Word: basuto
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Clad in gay robes and conical straw hats, hard-riding Basuto tribesmen last week poured into their hilltop capital of Maseru. The joyous occasion: the royal marriage in the Roman Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Victories between a serene young student named Tabitha Masentle Mojela and Basutoland's Paramount Chief, Oxford-educated Constantine Bereng Seeiso Moshoeshoe II, who ascended the throne of the British protectorate in 1960 after a tough fight with his stepmother, who had acted as regent for 20 years...
...jubilant tribesmen hailed the bride and groom with the traditional whinny-an affectionate salute that is supposed to imitate the neighing of a Basuto pony. They scrupulously obeyed the sign posted before the church: "No horses allowed in the cathedral." Also on hand to pay their respects were foreign diplomats stationed in South Africa, the country that completely surrounds Basutoland. With the two-hour marriage ceremony completed, the diplomats headed home and all Basutoland (pop. 700,000) settled down to three days of parades, celebrations and feasts of barbecued oxen...
Under the Blanket. Two decades ago, Mantsebo took over in a bitter family quarrel that sorely split the Sons of Mo-shesh, the elite 1,000-odd living descendants of the fabled 19th century ruler who fought off the Zulus, founded the Basuto nation, and asked that his people be taken "under the great Queen Victoria's blanket." Over the years, Mantsebo successfully parried each attempt to edge her out, but last week a new, more dangerous threat was on the scene: a tall, natty young Oxford student just back from England. He was Constantinus Bereng Seeiso, Mantsebo...
Calling a Council. Bereng found two of the country's four political parties and nine of the 22 Basuto principal chiefs on his side, but Mantsebo stubbornly stuck to her argument: Bereng could not become Paramount Chief until he finished his education and married. One of her fears: he might marry a white woman, as a London report had it ("That story about my having a fair gel-sheer nonsense," answered Bereng...
Mantsebo's harsh treatment of Bereng -the rightful heir to the throne-was certain to arouse old hatreds, and all the Basuto could only hope it did not provoke another wave of medicine murder...