Men who had killed and eaten his grandfather were brought before him. His advisers said kill them. He forgave them instead.
Moshoeshoe I was born around 1786, a minor chief's son named Lepoqo, and earned his famous name by boasting about a cattle raid. Taught by the wise chief Mohlomi that a ruler is great because of how many people choose to follow him, he led his people through the Lifaqane, a time of war and famine, to the mountain fortress of Thaba Bosiu. There he spared the men who had eaten his grandfather Peete, gave them cattle and made them part of his nation. Refugees came from all over, and the Basotho nation was born.
He could fight too. He drove off Mzilikazi's Ndebele in 1831 and then sent them cattle for the journey home, and in 1852 he wrote the British commander a letter that let both sides walk away. He still lost his best farmland to the Orange Free State, and in 1868 he asked Britain for protection. That choice is why Lesotho is an independent kingdom today.
Join the conversation
Do you think you could forgive what Moshoeshoe forgave?
