EULOGY AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN MOTHER ‘MAMOHATO BERENG SEEISO  -  CONVENTION CENTRE MASERU   BY  HONOURABLE A.L. LEHOHLA MP 

Your Majesties The King and Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Bereng Seeiso,

the entire Royal Family

The -Right Honourable Prime Minister

Honourable President of Senate

Honourable Speaker, National Assembly

My Lord Chief Justice

Honourable Ministers

Honourable Members of the Council of State

Heads of Diplomatic Mission and International Organisation

My Lords Judges of Appeal and High Court

Honourable Members of Senate and Principal Chiefs

Honourable Members of the National Assembly

Leaders of Political Parties

Religious Leaders

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

We are gathered here to-day to mourn the loss and to celebrate the life of Her Majesty The Queen Mother.  A sad day indeed for Lesotho and her esteemed friends this is.

Is it just a day to grieve and mourn our loss?  Perhaps not – we need to reflect and be understanding of those things that we cannot change and learn to turn them into opportunities as we continue to experience challenges that test our nationhood and our ability to navigate the sea of life.

Her Majesty has been a trail blazer! Ours is but to follow in Her foot-steps.  I wish to make a slight departure from the norm on occasions such as this! and rather take snap shots of Her Majesty’s life and perhaps in tune with what I alluded to at the beginning of my address – that we are here to celebrate life and life fully and well lived albeit somewhat briefly in “our” view.  I want to talk about a country lass in those uncaring years of a young Mosotho girl in a typical Lesotho village.  Born in 1941, the youngest of a family of four to Chief Thabo Lerotholi and Mofumahali ‘Masentle Mojela of Tebang, Thabitha ‘Masentle Mojela as we got to know her lived amongst us – a true Lekaota!

“Naleli e ts’oeu – ts’oeu ea Ramatheola! ngoana morena se okamela    batho – leholimo ho batho ba ntatae.”

It is those formative years of youth at Tebang which were to nurture what was to become the jewel and the crowning glory of our nationhood - Our beloved Queen Mother! and grandmother as she was of late fondly referred to!

We have heard her contemporaries, over this period of mourning recount their experiences of youth with her in those early days as she unpretensiously went about her childhood chores – helping with hoeing on the land, bringing the harvest home, drawing water from the well and keeping the home and family house spick and span.  There was no comeliness about her; she was just but one of the children in the village.  She was to be so in later life as we came to know her in our full glare to which the responsibility of office thrust her.  Simplicity, mingling with us, playing with us, sharing of our troubles and tribulations and working with us were to be her hallmark.

I have heard my father say, many a time, to us his children in our youth and I quote “the heights great men reached and kept were not attained upon a sudden flight but they, whilst their companions slept, toiled upwards in the night.”  This was to guide us as we grew into adulthood.  I hasten to say, Master of Ceremony, I did sleep alright – but the point I am making is that our Queen Mother was of that mould that toiled and did not have greatness thrust upon Her.  There was a price to pay for high office – selfless service in the face of adversity and discernment when hard choices had to be made – and she paid that price handsomely and we now reap the benefits.  To-day as we mourn her demise, we can draw comfort in that Lesotho today is a stable, democratic Kingdom at peace with herself.  We cannot be complacent! to have come this far could only be possible with the likes of Her Majesty and therefore we should remain focused, vigilant and single-minded in the face of challenges that confront us.  This loss does not make our task any easier.  We are the poorer for it.

Your Majesty, even in your death, you are an inspiration and a force for good.  As the Basotho nation, the family and our friends across the globe come to terms with our loss, may this experience be yet another critical milestone in the consolidation of our Nationhood.

I conclusion, Master of Ceremony, I wish to convey, on behalf of the Right Honourable Prime Minister, The Government and the entire Basotho nation our heart felt condolences to your Majesties, The Family and indeed the Basotho nation itself.  I cannot over emphasise our sense of gratitude for the excellent cooperation we received from the family as arrangements for this state funeral got underway.  

I wish to thank the joint committee of Honourable Ministers and The Family and the Joint Committee of Officials for all the good work and arrangements befitting this occasion so far.

I thank you for your attention

KHOTSO!!

17TH SEPTEMBER, 2003