When will what I offer be good enough
There’s a Sesotho proverb that says Moporofeta ha a bokoe hahabo (a prophet is not praised by those that live with him). Basotho have taken this proverb to a whole new level. Only when I had been exposed to a different group of people did I see just how saddening this proverb is when it is made practical.
For argument’s sake, so that at the end of it all you may see matters from my perspective, allow me to take a discursive standing. It may seem at certain areas that I will be contradicting myself, but allow that contradiction to help open your eyes to my truth.
A while ago, when I was growing, I heard on the lips of people, the excitement of having one Papa Z in the country. I wasn’t very conversant with hip-hop music so it took some scratching around to get in tune with who this Papa Z is. When I finally was told who he is, I couldn’t help noticing that this musician had been so highly valued because he had gone to South Africa and developed his brand there and brought it back home.
Apparently the same had happened to the likes of the great Tsepo Tshola When will what I offer be good enough
(the Village Pope) and Buddaza Mapefane. All of these artists and many more who have travelled this road are exceptionally talented people. When they go to South Africa and bring their music back home, all I see in them is that they are proud Basotho who have competed on a scale beyond the borders of Lesotho and have beat the odds.
That to me says that their talent is raw and exceptional. It is not only in the world of art where people are only valuable when they venture into worlds beyond our own. I know of people who have come into Lesotho claiming to be qualified for positions that could have nicely been occupied by deserving Basotho, but were rather given to foreigners.
Don’t get me wrong, some foreigners are qualified for certain jobs, but I question why a foreign national should be prioritised above a local who holds the same qualification, has similar experience and has the added advantage of being in tune with our culture.
I have witnessed at university level, positions of leadership repeatedly being offered to foreigners and I am enraged by this. As I said that this problem stretches to all areas of life. If a Mosotho opens a store and later an Asian does the same within close proximity to the Mosotho, I’m inclined to say with certainty that the Mosotho will lose a great deal of customers to the Asian.
The most expensive schools in Lesotho are foreign owned. If a Mosotho was to raise their fee to that height he would be ridiculed and left to teach the walls.
Now, I already know what your argument is going to be. I know that you are probably thinking that the quality of service is different. Hold that thought. If the quality is different, why has our government not taken a stand against poor service delivery?
Why is it that we have not had young people open good service delivery centres that liaise with government and the private sector to equip Basotho with service delivery skills?
If the quality of our musician’s music is substandard why has nobody offered a proper studio that produces music that competes at international levels? Why are doctors in our government hospitals only promotion worthy if they are foreign?
Please explain to me why adverts by chain stores from across the border are done by faces no Mosotho can identify with.Help me understand why it is that engineers are hired from across the border to do engineering jobs while we have Basotho engineers that have been trained to do such jobs?
It all boils down to this, if it is locally brewed, it isn’t good enough. My last question is this, how foolish are we to be exalting others and degrading our own?
