Africa-Press – Lesotho. Allow me to set the record straight and remind you of an interesting part of our history. The first Mosotho to drive a Mercedes-Benz G-wagon came from a village named Mazenod, Ha Sekepe.
Yes, the first Mercedes-Benz G-wagon in Lesotho. It was in the year 1990 when I first saw a Mercedes-Benz G-wagon in Mr Kobuoe ‘Mile’s yard (our neighbour) and I thought I was dreaming.
Mr Koboue ‘Mile was a businessman and ran a local café named Vuka-zenzele café. The cafe was a second-generation café after he had inherited it from his father (Ntate Tšepiso ‘Mile).
There was always something peculiar about the name of the café and I always found it very fascinating. When loosely translated, Vuka-zenzele means, wake up and work for yourself.
Tsoha u iketsetse in Sesotho. So, Mr ‘Mile’s vehicle was a green left-hand drive ‘import’ and also had a car phone. Yes, a car phone located on the centre console and had a black coiled cord attached to it.
I remember, we would marvel at the vehicle for hours with my friends because it was something we had never seen in our lives. More especially, a car phone.
Remember this was a time before cell-phones even existed. Those were the legends of our village named Mazenod. Yes, Mazenod was once great in one way or the other.
This past Friday, a good friend of mine and a coach of Swallows Football Club organised an inaugural Swallows Gala Dinner at Mojalefa Lephole Hall (Victory Hall in Moshoeshoe II.
). I attended the event and it was highly successful considering it was their first Gala Dinner.
Amongst the many guests that were present was the former Kaizer-Chiefs and Bafana-Bafana player, Pollen Ndlanya. It felt good to see a lot of people that I grew up with converge in one place.
It’s always funny to meet as adults. All you can talk about is how kids are doing. I used to find that a bit weird about parents. They’d spend hours talking about their kids.
But hey, here we are. We’ve joined the club. So, Teele Ntšonyana organised the gala dinner as part of a bigger campaign named ‘Let’s make Mazenod great’.
There’s also a WhatsApp group that I’m part of, even though I hardly participate in it (I actually hate WhatsApp groups but don’t tell anyone). The purpose of the campaign is to invoke the Vuka-zenzele spirit (tsoha u iketsetse).
It is also meant to promote a spirit of reviving the local economy by promoting cleanliness as well as promoting a culture of law and order. What inspired the campaign you may ask? Mazenod is a very important place because it hosts the only international airport in Lesotho.
It starts there! Even if Beyonce happens to visit Lesotho, her point of departure would be Mazenod. I love this campaign and I wish the same spirit could spread to places like Roma & TY.
Jesus Christ please help Roma! Roma looks like a shanty-town. This is a ‘town’ that hosts the National University but its surroundings look like a squatter camp named Diepsloot (Google search it).
Hao batho ba Roma! (Roma people). Why are you destroying your place like this? I say this because when you get to Roma, there is nothing that says this is a place of higher learning.
Look at the Thomas Mofolo library! Ekare storo (It looks like a store room). Why is it not a landmark building that can be accessed by the Roma community and tourists?
I bring this up after visiting an NUL lecturer named Mr Khoanyane last Saturday following the gala dinner. My friend, Hlalele Rasephei insisted that we have to see the incredible work Ntate Khoanyane does.
Wow! I tell you Khoanyane is doing incredible stuff with fruit trees. After what I saw Khoanyane do with fruit trees, I concluded that our unemployment crisis in Lesotho is but a choice.
No, it’s a choice we have made as a country by repeatedly electing useless politicians. We have hands, time (the same 24 hours that Beyonce has), land, over-abundance of water, a good climate and a young workforce.
What more do we need? To sit in offices? Khoanyane proceeded to take us on a study tour of his farm at Sefikeng. He showed us ways in which fruit trees are produced and can be reproduced.
There were various species of trees from, peaches, apricots, apples and pears that were all produced on the farm. Yes, apples do grow in Lesotho. Khoanyane demonstrated that if we place all our focus on producing and growing fruit trees, we could defeat a monster named unemployment.
The Vuka-zenzele spirit! Tsoha u iketsetse! (Wake up and work for yourself). Instead of waiting for the government to create jobs. Going into this week’s topic and as a follow-up to last week’s topic, I think there is something special that we can do for ourselves as citizens of this country, instead of depending on being given hand-outs from donors.
More importantly, instead of depending on politicians (professional liars). As a follow-up to last weeks topic, imagine if we could re-name the Palace Road, that cuts across Sefikeng sa Moshoeshoe, to Serena Williams Road?
I tell you, this is an opportune time to commemorate Serena Williams for her contribution to the sports fraternity. I bring this up because the street crosses to the National Tennis Courts and this would be a perfect opportunity to commemorate the tennis legend following her retirement last weekend.
Can you imagine how much publicity and tourism this would bring to the Mountain Kingdom? Hotels would be packed to capacity because television crews from across the world (CNN and BBC) would come and cover the ribbon-cutting event.
Serena Williams could even run tennis coaching clinics for young girls. Imagine if the ribbon cutting event is staged in between Moposo House and the Bank Tower (Damn! The Bank Tower desperately needs a fresh coat of paint).
By the way, the Bank Tower will be turning 40 years next year but still remains the tallest building in Lesotho. This symbolises 40 years of stagnation.
So, it’s not only Serena Williams that could commemorate but I think a British Formula-One super-star named Sir Lewis Hamilton deserves one road in Maseru city to be named after him.
By the way, they are friends with Serena Williams and pledged some money to buy Chelsea FC. Why do I bring Sir Lewis Hamilton into the equation? It’s because he is currently running a campaign to support South Africa to host the African leg of the F1 race.
Sir Lewis Hamilton is running the campaign in conjunction with a global logistics company named DHL. Why is DHL part of the campaign? Because, they are an official logistics partner to the Formula One with transporting the vehicles and equipment world-wide.
Look, sports is big business and we need to open our eyes to this big opportunity should South Africa be granted the right to host the African F1 leg.
Now, can you imagine the amount of publicity Lesotho would get if it were to re-name the Airport Road, located behind the BNP Centre and the Central Bank to Sir Lewis Hamilton Road?
This would open up investment opportunities to global giants such as Petronas, Mercedes-Benz and of course DHL. Moshoeshoe I International Airport would benefit immensely and should partner with DHL as a logistics partner. In fact, just privatise the damn airport or sell it to Emirates instead of fighting for tenders. We are missing out on golden opportunities.
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