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crutator didn’t know Christians in Lesotho, divided as they are, could form such a united front until the newly formed Democratic Congress (DC) tried to use the cross as its symbol.
For the first time in a very long time the garrulous Pentecostals, the rigid Seventh Day Adventists and easygoing Catholics were united on something.
It was a rare show of unity for churches so divided by man-made dogmas that you would think they don’t pray to the same God.
They spoke in unison and fought like an army.
The DC was a thief of symbols and must be stopped, they said.
The Christian Council of Lesotho was livid at what they said was the DC’s attempt to pinch a symbol that Christians have “owned” and revered for centuries.
Some even threatened to take to the streets to vent their anger against a party that had stolen power and was now threatening to run away with their religious symbol.
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ut Scrutator could not help but notice an irony in all this brouhaha over the cross as a symbol.
You see, the cross itself was never originally a symbol of Christianity.
In fact it didn’t become a symbol of Christianity until around 707AD, 674 years after the death of Jesus Christ.
Also, the cross was already an important symbol for pagans before Christianity was even an idea.
It is “Christianity” that stole that symbol from pagans.
Yes, I said it! And I will say it again before Christians say shove me into an express bus to “Hell”.
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he cross was a symbol for pagans stolen by Christians.
This is a historical fact that Christians have to live with for it cannot be washed away like dirt.
No amount of propaganda, censorship, dogma and embellishment will change that fact.
Do I hear a big “Nxa” from the pulpits across the country?
Well, it’s not Scrutator’s problem that most of our pastors know zilch about the history of the church.
They can argue until donkeys grow horns and pigs learn the Rhumba dance but the fact remains that the cross is not originally a Christian symbol.
Before its expropriation the cross was already a symbol in Egypt and Babylon.
Some parts of Africa were already using the cross as a symbol before Christianity was brought by missionaries.
The church can claim the cross as their symbol but it must accept, in the spirit of fairness, that it was stolen from others.
Centuries have passed since that act of thievery but that doesn’t mean the thieving did not happen.
That the church robbed the cross is as true as Christianity’s history of intolerance and merciless killings of people who dared challenge its teachings.
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et these historical facts should not blind us to the fact that the DC was merely trying to be opportunistic when it initially opted to use the cross as its symbol.
Little wonder then that when pressure mounted the Pakalitha Mosisili-led party relented and opted for another symbol.
Now the DC has settled for a big three-legged pot as its symbol.
It says the potjie which is made in cast iron (real cheap iron) symbolises the end of poverty.
Its three legs, the party says, represent balance.
Those legs, we are told, also represent the party’s executive committee, women’s league and the youth league.
And those very same legs also represent the people, local government and central government.
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hew, that’s too much for those three legs to represent.
Scrutator thinks the potjie as a symbol is as incongruent to the DC as the eagle was to the Lesotho Democratic Congress.
Very few families in this country still use a potjie of that size because poverty has meant that they don’t have plenty to cook.
If there is any rural family that is still making its meals in such a big pot then it’s very successful or it’s eating stolen things.
People are starving and they will continue to starve until politicians realise that state resources are for the people and not for their self-enrichment.
The potjie, by its very nature, is a very heavy pot.
And that makes Scrutator wonder who in poverty-ravaged villages where most families are headed by frail grannies or very young people has the strength to carry it.
In most households that pot is now reserved for decorative purposes.
It’s a cruel reminder of the bygone years of “fat cows”.
When old people look at those three-legged pots they are reminded of the days when having something to eat was not a privilege.
The LCD government stole those days and it doesn’t seem like the DC will bring them back.
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crutator thinks that pot symbolises a time for politicians to eat more on behalf of the people.
The letters “DC” on that pot symbol are for Direct Consumption or Double Corruption or Don’t Complain or Die Complaining or Don’t Cry or Don’t Change.
Scrutator is not suggesting that the DC should change its symbol again. No.
It’s just that the symbol does not really capture what the party represents.
The very same people who are now in the DC were the ones who failed when they were in the LCD government.
Under their rule Lesotho became more crooked and the poor became poorer.
It is inconceivable that the DC will change this modus operandi simply because it is the DC.
A more apt symbol would have been that of a politician with a potbelly and rotund cheeks sitting atop that three-legged pot while beating the hell out of a povo that wants to open the lid.
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he three legs should have been replaced with emaciated peasants battling to balance the crushingly heavy pot on their heads.
That is the reality in Lesotho.
Those at the top don’t want anyone joining them at the high table.
The majority is starving so that a minority can sustain their opulence.
When I say the “the poor” I don’t mean just the peasants in the villages but also the large numbers of people in the urban areas who are living hand to mouth.
The educated but unemployed youths are also the legs of that weighty DC pot.
So are men and women forever pounding the streets of Maseru looking for jobs.
I mean the civil servants whose take-home salaries can’t take them home.
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crutator is talking about the thousands of factory workers who toil every day for a minimum wage that the government knows well is not even enough to buy a pair of a minister’s shoe.
Don’t forget the thousands of Aids orphans.
These and many other hardworking people struggling to put food on the table and educate their children are the real legs of the DC pot.
Isn’t it ironic that in a year that looks certainly to be a drought the DC chooses a big pot as a symbol?
You don’t alleviate poverty by rallying a people behind a pot.
Any party that promises to end poverty when it becomes a government is lying.
The LCD realised a long time ago that talk is cheap But perhaps there is more to that pot than meets the eye.
The potjie is famed for making tasty food.
Mmmmmmmm!
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he leader of the DC didn’t mention the pot at a press conference last week but Scrutator noticed the confidence he exuded when he was talking about winning the upcoming election.
He said he had no doubt the new party will win the election and form the next government.
How a party that will be barely two months old when we go to the election hopes to win with a majority only the DC people can tell.
It’s quiz time: Apart from food what else can be cooked?
Choose between (A) a government, (B) a politician and (C) an election.
Whatever your answer may be just remember Scrutator didn’t say an election can be cooked.
An attempt to allege that will be denied now, tomorrow and forever.
Ache!
scrutator29@gmail.com
