PALI LEHOHLA | May Morena Mohlomi’s credo steer the post-election convention that SA desperately needs

I analysed the progression ratios emerging out of the South African National Census of 2022  in the sphere of university education. The earlier observation that whites and Indians are the only race groups attaining intergenerational value was confirmed. The only exception showing significant promise are the Venda-speaking people. And this is because their language is a superior aggregator of knowledge, easing its speakers into an education path, especially in the STEM subjects.

The serious question to be asked 30 years into democracy is the hallmark of Morena Mohlomi on intergenerational value. The call by South Africa for a national dialogue must answer this question honestly in terms of the Mohlomi Code of Governance.

Last week I was invited by the Lesotho Institute of Directors to deliver a keynote address on the occasion of the founding summit of the Mohlomi Code. Morena Mohlomi, after whom the code is named, was a Mosotho chief who was born about 1720. Named Mohlomi (builder) by his father Monyane, Mohlomi was destined for greatness. Mohlomi mentored, rehabilitated and transformed a young violent Mosotho lad, who had murdered no less than five victims, into one of the greatest kings in the world. He had established a Leadership Academy at Ngolile, where he mentored many a leader in the countries that constitute the Sadc region today.

This great place of intellectual engagement and history was part of the Afrikaner cum British colonial land-loot that was stolen from Lesotho. This now constitutes the Free State in present-day South Africa The Basotho experts, intellectuals, orators and traditional knowledge systems practitioners have been researching Mohlomi’s leadership and through this intellectual process they achieved and created the unique Mohlomi Code of Governance. The founder of the Basotho nation, Morena Moshoeshoe, was the most significant protégé of Morena Mohlomi. The duo made this 18th-century Ngolile Academy one of the most eminent centres of leadership in the world as revealed through this sterling work of Basotho intellectuals and Max du Preez.

Morena Mohlomi, whom Du Preez refers to as Southern Africa’s first Pan Africanist, said: “The extraordinary thing about Morena Mohlomi and his student, Morena Moshoeshoe, was their gift of counterintuitive leadership, leadership that was daring and visionary, leadership that did not simply do the obvious.”

The call by Mbeki for a national convention should lead to the pursuit of peaceful and productive alliances, which accommodate stakeholders and use instruments of power to create intergenerational value.

Former president Thabo Mbeki was hosted by Freedom Park last week to provide insights and an evaluation of the past 30 years of SA’s democracy. It was at this site of remembrance that Mbeki made a seminal announcement that our existential threat as a nation demands a national convention. This convention will be held after the election to address the issues that have plagued the country in the past 15 years. This call for a convention was supported by President Cyril Ramaphosa. I penned two articles in the Daily Maverick making a similar call: “Next year’s elections should be postponed ... (Part One)” and “The new SA has failed blacks and coloureds while the elite thrive, and elections won’t fix it ... (Part Two)”.

After these pieces I have also suggested in other articles and interviews that there exist encouraging starting points. One of this being the proposal that Business For South Africa (B4SA) brought before government in 2020. Complementing my proposal was the fact that in 2019, a year before B4SA issued its proposals, Indlulamithi Scenarios 2030 had published a report that pointed out that South Africa was heading in a Gwara-Gwara (floundering) direction, later updated to a Vulture Nation state (worst case scenario). However, government ignored the Indlulamithi Scenario 2030 as well as the B4SA proposals. What I found encouraging between B4SA proposals and Nayi le Walk (preferred scenario) was the convergence of targets for a better South Africa. While the election was not postponed, the day after an election, South Africa will still face the Vulture Nation state.

The call for a national convention by Mbeki is drawn from the wisdom of Morena Mohlomi when an existential crisis of communities in Southern Africa in the 18th century reigned. As a young chief he did the unexpected and inexplicable. He was the first leader in history to engage a unilateral treaty on disarmament as the basis for peace. In this regard “unlike other chiefs in Southern Africa, he didn’t build a strong army or engage in battles. Instead, he disbanded his fighting units, emphasising farming and family values. His wisdom, generosity and commitment to love-based leadership set him apart. Mohlomi saw all people as brothers and sisters, with special consideration for children, women, and the elderly.”

Morena Mohlomi’s philosophical instructions were, “a responsible leader pursues peaceful and productive alliances, accommodates stakeholders, and uses new instruments of power to create intergenerational value.” The call by Mbeki for a national convention should lead to the pursuit of peaceful and productive alliances, which accommodate stakeholders and use instruments of power to create intergenerational value. Morena Mohlomi’s credo was anchored on five pillars dedicated to transformational leadership that is anchored in peace, productivity and intergenerational value. Through integrative reporting these five pillars hung organically together. Morena Moshoeshoe would use the khotla and pitso as instruments for advancing peace, productivity and intergenerational value. How far was this 200-year-old approach to life by Morena Mohlomi and Morena Moshoeshoe from Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063 The Africa we want? we can ask. This is the gift of Morena Mohlomi and Morena Moshoeshoe to the world. It is a gift that is resident in the stolen Lesotho at Ngolile in the Free State. It is, however, all available to us as South Africans and the rest of the Sadc region for use and the world.

Du Preez says: “Every old Mosotho I have spoken to over the years about Mohlomi remembers that their grandmothers and grandfathers told them how much he loved to have long, philosophical conversations with other wise individuals. He tried to answer the big questions: where does the universe begin and end? What is the essence of life, and how was it created? How do we truly know what is true and what is false, what is good and what is evil? What is a soul, and how does it differ from a brain? Mohlomi believed there was one creator of everything and that souls were immortal. His philosophies and thoughts had much in common with Eastern saying and the law of karma. A person's conscience, Mohlomi preached, rather than the pressure of the community or norms imposed by others, should be their only guide. Fate will be your friend if you treat other people, especially the weak and unfortunate, with compassion and generosity. People can learn a lot from the past and from each other, but no-one can escape the responsibility of their own thoughts and actions and blame circumstances or culture.”

It is this advice that, “a person's conscience, rather than the pressure of the community or norms imposed by others, should be their only guide. Fate will be your friend if you treat other people, especially the weak and unfortunate, with compassion and generosity,” that we should remember as an oath of office is taken by public representatives by mid-June. The call for a national convention will be richly rewarded by the 22 Principles of the Mohlomi Code of Governance. They are profusely contagious and transformative. It was gifted to us by Mohlomi the builder and practised by King Moshoeshoe, fondly known as Letlama (the binder). The combination of the builder and the binder is impenetrable, it is progressive and guarantees intergenerational value creation.

Dr Pali Lehohla is a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg, a research associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former statistician-general of South Africa