Tono — an accepted notion among Basotho men that there should be a pecking order in governance. In economic governance, such a notion is etched in policy. A colonial magistrate in what was referred to as Basutholand was frustrated by assault cases that streamed into court after work parties that followed wheat mowing in summer, sorghum thrashing in winter or festivities where tjontjobina (Sesotho sorghum beer) was imbibed, often in extravagant measure. Out of anguish, the magistrate counselled the Basotho men, saying: “It looks to me that there is a simple solution to your problem — why don’t you start by drinking tono and then take the rest of your sorghum beer.” The folly of this is that tono, like a complex economic phenomenon, does not have a simple solution. The problem, of course, was that the white magistrate did not know that tono is the remnant at the bottom of the clay pot containing sorghum brew, so it will always be drunk last. Tono’s significance is that it defines the pecking order by age. Where age may not be known, as would be the case in societies without writing, and where it is determined by succession rather than birth dates, tono renders this order complex and challenging. This numerical feature remained heavily contested and resulted in blood spilling and death for those who usurped the pecking order. All these fights had to be adjudicated by the white magistrate, who hardly related to the culture...