MASERU AIRPORT LESOTHO 1986.
True to the saying in IAL don’t go to any country with Mike Dinnage because every where he goes they have troubles ie Coups in Libya, Nicaragua and Mozambique. True to form it happened when the Military forced out of office Dr Leabua Jonathan and put into power King Moshoeshoe 2. The area now known as Lesotho goes back 40,000 years The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) first Government was under Chief Moshoeshoe 1 in 1822. In 1828 evolution of the state was shaped with the British and Dutch colonists from Cape Colony. Missionaries invited by Moshoeshoe 1 developed orthography and printed work in the Sotho language between1837 and 1855. The country set up diplomatic channels and acquired guns from Britain for use against the encroaching Europeans and the Korana People. Conflicts arose periodically including Moshoeshoes notable victory over the Boers in 1867. In the final war an appeal was made to Queen Victoria who agreed to make Basutoland a British Protectorate. Later Britain signed a treaty with the Boers that defined the boundaries of Basutoland and later Lesotho which by ceding the western territories reduced the Kingdom by half its previous size. Basutoland gained independence in 1966 and became the Kingdom of Lesotho. A military coup in 1986 forced the BNP out of office and power was transferred to King Mosheshoe II but he was forced into exile when he lost favour with the Military. A year later his son was installed as King Letsie. Conditions remained tumultuous until after elections when the Lesotho Congress for Democracy came to power. Despite protests from opposition parties the country has remained relatively stable since.
This was a smaller contract in that I was responsibly for the maintenance of the Airport Communications, Navigational aids, Control Tower Desks Consoles. Voice Recorders and Mobiles. It was much better than my previous posting where I had so many staff. I could now relax and enjoy myself especially as I had mostly local female technicians who were very good and reliable.
In my briefing for this posting I was not informed that it could get very cold. When I arrived it was freezing and snowing and the first thing I did was to go to the OK bazaar and buy a very thick anorak and coal for the fire because the person I was relieving didn’t leave any. My first thoughts were was this is Africa it shouldn’t be this cold. I would clear off the snow from my car in the mornings before I went to work. When I first arrived I was fed up with ladies of disrepute ringing the door bell and asking for Peter the person I took over from. He must have been stupid Aids was rife there. On my flight from Jan Smuts Airport I flew in an old DC3.On the sides of this plane you could just see faintly the writing Wild Geese underneath the aircraft markings. This of course was the plane used in the classic film The raid on Entebbe with Roger Moore, Richard Burton and Hardy Kruger. The aircraft was piloted by the same person as in the film as was the airhostess his daughter. Lesotho is a landlocked country known as the Mountain Kingdom and is just that being surrounded by them. Most of the men worked in the mines in South Africa in order to buy a horse which was a status symbol. Even today there are places in the mountains where a horse is the only way to get around. There are many sheep in the mountains and the shepherds can be seen with their dogs. A wonderful sight. In the middle of the town is a very beautiful building with a pointed roof called the Bosotho Hut. Here you could buy almost everything. There was one cinema in town and I remember seeing Clint Eastwood in a Fistful of dollars. Across the border is the city of Bloemfontein a predominately Afrikaner town. It was founded in 1846 as a fort by Major Henry Douglas Warden . Although it has a reputation for its flowers the origin of the country is unclear. Popular legends include an Ox name “Bloem” owned by a pioneer farmer that was eaten by a lion near a fountain while another story names Jan Bloem (1775-1858) who lived in the area.
Bloemfontein literally means fountain of flowers in Dutch. The region changed to the Orange River Sovereignty in(1848-54) and later the Orange Free State Republic (1854-1902). From 1902-10 it became the Orange River Colony and after that the capital of the Free State. In 1910 it became the capital of the Union of South Africa. There was amazing Apothecary which had all the medicines from times gone by.
A Bloemfontein girl Zola Budd who ran in bare feet won the 5000 meters race in the 1984 Olympic games.
BLOEMFONTEIN
