Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 2013 Page: 163
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2013 Chieftainship Succession and Gender Equality in Lesotho
Paramount Chief were already circumscribed by legislation as well as the
emergent institutions of governance.18 But the two salient factors that
contributed to the diminished power of the monarchy towards the end of
the British colonial rule were the fact that it had been forced to play second
fiddle to the Resident Commissioner, and the monarchy's inherent political
and administrative weakness, which became explicit in the reign of Regent
Chieftainess 'Mantsebo Seeiso in the late 1950s.19 Thus, when the
independence movements gathered momentum, the monarchy could hardly
keep up with their pace.20 As a result, when the monarchy under King
Moshoeshoe II demanded to be vested with executive powers, political
parties such as the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) ignored it, arguing
that the monarchy was an outdated institution that had collaborated with the
colonialists.21 The consequences of this played out rather unhappily for the
monarchy, especially in the process of constitution-making, a task which
had been assigned to the Constitutional Commission, which was
established in 1962.22 This was due to the fact that the main political
parties-the BCP, the Basutoland National Party (BNP), the Marematlou
Freedom Party (MFP), and the Basutoland Freedom Party (BFP), who had
a heavy presence in the Commission-were much more attracted to
democratic governance.23 Thus, the demands of the monarchy were
moderated by relegating the position of the King (who had now assumed
the title of Motlotlehi) to that of a ceremonial head of government rather
than an all-powerful executive leader.24 Some saw this arrangement as a
deliberate attempt to reduce the monarchy to a position of impotence and
deeply opposed it.25 This disagreement bubbled to the surface in the period
immediately after the first post-independence elections in 1965,26 leading
to open political rivalry between the King (joined by MFP), the ruling
18. See L.B.B.J. MACHOBANE, GOVERNMENT AND CHANGE IN LESOTHO 234-54 (1990).
The Council was established through the 1958 constitution. Id. at 260. Heightened political
activity during this period saw the emergence of political parties such as the Basutoland
African Congress (BAC) of Ntsu Sejabanana, founded in 1952. Id. at 253.
19. See generally Nqosa Mahao, The Constitution, the Elite and the Monarchy's Crisis
in Lesotho, 10 LESOTHO L.J. 165, 167-70 (1997) (noting that the monarchs were "junior
partners to the Resident Commissioners" and that Regent Chieftaness 'Mantsebo Seeiso's
"political and administrative weakness" rendered her ill-fit for the challenges of the 1950s).
20. See RICHARD F. WEISFELDER, THE BASUTO MONARCHY: A SPENT FORCE OR A
DYNAMIC POLITICAL FACTOR? 50 (1972).
21. See L.B.B.J. MACHOBANE, KING'S KNIGHTS 12-13 (200 1).
22. Among the main terms of reference for the Commission was to define the role of
the monarchy in the new constitutional dispensation. See Mahao, supra note 19, at 171.
23. See STEPHEN J. GILL, A SHORT HISTORY OF LESOTHO 214 (1993).
24. W.C.M. MAQUTU, CONTEMPORARY CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF LESOTHO 43
(1990); WEISFELDER, supra note 20, at 67.
25. GILL, supra note 23, at 210; MOCHABANE, supra note 18, at 289.
26. See MAQUTU, supra note 24, at 36-37.163
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University of Texas at Austin. School of Law. Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 2013, periodical, Spring 2013; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth638862/m1/41/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.