Moorosi

Morosi (or Moorosi; died 20 November 1879) was a Baphuthi chief in the wild southern part of Basutoland. He led a revolt against the Cape Colony government in 1879, in defence of his independence south of the Orange River. The British refused to help the Cape Government. However, Letsie, the paramount chief and first son of Moshoeshoe, and many of the Sotho ruling establishment, rallied to support the Cape forces, and the rebellion was put down after several months of arduous fighting. He was beheaded and his body mutilated by Cape troops.

Early life

Morosi was the son of Mokuane, a Baphuthi man, and a San woman. According to Major David Hook, who met him, he was small and had yellow skin, which is suggestive of San ancestry.

Chief of the Baphuthi

Morosi's Mountain 1879 Campaign

In recognition of Morosi's military assistance and successes, most recently in the war with the Orange Free State, Moshoeshoe granted him lands in the southwestern corner of Basutoland. Here, in 1879, Morosi's son Doda and some other Baphuthi tribesmen were refusing to pay the hut taxes which had been agreed upon between the chiefs and the Cape Government on the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape Colony in 1868. John Austen, the Resident Magistrate, imprisoned the offenders but a force of Baphuthis set them free. A troop of Cape Mounted Riflemen (CMR) responded but were repulsed by Morosi, who refused to give up his son. Morosi and the approximately 1,500 Baphuthi men, along with their women and children took refuge on a mountain, where he requested a week to respond to the Cape Government's offer of safe return if he gave up the offenders.

During that week, Morosi gradually and stealthily moved to another mountain 20 miles away in the Drakensberg range, which came to be known as Morosi's Mountain. During the previous ten years, Morosi had worked on building a mountain top fortification. The mountain has sheer drops on three sides and the fourth consists of a 30° slope, which he reinforced with a series of strong walls, 8–12 feet high, impervious to artillery, with loopholes for guns. There Morosi took refuge with around 300 Baphuthi soldiers and sufficient ammunition, food and cattle to resist a long siege, beginning 24 March, until he was finally overrun on 20 November.

Morosi was besieged by up to 800 Cape soldiers and 1,500 Sotho, who had been lured by Griffith on the understanding that they would not be subject to disarmament under the Cape Peace Preservation Act of 1878. A first assault on the mountain took place on 8 April but was repulsed. Two men in that assault received the Victoria Cross: Sergent Robert Scott and Trooper Peter Brown. A second assault took place on 5 June, involving the recently formed Cape Mounted Yeomanry. This assault was also unsuccessful and Surgeon Major Edmund Hartley was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part.

The final assault on Morosi's stronghold took place on the night of 19–20 November 1879 under the command of Colonel Zachary Bayly. A mortar and ammunition was sent up from King William's Town and fixed about 400 metres from the first wall behind a rapidly built, stone bastion. Mortar was fired over the walls of Morosi's fortifications for four days and nights prior to the attack. At 12.30am an attempt was made on the mountain by scaling up a fissure, which became known as Bourne's Crack. The storming party reached the top before Morosi's men could regroup against the assault. On reaching the top, the CMR cut down the enemy then set out to find Morosi. Several small parties of Baphuthi were hiding in caves, within one of which was Morosi.

A private of the CMR named Whitehead shot and killed Morosi. After his death, Morosi was decapitated, his head then boiled and stripped down to the bone. In the storming of his stronghold, Morosi's sons were also killed, with the exception of Doda, who escaped with around 120 men by jumping into the Orange River. Morosi's wives were also killed, as were some 200 of his men.

For eight months Morosi and the Baphuthi had succeeded in holding off superior Cape forces with the skillful use of firearms.

Personal life

Morosi had a number of sons, including Doda and Letuka. Letuka, who was killed at the same time as Morosi, was the father of Mocheka. Mocheka, in 1913, tried and failed to have himself reinstated as chief of the Baphuthi.

Legacy

The conflict between Morosi and the Cape forces was one of the defining events of the exercise of authority in Phuthiland and Basutoland overall, which relied on the use of firearms and control of economic production.

The Cape Government of Prime Minister Gordon Sprigg, in eventually overcoming Morosi, was assisted by Basuto soldiers armed with guns. However the Cape Government's subsequent policies destroyed any remaining trust or loyalty which the Basuto may have had to the Cape Colony. Firstly, the Cape Government imposed disarmament on the Basuto by extending the 1878 "Peace Preservation Act" into Basutoland for the first time in 1880. It also appropriated Morosi's lands in the Quthing District for white settlement.

The Basuto resisted disarmament and rose in rebellion, which led to the Basuto Gun War from September 1880 to April 1881. The Cape forces were ultimately incapable of enforcing the order and gave back Basutoland to Britain in 1884.

Morosi's rebellion therefore played a significant role in maintaining the identity of the territory and the existence of Lesotho as a nation state today.