Seeiso, Constantine Bereng (King Moshoeshoe II)

ENCAENIA, APRIL, 1988
CONSTANTINE BERENG SEEISO
to be Doctor of Laws

The man we honour here today is one who was destined from the very outset to play an important role, not only in the unfolding events of Southern Africa, but in the corridors of power of our multi-racial Commonwealth. By birth, background, lengthy apprenticeship, and sound education, he is uniquely qualified to take part in such an activity.

Having been vested with the necessary executive and legislative authority to ensure that his nation will not be found wanting when his advice is sought, he can now express that position in those words of calm and reasoned judgement which he uses with such superb effect.

His is a great heritage. Born in the mountain district of Mokhotlong, he is a direct descendant of the founder of the Basotho nation, His Majesty King Moshoeshoe I.

Still an infant at the untimely death of his father a Regency was established to ensure he received proper training and education for the role he would be called on to play when installed as Paramount Chief.

More recently, in the role as Chancellor of the National University of Lesotho, he has said: “Teaching in the University should be such that it produces independent thinkers with the creativity to tackle problems and find solutions. The last thing education ought to do is to adjust anybody to the appearance of a society which will not be there by the time that person becomes adjusted to it.”

That his own education measured up to this generally acknowledged standard can be found in a much earlier address, delivered in 1962 to the then Legislative Council when, as has been pointed out he stressed, “the inadequacy of British Rule, the need for responsible government, and the necessity for reform of traditional institutions.”

His condemnation of the “empiricism” in public affairs left little doubt that the past British policy was under attack. He called for a “national crusade” against “empiricism” and named it the country’s “foremost enemy.”

To quote his Majesty’s own words: “empiricism means that decisions are taken on purely short-term grounds, without any clear perception of their long term implications. Policy is made hand-to-mouth; and when there are no agreed views about the general principles of public policy, the proper role of various organisations and institutions, or the ideal ultimate shape of social and economic relations, these piecemeal decisions are apt to make two malcontents for every citizen…we must resolve at once that no such fate could possible be forecast for Basutoland.”

Today, as King Moshoeshoe II, His Majesty is listened to with keen interest and thoughtful respect by all those who are in attendance at international gatherings where he is a participant, and never more so that at the most recent sessions of the Commonwealth Heads of State in Vancouver, Canada. I am reliably informed that while he worked as hard and as long as any of those present, to the point where he quite exhausted the Canadian who had been assigned to assist him.

If one were to select the matter on which His Majesty has focused greatest attention over many years, then the answer would have to be – education and its relation to social issues, and the role which his University must play if this nation is to develop and prosper. As he has pointed out to members of the University Council in his position of Chancellor: “If the university is to make a significant contribution to national development, it must proceed from informed criteria, it must engage itself in a continuous search for the real problems frustrating the advance of our national development plans.

It must accept increasing responsibility for moving practical ideas along the road towards visible action, for developing the knowledge required and to applying such knowledge towards achieving the set national objectives.”

It is in education that he sees the key to better prospects and a brighter future for all people, and especially for his own people. In his concern for each Mosotho and their need to achieve a greater measure of self-reliance, he has coupled interest with action. Moshoeshoe II High School, founded in 1965, was designed to break with the traditional pattern of colonial education by stressing “education for self-reliance”, and more recently “education for production”. A decade later saw him establishing the Matsieng development trust which is, and I quote—“encouraging conscious involvement of village people in spontaneous capital formation and [thus] promoting their own control of the resulting enterprises.”

What matters for him is the individual person, which is so obvious as he moves about the countryside, welcomes visitors to the nation and meets with people overseas. The warmth and sincerity of his greeting are authentic and leave a lasting impression.

Recently I spotted on a shelf in a shop dealing in used books, a large and impressive volume with the title “The Story of South Africa”—written in 1899 by two citizens of the United States of America. It deals in large part with the developments leading up the Anglo-Boer War, and in a chapter under the heading “Doubtful and Certain Allies” the authors, in spite of their Victorian outlook and language, made these shrewd observations: The Basutos are in some respects the most remarkable tribe of natives in South Africa. They have been so potent a factor in the development of that section, that they deserve a more particular notice than has been given to them, especially since they are destined to play an equally important part in the future history of that portion of the Dark Continent.

Now once again residents of this area of our globe live in difficult time, and at such a period in history all people long for leadership. Here, in Lesotho, the people have the good fortune to have His Majesty, Constantine Bereng Seeiso, as head of state. Many Canadians have experienced an interesting and rewarding association with the Basotho, and so it is only right and proper that Canada’s University of New Brunswick should wish to honour the leader of this dynamic mountain kingdom, which has such a pivotal role to play in the drama now engulfing the southern half of the continent, events which touch the lives of each and every one of us.

Insignissime Praeses et Vice Cancellari, praesento tibi Constantinum Bereng Seeiso ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradum Doctoris in Utroque Jure in hac Universitate.

Most distinguished President and Vice-Chancellor, I present to you Constantine Bereng Seeiso that he may be admitted for honour’s sake to the degree of Doctor of Laws in this University.