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This article demonstrates the role played by culture in shaping the individual's construction of the meaning and experience of illness. It shows how culture plays a significant part in providing valuable insights into an individual's lived experiences and their perceptions of what constitutes their physical, psychological and/or emotional afflictions. It reveals that Basotho patients express cultural beliefs through idiomatic forms which merely allude to the real nature of their illness(es), and some Sesotho vocabulary that may be difficult to understand, especially when talking about sexually transmitted illnesses or conditions. The results show that cultural differences and taboo topics surrounding sexuality were a major cause of the communication barriers between patients and health care professionals. The article highlights that the cultural and social constructions of the people's illness experiences offer a valuable window into the unique design and complex nature of their value and belief systems that shape their everyday behaviours and constructions of and reactions to illness. It argues that these value and belief systems have the potential to yield significant insights into the nature or essence of the patients' cultural explanatory representations of their illness experiences. The article fills the gap that exists vis-a-vis the impact of subjective experiences and social constructions of health and illness among Basotho adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores a history of self-organisation among the Basotho traders in Lesotho's colonial and post-colonial commerce from the 1870s to the 2010s. Using historical sources, the article argues that Basotho's forms of self-organisation – voluntary business associations and co-operatives – are indispensable in their persistent struggle for economic democracy. Under colonial (1870s–1966) and post-colonial (1966–2010s) conditions of poverty, exclusion and authoritarianism, their forms of self-organisation, outside state intervention, blends their economic and political aspirations to have a meaningful say and participation in the economic affairs of their country. Their associational life illuminates particularised normative forms of humanism embedded in the historic and social fabric of their society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus (DM) belongs to the group of five leading important diseases causing death globally and remains a major health problem in Africa. A number of factors such as poverty, poor eating habit, and hormonal imbalance are responsible for the occurrence of the disease. It poses a major health challenge in Africa continent today and the prevalence continues to increase at an alarming rate. Various treatment options particularly the usage of herbs have been effective against diabetes because they have no adverse effects. Interestingly, South Africa, especially the Basotho tribe, is blessed with numerous medicinal plants whose usage in the treatment of DM has been effective since the conventional drugs are expensive and often unaffordable. The present study attempted to update the various scientific evidence on the twenty-three (23) plants originating from different parts of the world but widely used by the Sotho people in the management of DM. Asteraceae topped the list of sixteen (16) plant families and remained the most investigated according to this review. Although limited information was obtained on the antidiabetic activities of these plants, it is however anticipated that government parastatals and scientific communities will pay more attention to these plants in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a distributional corpus analysis of the Northern Sotho noun and gender system. The aim is twofold: first, to assess whether the existing descriptions of the noun class system in Northern Sotho are corroborated by information provided by the analysis of a large electronic corpus for this language, with specific reference to singular-plural pairings, and second, to present a number of novel visualisation aids to characterise a noun class system (in a radar diagram) and a noun gender system (using a two-directional weighted representation) for Northern Sotho in particular, and for any Bantu language in general. The findings include the discovery of two new genders in Northern Sotho (i.e. class pairs 1/6 and 3/10), and also indicate that the Northern Sotho noun class system, and by extension any one for Bantu, should be seen as dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Joseph Orpen's 1874 Cape Monthly Magazine article relating the testimony of Qing, a San man in the Maloti Mountains, is a bedrock text of southern San cosmology. For the last few decades, this article has been the subject of intense scrutiny by rock art researchers and archaeologists studying hunter-gatherer societies. Recently, scholars have questioned whether Orpen's encounter with Qing has been appropriately contextualised, citing lingering uncertainties over Orpen's motivations and biases that may have informed the article. This paper addresses these concerns through examination of Orpen's archival corpus. It draws on new archival data to articulate the development of Orpen's personal politics, research motives, and interpersonal relationships within Cape knowledge networks. When examined more broadly, Orpen's intellectual career appears primarily concerned with native history and land title rather than a specifically philological or anthropological agenda, and his encounter with Qing as having been overshadowed by his dedication to represent the interests of Basotho sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Basotho's views on sexuality within a theological context as well as the conflict between Christianity and cultural beliefs. Most Basotho have strong opinions on the subject of sexuality and those views undoubtedly emanate from the Basotho culture, which makes it necessary to evaluate them. The issue of sexuality is always a topic of discussion amongst people and did not go unnoticed by church fathers, like Augustine. Thomas Aquinas also expressed an interest in the topic in the Middle-Ages. Likewise, reformers of the calibre of Martin Luther and John Calvin espoused views on sexuality. It is clear that the aforementioned theologians made a marked contribution toward shaping the current views on sexuality, especially amongst theologians of this age and this is the reason for revisiting their views in this article examining the Basotho view on sexuality. In examining Basotho views on sexuality, the writer of this article will then discuss and evaluate the views of Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin with special reference to sexual intercourse, sexual intercourse within matrimony, extramarital sexual intercourse and also the unmarried state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Basotho struggles for land and belonging in colonial Zimbabwe from the 1930s to the 1950s. It argues that as non-indigenous Africans in colonial Zimbabwe with no claim to land in reserves the Basotho saw ownership of freehold land as a key strategy in their construction of a sense of belonging. The centrality of land among the Basotho had a great impact on inheritance disputes within the members of the community. Drawing on archival files and court cases dealing with inheritance (including disputes involving land) in the Basotho community, the article argues that, through seeking further legal recourse in colonial courts, individual members of the community were able to challenge accepted customary laws and contest gender inequalities as well as to negotiate space within the community and the colonial state at large. This impacted on other inheritance disputes involving land as some of the Basotho inheritance cases set legal precedencies – thus illuminating the complex struggles among Purchase Areas farmers. The article feeds into the growing literature on land and inheritance during the colonial period. It also uses court cases as a prism through which women's struggles against patriarchy and the colonial state can be unravelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the art of women in the South Sotho (Sesotho) culture in Lesotho, focusing on the the power connected to female spaces within the context of highly gendered social responsibilities. Topics include the concept of the relative "hotness" and "coolness" of African peoples and its social manifestation, the social impact of the "covert" world of female authority and power and its expression in the visual arts, and consideration of the home as a female space and its role in the arts and the social influence of women.

This article investigates and provides guidelines to the negative impact of mahadi on the Basotho youth before they may marry. It is important to note that marriage is one of the main parts of the life cycle amongst the Basotho and not only joins a man and a woman together, but is also considered to unite the members of the respective families of the married couple into one family. This union of two families comes into effect when the process of negotiation of the mahadi is initiated. The negotiation for mahadi is, in other words, the first stage of bonding two families together. In the hope of gaining a better understanding and results, the writer searched for a qualitative method to conduct the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Lesotho, men have lower HIV testing rates, less contact with HIV clinical settings and less knowledge of HIV prevention than women. However, women's HIV prevalence has consistently remained higher than men's. This paper explores gender norms, sexual decision-making and perceptions of HIV among a sample of Basotho men and women in order to understand how these factors influence HIV testing and prevention. A total of 200 women and 30 men were interviewed in Lesotho between April and July 2011. Participants reported reluctance among women to share information about HIV prevention and testing with men, and resistance of men to engage with testing and/or prevention services. Findings demonstrate a critical need for educational initiatives for men, among other strategies, to engage men with HIV testing and prevention. This study highlights how gender issues shape perceptions of HIV and sexual decision-making and underlines the importance of engaging men along with women in HIV prevention efforts. More studies are needed to determine the most effective strategies to inform and engage men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of relations between Basuto chiefdoms and Great Britain. Emphasis is given to a visit by a deputation of chiefs from the Batlokoa and Bakhulukwe to discuss the dispossession of lands in the Orange River Colony. Topics discussed include the military service of indigenous people during the Anglo-Boer War of 1881, grievances presented to the Colonial Office in London, England, and a meeting between Lord Elgin and chiefs Josiah T. Gumede and Sylvester Williams.

The article discusses the 1907 reception in Great Britain for visiting South African Basuto Chiefs from the Batlokoa and Bakhulukwe clans petitioning to challenge their dispossession from the Orange River Colony (ORC) lands in South Africa. Topics include support for the delegation by British humanitarian group League of Universal Brotherhood and Native Races Association (LUB), letters and documents about the event, and the role of Trinidadian councilor and activist Henry Sylvester Williams.

African migrants played a crucial role in the early history of Southern Rhodesia. A number of them were already literate and had converted to Christianity before they came to Southern Rhodesia. For example, a number of the members of the Basotho1 community in Victoria and Ndanga District had worked with missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Church, Berlin Missionary Society and the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS) and had acquired a level of education before they settled in the country. They had also adopted the plough, and were among the first Africans to own land on a freehold basis. As a result of this, colonial administrators often viewed them as progressive or ‘more advanced natives’ as compared to the indigenous Africans. This article seeks to show how, after helping Rev. A.A. Louw in establishing Morgenster Mission in Victoria District and spreading Christianity in the surrounding areas, Basotho evangelists settled and established themselves in the area. It analyses how these Basotho were incorporated into the colonial capitalist system and also why colonial administrators viewed them as ‘progressive Africans’. It also analyses the centrality of land, Christianity and the ideology of being ‘progressive Africans’ in the community's strategies for entitlement and prosperity in Southern Rhodesia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Highlights: [•] We used an instrumental single case study design. [•] The subject was a three and a half year-old HIV positive Sotho-speaking orphan. [•] We explored the use of sandplay therapy to bridge the language barrier. [•] Her emotional, social and communicative functioning improved remarkably. [•] Sandplay therapy may be useful for vulnerable children with pre-verbal trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction draws attention to the value of a parallel reading of the separately authored articles which follow. It shows how a consideration of historical and archaeological research across the regional divide of south-east and north-west southern Africa unsettles a number of disciplinary orthodoxies, notably notions of distinct Nguni and Sotho identities. Complex political arrangements relating to differential access to economic resources resulted in the active maintenance, within political configurations across the two regions, of distinctly different identities. These were often rooted in earlier identities and histories and then glossed in new ways. Our collaboration focuses on how the past was reworked in the light of new political-economic relations. We use the notion of ‘cultural inheritances’ to refer to ideas about the past and past identities and practices which enjoyed a certain continuity over time even as they were refashioned under changing conditions. We identify the operation of shared logics across the region which governed how this happened. While our work emphasises the significance of relationships between political dynamics and cultural inheritances at the level of the polity and its divisions, we also discuss their operation in the more intimate settings of households and homesteads. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper finds that the decline in the numbers of Basotho1 migrant mine workers since the 1990s was not market induced but rather a result of political and policy changes in South Africa. As a result of these changes, household income throughout rural Lesotho dropped significantly. As current migrant households generally do not have skilled workers or operate family businesses, the paper makes a case for training in skills and entrepreneurship as a means of utilizing Lesotho's comparative advantages to generate domestic employment and absorb retrenched and prospective migrant mine workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates and attempts to provide answers from pastoral perspectives regarding the perception the Basotho have on the issue of traditional purification. The aim of this article is to find out why the bereaved, that have not yet been purified traditionally, are not allowed to be part of certain activities, like going to the church and also performing certain community activities. The investigation was conducted by way of qualitative research. Three different Sotho Reformed congregations were selected, namely one from the Northern-Sotho speaking congregations, one from the Setswana speaking congregations and one from the Southern-Sesotho speaking congregations. Respondents included one minister, one older man, one older woman, and two young members including a man and a woman from each congregation in order to get a broader perspective. For the sake of confidentiality the names of the congregations and participants remained anonymous. The results of the article indicate that the rights of the bereaved to perform certain duties in the community are reduced till such time that they are purified traditionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the effects of development policy on gender and food security. It analyses how one policy instituted by a large-scale multi-dam development project, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), affected women's food security in the rural highlands of Lesotho, southern Africa. This was a mitigation policy, aiming to ensure that the LHWP did not negatively impact on the people living in the area where the dams were constructed. However, ethnographic research suggests that the policy itself reinforced and exacerbated gender inequalities that affected women's ability to secure food, and put women at risk of food insecurity within their households. Once again we see that gender issues must be central to the constitution and implementation of development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

De Hoop is a large cave, located on the western slopes of the Platberg mountain, in the eastern Free State. The excavated archaeological sequence dates back to more than three and a half thousand years with a hiatus in occupation between the older levels and the re-occupation of the cave in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The nineteenth-century levels display a change in material culture from a post-classic Wilton assemblage, which is associated with hunter-gatherers, to one that includes Sotho ceramics and other farmer items, as well as a few European artefacts. The historical accounts of Stow, Norton, Casalis, Arbousset and Daumas, and Kirby suggest that the social and political processes which took place in this area during the tumultuous nineteenth century were complex. De Hoop Cave is situated in the middle of this contested area. By examining both the archaeological sequence from De Hoop and the available oral histories and missionary accounts, issues of interaction and the social dislocations and realignments that characterised this period are considered. Based on the aforesaid, I propose that Sotho farmers were living in this cave with San hunter-gatherers for a period during one of the many conflict situations that characterised the Caledon Valley in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the changing political significance of Christianity in the interior of southern Africa during the 1850s, focusing primarily on the views of Tswana rulers, converts and others within their communities, and secondarily on attempts by European missionaries to reconcile their service both to African communities and to European expansion, which compelled them to articulate a rationale for their civilising mission. The article historicises the process whereby Christianity lost its initial universalistic ideals and became politicised by African-European competition, with divine sanction being claimed by one side or another. That process was accompanied by considerable debate and doubt: the separation of believers from unbelievers, faith from works and souls from bodies was far from clear or certain. Although African converts would ultimately continue to pursue the promise of equality offered by Christian teachings, they would do so more as individuals than as intact African communities, surrendering their bodies to European rule while entrusting their souls to the care of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord (Kyrios), Rabbi and Messiah. These are some of the names used by Christians today and even by the people from the era of Jesus Christ to address him or to communicate with him. Others use them because they were taught that this is the way you talk about him or to him. People use all these different names to describe Jesus Christ according to their understanding, knowledge, trust and belief in him. This article will describe how the Sotho, who are African Christians, from the township of Mohlakeng in Randfontein, know, understand, trust and believe in Jesus Christ according to the title of Great Ancestor. Views of the inhabitants of Mohlakeng are used to describe the complexity of the issue. This article discusses what the meaning of the concept of ancestor entails and determines whether Jesus can indeed be referred to as Ancestor. There are different answers to this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridging the somewhat arbitrary divide between history and archaeology remains a critical aim of the study of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the South African interior. Despite the prejudice inherent in the oral records collected by state ethnologist P.L. Breutz and others, it is argued that they still play a fundamental role in ascribing a historical identity to the countless Late Iron Age stone-walled sites that have been attributed to Tswana speakers. The focus of this study is on the settlement sequence of a Tlokwa branch along the Kgetleng (Elands) River in the Rustenburg region of present-day North West Province. More specifically, it examines the evidence that identifies the stone ruins on Vlakfontein and adjoining farms as Marothodi, the capital of the Rustenburg Tlokwa, prior to their dispersal during the difaqane. Though it was renowned for its copper industry and constituted one of the largest African towns in the interior prior to the difaqane, Marothodi has largely faded from historical memory. This article explores the historical roots of the Tlokwa, their settlement history at Marothodi, and their interaction with near neighbours, such as the Fokeng, the Tlhako and the Kgatla. It highlights the potential contribution of an integrated historical and archaeological study of late precolonial Tswana society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The goal of this study was to compare four Sesotho-speaking clinical groups in South Africa concerning the manifestation of mental disorders. Methods. The participants were Sesotho speakers suffering from major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and substance abuse. The participants (N=407) were assessed and diagnosed by a multi-professional team. A clinical interview was then conducted with each participant and the symptomatology compared with the DSM-IV-TR criteria. Results. Differences among the four clinical groups were found regarding age, gender, marital status, substance abuse and aggressive behavior. Although the symptomatology of all four groups overlapped with that of their counterparts in Western cultures, some differences were noted. For example, delusions and hallucinations seem to be more prevalent in the Sesotho speakers with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders than in Westernized groups. Traditional medicine remains the first treatment of choice for a significant number of the participants. It is recommended that traditional medicine should be incorporated into the national health system. Conclusion. In multicultural societies such as South Africa, further research regarding cultural differences in the clinical manifestation of mental disorders is urgently needed in order to make the necessary provision for cultural uniqueness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inversion structures, in which the logical subject appears in postverbal position, are a wide-spread phenomenon among Bantu languages. The paper presents an overview of inversion structures in Bantu languages and describes in detail the inversion constructions in the Southern Bantu language Northern Sotho. It argues that Northern Sotho shows only one inversion structure, namely the impersonal construction. I propose that constructions which arguably constitute cases of locative inversion in neighboring languages can be analysed as impersonal constructions with preposed locative constituents. Evidence from morphosyntax, syntax, intonation and discourse-pragmatics is investigated. The paper supports the claim made by Demuth (1990) and Baker (1992) for Southern Sotho. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with state-society relations in evolving land delivery processes in Maseru, Lesotho. It discusses the role of the Basotho people's hereditary chiefs, civil servants and the Maseru City Council (MCC) in evolving land delivery processes in Maseru. The paper argues that failure by the MCC and other central state agencies to deliver adequate and appropriate housing land to meet buoyant demand has created a vacuum in which alternative land delivery processes, often a hybrid of formal state rules and behavioural norms including custom, as re-defined by everyday contingencies of urban life, have emerged and flourished. In Maseru these processes have been reinforced by the ability of the chieftainship to respond to the changing socio-economic conditions of its subjects, as well as active involvement of central government civil servants. Evolving land delivery processes are found to be socially legitimate and the various sources of legitimacy are identified and discussed. The paper concludes that, instead of working against state efforts to implement land tenure reforms, the chiefs have behaved very much like any other customary landowner and have only used their de facto authority to assist their subjects against perceived injustices in state-sponsored land delivery systems. It recommends that, rather than proscribing the evolving land delivery processes, the government agencies responsible for land administration should work with the grain of informal subdivision processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between the social transformation of southern African Basotho agro-pastoralists into migrant workers and the musical–literary forms (‘auriture’) they created to express this transformation. Far from declining, such forms have undergone considerable innovation and elaboration in response to Basotho experience of rural dispossession and urban and mine labour migrancy. For the Basotho, the performance of existing aural literary forms was evidently inadequate to express the dramatic change in their social position and work–life experience. This particular account emphasises matters of cultural aesthetics in an effort to put some ethnographic flesh on the skeletal assertion of the reciprocal determination of material forces and cultural forms. Playing by such ancient aesthetic rules, Basotho migrant men and women have created new and astonishing artistic games well-suited to the brave but sadly soulless new world of work to which by racial, colonial capitalism they have been commended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sotho views regarding traditional healers and witches as well as those regarding the non-material attributes of humans and the vital force believed to be present in all phenomena are summarised. The article then explores the alleged utilisation of Taenia solium (tapeworm) eggs and proglouids by traditional healers (dingaka). witches/sorcerers (baloi) and ordinary members of a number of rural and semi-urban black communities north of Pretoria. it is concluded that the lethal effects of the ingestion of T. soilum eggs and progiottids are fairly well known in the research area. it ties in with the belief that knowledgeable members of society are able to extract the latent power (mactla) of natural phenomena and use it for curative purposes or for getting rid of adversaries and even unfaithful spouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study that examined the changes to Basotho male sexuality in Lesotho, South Africa that took place in relation to the migrant labor system. Basotho men have historically possessed a "macho" reputation in relation to the other peoples of southern Africa. The public performance of masculine sexuality in Lesotho would thus appear at first glance to confirm the claims of various Afrocentrists and African nationalists that homosexuality is "un-African" or a "white man's disease" that can be resisted with an assertively patriarchal culture of masculinity. Yet evidence has begun to emerge that not only challenges the implicit stability of heterosexuality between the Basotho, but also causes us to query the assumed relationship between gender identity and sexual practice. Not long after exonerating the Basotho of inkotshane, for instance, South African officials in 1914 found that they were at serious risk of infection by the practice and recommended swift action to protect the men. Those efforts apparently proved to no avail. By 1941, Basotho at the mines had reportedly not only adopted inkotshane as a mass practice but also public cross-dressing and same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Deals with the migrant Basotho gangs known as Marashea or Russians, during the 1950s in the freehold area of Newclare, Johannesburg, South Africa. Battles for supremacy by Marashea factions; Reliance of the Russians on battlefield proficiency; Contradictory elements of power politics in Newclare.

Focuses on the development of a self-concept scale to measure the self-concept of Sotho-speaking elementary school students in primary school. Use of regression analysis; Self-concept of Sotho girls; Variance in the total self-concept of elementary students.

Explores African students' use of cultural metaphoric reasoning in classifying everyday situations as hot or cold, as is part of Sotho cultural tradition. Extent to which metaphoric reasoning is related to the use of science (mis)conceptions of heating; Cultural metaphoric reasoning and science misconceptions of students entering a university science program.

Studies history concept learning among Sotho high school students in South Africa. Cultural factors affecting history concept learning; Cultural life-world of the Sotho learner; Impact of cultural deprivation.

Presents a photo essay on mural art of women from the Free State province of South Africa. Details on the painted houses designed by Basotho women; History of mural art.

Analyzes women's contribution to the process of economic expansion in nineteenth-century BaSotho society. Begins to fill in the gap that is described in A.G. Hopkins's book `An Economic History of West Africa' (1973) by providing a case study of rural production in precolonial Africa that focuses on the role of women. Women and accumulation; The economic initiative of women.

The aim of this paper is to point the Environmental Health (EH) profession in South Africa in the direction of their neglected function. The health inspection of initiation schools is one of the abandoned responsibility of EH profession in South Africa. This is due to fear of interfering with the traditional value systems and thus resulting in significant non-compliance to EH norms and standards. Little information is available on the compliance rate of EH requirements in the African traditional initiation schools. South African National Department of Health states that EHPs have an obligation to protect the health, safety and well-being of citizens from the environmental determinants, and this is achieved through enforcing the health requirements. In terms of the norms and standards for EH, health education in initiation schools should form an integral part of monitoring and evaluation, and this is found under the health surveillance of premises. The main argument raised by this paper is negligence of EHPs to conduct EH inspections at the Basotho male initiation schools and to promote health in support of the constitution of South Africa. Negligence of EHPs to perform their duties result in deaths and fatal injuries among initiates and this indicates the need for health promotion and EH research in the Basotho male initiation schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines the association of Basotho children's reading habits and their academic achievement. Administration of questionnaires to 509 Form III pupils; Examination of 18 subject matters; Correlation between reading habits and academic achievement.

The article comments on the views on cultural exchange and the interpretation of rock art in Southern Africa. The author believes that an exchange of religious ideology did happened, and that agriculturalist values have directly influenced the subject matter of San Rock Art. In the urge of cautious interpretation of rock art with respect to the altered states of consciousness, the author commented that it also relate to altered state of consciousness, which is the trance experiences of Nguni and Sotho diviners whose way of communication is through ancestor spirits and their associated shades. There is no doubt that the San or Bushman had differing value systems, however, common beliefs and attitudes can be found on other groups, the author has inferred.

Between 1843 and 1869 the Basotho monarchy lost the better part of its cultivable land to the white settlers of the Orange Free State. While various political appeals for the return of this 'Conquered Territory' by the successor state of Lesotho since 1965 have proved unavailing, recent years have seen a rapid re-occupation of certain highland caves and their environs by pilgrims who identify them as 'sacred to the ancestors'. Pilgrims to the sacred caves practise every form of African religion from pre-Christian Basotho ritual and medicine to independent Apostolic to established mission church Christianity. Attempts by the local white landowners to expel the pilgrims have proved fruitless in South Africa's 'new frontier' districts bordering Lesotho, as the state is no longer willing to place the sanctity of private property above popular rights of access to religious and heritage sites. The article applies the conceptual apparatus of ritual agency and interpretation to the study of this inchoate movement for the re-appropriation of 'ancestral' lands by spiritual strategies. Grounded in the post-apartheid context of racialised contestation over the land, the study points to the emergence of a new set of conflicting ideological discourses operating parallel to cooperative forms of practical coexistence between black and white on the Free State-Lesotho border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]