Makhabane Maluke
THE Bible Society of Lesotho selected to distribute and equip members of the 8th Parliament with free copies of the Bible. Why did they do that at that particular time and turn of parliamentary events? This must have been done dutifully. God might have opted to engage the Society to remind Basotho, through their representatives in Parliament, that they are largely a Christian nation and have to do what has to be done the Christian way.
The distribution of the Bibles in the National Assembly had its own drama. Members of the society who were in attendance became ushers for that day – dishing out papers from the House Table, to every seat which had a member occupying it.
Those Members of Parliament (MP) who did not attend House sitting on that day later displayed their appreciation through frantic inquiries to their colleagues and the Table about the whereabouts of their copies. Everyone was indeed excited that the Lesotho Bible Society had delivered Bibles to MPs. This re-affirmed that all members of the National Assembly were Christians; none had affirmed, as non-Christians do, on assuming membership of parliament.
Those copies of the Bible were all of good quality; hard covers in typical Lesotho orthography: Sesotho sa Moshoeshoe le Baruti. The latter is very significant in that this distinct orthography is gradually becoming unpopular among the current generation of writers, authors and teachers. It also augured well with the message in a brochure, in English, which accompanied each copy of the Bible.
Page 2 of that brochure stated its message: “Every person must hear God speaking in his/her own language.” Copies of the Bible neatly carried the real orthography of what other print houses refer to as “Southern Sotho”. Through these copies, God speaks to Basotho of Lesotho in their unique language.
It is this gesture of the Bible Society that influenced the coinage of the title of this article. The title derives from the reading of Galatians/ Ba-Galata 6:7, “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he so reap”. Simply put, whatever is effected or done [by man] in the present will have a direct effect on what happens later. For example, the dissolution of the 8th parliament was an effect of how the first coalition government handled issues of governance, including the effectiveness of the opposition in opposing constructively in parliament.
Could the All-Mighty have preferred to exceptionally speak to Basotho through the initiative of the Bible Society of Lesotho through their representatives at that particular turning point of their parliamentary term? Another brochure in Sesotho had some selected readings from the Bible e.g. Luke 14:9-14; Daniel 2:20-22 etc, which urge readers to introspect and assess the quality of their roles in matters which affect the nation, as a creation of God.
Every leader has to lead his followers, and those followers in turn have to follow their leaders. All these, they must do in the spirit of prescriptions of the Bible. If the Galatians cited above register well among Basotho, each one is invited to frankly consider whether or not the Lesotho of our time is at the point of sowing or reaping?
Basotho are known to be too politically divided. There are those who maintain that in 2015, Lesotho is sowing what it will reap later. This is a matter of wait and see. Others will hold a different view that Lesotho is currently reaping what was sown in previous seasons. Both arguments evolve around a premise that we are all at the very beginning of the 9th parliament which came about prematurely.
It is human actions that necessitated parliamentary incidents like the 28 February elections which gave rise to the 9th parliament and a new government. The holding of an early election was unquestionably constitutional, compared with the previous forms of mismanagement which had been defended as constitutional. It was a quality product of what powers that be sowed. It is a lesson to those who wish to reap what will make them happy, to avoid doing the wrong acts.
How the 9th Parliament started is another interesting sowing. It is already plagued with accusations and counter-accusations. One camp swore by its leadership that the new coalition would not survive beyond the first six months of the 9th Parliament. Some men and women are in serious prayers and lobbying that the current coalition be admitted into the intensive care unit; calls for the intervention of SADC, Commonwealth and the UN have been heard from those who lack the courage to be His Majesty‘s loyal opposition. Instead, they cry foul about everything.
There have already been a few walk-outs in the 9th Parliament. A few calls for Ha-se-k`hoeloe – to stayaway – have been attempted. All these are a reminder of the incidents of the 7th Parliament. These are not effective alternatives to the tactics employed by the 8th Parliament opposition. It fought procedural wars in the House, including the most feared conventional “no confidence motion”. It was so feared that the government could not propose a “confidence motion” in its defense. The best it could do was to prorogue parliament; and it reaped what it had sown.
This article is an honest invitation and appeal to all Basotho to re-think their ways and methods in with national issues. What you sow, you will reap. You may have already reaped what tasted bitter: avoid repetition of such experiments. Remember to do unto others as you would like them do unto you. The Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL) is encouraged to dutifully strive even harder, to get Basotho back on track. Basotho have to be viewed as a Christian nation and not as political fanatics who are always at each other`s throats.
Indeed there are those other unfamiliar churches in Lesotho, which may not be within the fold of the CCL. To those, it is time to show that they too are primarily in pursuit of Bible teachings. It is very sad for an organization which has to be viewed as a church to be associated with allegations that it was out to influence the outcome of elections in some constituencies in the February 2015 elections. Such roles were un-Godly, if ever there were such maneuvers.
