very long time to build, but it takes a second to destroy it to a point where it may prove unsalvageable.

There was an internet media platform a few years ago on which Basotho would use the most vile language to discuss issues. Similar platforms on the same website from other countries had serious issues related to economic, political and social progress to discuss. It made me wonder why a bunch of graduates (I could tell from the campus beer-hall speak that they were graduates, being a graduate myself) could find speaking about the types of private parts interesting on a public platform.

This means that our entry into the world of social media was wrong from the onset. We have seen video clips that shame individuals being shared, have heard clips that are nothing more than slander being broadcast and still, we keep silent when we should address the issue of appropriate manners and etiquette when it comes to the use of social media as a tool for courteous communication and conversation.

It is hard to get off the phone, it takes some time to see the real danger that comes with just jumping onto the social media craze gripping a large part of the general public that possess android phones and devices. The temptation is to speak one’s mind without refrain, and in a moment of passion words one may later regret may be spoken or typed. This means that one should ensure that they are in the right frame of mind before even daring to type a single word or speaking a single note on the social media platforms available. Being careful is the expected behaviour of the ruling classes, but etiquette has been lost to a large extent where campaign speeches carry on from the days of the pre-election right through the years of governance.

The usual attitude of the Lesotho politician is to discredit the next party, and the real concerns of the people come in only to pepper the verbal fisticuffs that carry on throughout the term of rule. The undemocratic manner in which our politicians have so far behaved has trickled down to the common masses where their children and their followers feel it is right to speak as they wish because of their position.

A quote from a previous article states that John Dewey (1859-1952) deems democracy a political form and method of conducting government and administration that is much broader and deeper than it is usually conceived of as; it is a way of life adopted for:
…the participation of every mature human being in formation of the values that regulate the living of men together: which is necessary from the standpoint of both the general social welfare and the full development of human beings as individuals.

Democracy grants all the individuals in society equal rights and freedoms which should be used to promote the harmonious living of all individuals living within society. One of the basic rights the mature individual has is the right to be involved in the decision-making processes that affect him or her and the community within which they live.

They in my opinion have this right by virtue of being citizens in a state where the decisions of the government they voted or did not vote into office have a direct or indirect effect on their lives. Attached to these rights, therefore, are responsibilities attached; like the responsibility to ensure and to value the safety and well-being of other members of society and their property as much as one would value their own.

It is not right that what is considered right acts in a manner that is wrong, that is, the expectation of the larger part of the citizenry should not be insulted for the aggrandisement of the humour of one individual. There has been no concern for the rights of the larger part of the population for a long time, and it has gotten to the point where all control has been lost.

It is sure to become even more popular to insult those that anger one than to discuss private matters in private. Armed with the phone, the ordinary citizen is soon to become a creature that randomly and without refrain insults anyone they feel wronged them instead of resorting to the more amicable way of discussion. Public figures fail to understand the impact they have on the ordinary folk, there needs to be lessons on proper public etiquette.

Trouble in the house on top of the hill is carried to the valley and village and the town by gravity, the Lesotho politician needs to understand this before letting go of words that could prove fatal to the stability of the land. We cannot have a country where public callouts and heckling, and harassment should be given free rein because they will at the end of the day destroy us. Apologies should be made to the public for the harrowing words they are forced to listen to.

Words that pertain to murder, adultery, and related offences should be spoken with due care in advance, otherwise the trouble at the big house may end up disturbing the peace of the commoner in the villages and towns of this here land. We have become unfeeling, apathetic, and to a large extent condescending towards the welfare and rights of others. It is a monster that we can beat if we stop believing in the new dangerous social media we recklessly use without considering the repercussions.

Tšepiso S. Mothibi

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Insight

Shining Like Stars: Part One

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Last week, in a piece titled “Hope Springs Eternal”, I wrote about the relative values of (leftist) political commitment and Christian faith in a world that is beset with violence, poverty and oppression. Now I’m offering a review of a book by Lindsay Brown titled Shining Like Stars: The power of the gospel in the world’s universities, which explores the work of evangelical students in propagating the Christian faith in some of the world’s most dangerous countries, such as Columbia, China, Russia, Sudan and the DRC. Countries where despair seems to be a pretty rational response to the lives that huge numbers of people are forced to lead. I shall concentrate on cases where that effort to spread the Christian faith is allied to a commitment to agitate for better political and social conditions.

As an aside, I begin by quoting Will Shoki, editor of the invaluable online opinion journal Africa is a Country. I know I’ve mentioned him at least once in previous weeks, but that is because they are so good. In a piece Shoki wrote for the edition of March 4th this year, he records the Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek’s reference to “the courage of hopelessness”, whereby “it is only when we despair and don’t know anymore what to do that change can be enacted.” Shoki adds: “I have never been quite sure what this means — in fact, I have never been quite sure what Zizek means about anything.” Which is to say, Zizek is a pretty difficult read, but his work is a nut it’s well worth cracking.

Be that as it may. Let us turn again to the question how, in a harsh world largely run by greedy, selfish, murderous brutes, a dedication to the message of the gospels and a commitment to political and social transformation can be a joint life-saver.

Lindsay Brown, the author of the book I’m reviewing, was for many years General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). Towards the end of his book there is an Appendix in which he lists around 150 student organisations worldwide that are affiliated to IFES. Many countries where IFES-allied groups have a strong presence are only nominally Christian, many others (for example, China and the Gulf States) are hostile to the gospel. In Lesotho — where neither of these impediments holds — the relevant body is called the Scripture Union of Lesotho, Tertiary Ministry (SULTM); as Brown’s book doesn’t touch on Lesotho, I’d be very interested to hear from my readers about the activities of SULTM.

The first chapter of Shining Like Stars is titled “Never Underestimate What Students Can Do.” This begins by recounting the story of Daniel and his three fellow captives in Babylon under the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar, the story that ends with three of the young Jews being saved by their faith when they are cast into the burning fiery furnace. Then there are reminders of the long history of evangelism in western Europe, followed by the observation: “world mission is less and less about westerners going elsewhere to serve Christ, but about believers from everywhere going everywhere . . . for example, during the twenty years of civil war in Chad its displaced students, sent by the government to study in other countries, founded IFES movements in Niger, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Burkina Faso.”

One of the first of many testimonies the book contains is, however, from a female British student of Russian, identified simply as Elizabeth, who travelled as an evangelist to one of the -stan countries, former Soviet republics of Central Asia (which of the former -stans this was isn’t specified). It was a perilous but highly successful mission. Elizabeth records: “My birthday was fun. I had five cakes and three parties. They really know how to make cakes here!” Not much peril involved in that, you might say. But then Lindsay Brown notes that many sensitive words in Elizabeth’s testimony have the letter “x” inserted in them and explains that this was to escape electronic surveillance.

And so it seems being an IFES evangelist can be a bit like being James Bond, except more graceful. The second chapter in Brown’s book is titled “Our Sovereign God and Human Courage” and that’s where I’ll pick up the story next week, as well as detailing the activities IFES evangelists organize to attract students to the gospel. And then — after all, the chief focus of this piece — how they strategise evangelical work in relation to the advocacy of political and social transformation.

To be concluded

Chris Dunton

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Insight

Hope springs eternal

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Given the abysmal state of the world today, what is it that keeps one going? I mean, just look at the mess we’re in. The cowardice of world leaders faced with the challenge of climate change —world leaders most of whom are, of course, in thrall to capitalism (for when it comes to our mismanagement, that’s what really rules the roost). The appalling violence in Ukraine and the Middle East. The apparently endless misgovernance of countries as diverse as Lesotho and Nigeria. How does one not give into despair?

Me, I have an interim resource and a vastly more profound one. The former is my commitment to left-wing socialism, a conviction that life on earth can be vastly improved by following the principles of Marxist-Leninism (not — an important qualification — the corrupt form of those principles that moulded dictatorships such as the Soviet Union). The second resource is faith in the message of the Gospels, the embracing of our Lord Jesus Christ. For with this, the ills of the world pale into insignificance. Which is not — I absolutely insist — to refuse the responsibility of political commitment to ease the suffering of millions on earth, a duty we have while we’re still stuck on the bloody place.

Of those two resources, one allows a limited, constrained kind of hope, the other a hope that is boundless.

To expand on the notion of hope, recently in these pages Bishop David Ramela quoted the great Czech author and political leader Vaclav Havel, who became President of his country after resisting Soviet oppression in acts of dissidence for which he was imprisoned. Havel, as quoted by Bishop Ramela, wrote: “I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart . . . I am thankful to God for this gift. It is as big as life itself.”

Hope as distinct from optimism? Well, a couple of references here. First, the great Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (like Havel, imprisoned for his beliefs, in his case by Mussolini’s Fascists) wrote of the need to maintain “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” In other words, any reasonably intelligent person knows that things are going to screw up, but must act as if this were not the case. And another Marxist, the British critical theorist Terry Eagleton (the mentor of your columnist, incidentally, when he was an undergraduate — and ever since) has written a fine book, Hope Without Optimism. I shan’t go into that here, but shall review it in this column in a few weeks’ time.

Turning to the relationship between political commitment and the Christian faith, the evangelist preacher Robert Sheehan once commented: “Many Christians put more weight on political programmes and economic packages than on the power of the gospel in the nation. Do you?” The answer, I would hope, is “no”, but “quite a lot of weight all the same.” And I’m going to sign off this week with a lengthy quotation from the New Testament—namely, Ephesians 2: 14-22—which has to do with the relationship, in the time of Paul’s evangelism, between Jews and Gentiles. It is a passage — to refer to my piece some weeks ago on the Gaza crisis — that one would like to read to the Hamas leaders in Palestine and to Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu before banging their heads together.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordnances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body, through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place in God in the Spirit.”

Joining, harmony, hope.

Chris Dunton

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Insight

Reading and emotion

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What does a good piece of writing do? How does a piece of writing evoke emotions in you? Well, reading is a good art that can stimulate and sharpen our sensibilities. In this instalment we focus on the emotional journey triggered and enabled by good literature. While other books may educate us and sharpen our cognitive abilities, that is the abilities to think and solve problems, reading literature of fiction does more; it stirs our emotions and sharpens our affective capacities.

By affective capabilities, we refer to the abilities to feel and tune in to our emotions and sensibilities. Life, after all, is not only about heart facts and reason. Life is about feeling and experiencing and the ability to put ourselves into other people’s shoes. Reading literature is so liberating and humanistic! Reading art in all its many genres grounds us in the varieties of human experiences and engenders in us tolerance, understanding and empathy.


Stories have a way of taking us on journeys real and imagined which stories transform us from the inside. These stories allow us to visit far-flung places and meet new people and feel their environment. Art has a way of mending bridges because through stories we come to understand people who may seem different from us. And at times we may have felt hatred and dislike for them and their way of doing things. But through reading about them, we hear their stories. We experience that which they are experiencing. We begin to see them from the inside out, and we get to know what lies underneath their skin, so to speak. That’s why they say that we can only begin to make sense of the world once we have reduced the whole world to stories. Let’s write a small story together and ascertain how it would move us. Let’s go.


“He trudged on thinking how he would approach Mwandionesa. Her warm and coy smile flashed before his eye.


Slowly mustering up a morsel of self-belief, Themba trudged along the battered, winding road in the heart of a thicket of musasa trees in the Musirizwi enclaves in Chipinge, south-eastern Zimbabwe. Like a heavy burden, a gnawing sense of failure nibbled at his conscience and a sense of uselessness clung on the air with unrelenting defiance. The stain of failure, the feeling that his people and he were inconsequential had taken lodging in his entire being. That is why he found a sense of solace only from isolating himself in his flimsy cocoon of loneliness like the proverbial ostrich which buried its head in the sand. He would have an occasional home-brewed beer called chikeke and thereafter lock himself within the labyrinth and sordid visceral being.


A gaunt bird flew overhead and he heard its flapping feathers amidst the thickening doom and darkness. “Bird”, he retorted to its presence, “what would you do if you were ever crushed by the label of failure.” A soft, warm tear tricked down the rugged terrain of his face. “Makauyo went to Egoli and returned without a name to himself, Khuyumani, too, lies buried in the bowels of the soil with nothing to show” he said as if he were speaking to the bird.


As he touched the cold handle of the door to his heart clutching a small, whimpering puppy in a cardboard box, he could hear the breathing of Mwandionesa and her stabbing, moist eyes asking him without a word where he has been for the last three days. He stood for a moment which seemed like an eternity. With false bravado, he mustered a not-so-convincing, frail knock. Mwandionesa, heavy with child, slowly made for the door and slid it open. Themba did not know what to do. He loved her but he did not know how to express it, like a person bereft of a language. Mwandionesa rummaged her pots on the dying embers of a hearth and gave him respectfully a plate with sadza and a small portion of chicken. A tear escaped-one, two, and another! She broke down, a downpour of tears streaming down her lips. “Themba, ngendaa yei weidaro mwamuna wangu? Indaa yei ndiripe Dube? Indaa yei weiita mukuba wekunzerereka kungaitei imbudzi irikumakaba isina unousha?” (Themba, why do you treat me in a manner? Why do you behave as if you are a stray goat without a shepherd? If I have wronged you I am prepared to appease you”).


“Look at me, Themba,” she demanded as a visibly pregnant and swollen stomach bulged through her threadbare blouse. The puppy whimpered plaintively. With hesitation Themba went to where Mwandionesa stood. With his furrowed labour-weary hands he touched her waist and led her to their mat of reeds made of “umhlanga” as she was fond of referring to reeds. She did not protest. A glow, a faint glow burnt in her eyes as she eased comfortably on his lanky chest. She fumbled for his hand and shepherded it to the lower regions of her belly and said, “He was kicking all these days you were away.” Themba was engulfed in a flurry of emotions; guilt as well as pride. With deliberateness, Mwandionesa said, “this boy will be called Thando. Yes Thando. He will build this homestead and more should you feel that you don’t have a home.” Themba nodded in agreement.
Themba began to feel the warmth of her presence as her succulent breasts pressed against his lanky chest and slowly closed his eyes…”

What a gripping tapestry which evokes a lot of emotions! It’s a story that stirs a lot of emotions; from empathy, sadness and an inner glow in the heart at the end. As the story begins, we feel Temba’s struggles, fear and hopelessness. He seems to be carrying a huge emotional burden and a crushing sense of defeat. I hope you have also seen Temba’s bid to reassert his sense of being and purpose through his desire of caring for a puppy – we could actually feel it whimpering. And the new hope ignited at the end of the story and affirmations of hope and new beginnings! The birth of a child always brings with it new beginnings – hope springs eternal!
So here we are! Stories are so humanising. Learning to read art in all its genres evokes emotions in us. It sharpens our affective side and warms our hearts.

Vuso Mhlanga teaches at the University of Zimbabwe. For almost a decade and half he taught English language and Literature in English at high school. Send your comments and questions to: mhlangavuso85@gmail.com

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