From left, Dr Denver Davids (HOD), Drs Thoko Sipungu and Mnqobi Ngubanem, senior lecturers in Sociology, Zizipo Tom, PhD student in Sociology, Babalwa Mahanjana and Barbara Kritzinger, lecturer, Anthropology.
The Lesotho Land Question explores the struggles of Basotho footloose immigrant herders living and working in South Africa.
The short film situates their daily experiences within the broader, often overlooked, historical context of land dispossession between Lesotho and South Africa.
“The film challenges how we understand the land question, it does not end at the borders of South Africa,” explained Dr Ngubane; emphasising how Lesotho’s unresolved land issue remains deeply linked to the region’s colonial past and continues to shape the lives of displaced herders today.
Through a series of interviews and documentary scenes, the film shows the herders’ reality, long nights in the veld, constant surveillance, and the strain of being viewed as outsiders or criminals.
One herder in the film states, “We are not thieves, we are people who were pushed off our land.” Dr Ngubane described this as an act of reclaiming narrative power: “The aim is to decriminalise their story and restore their humanity.”
The Lesotho Land Question also engages with the political dimension of the issue. It connects the herders’ lived experiences to ongoing parliamentary calls in Lesotho for the return of Sechaba Sa Basotho - the ancestral land confiscated under colonial rule.
Dr Ngubane noted that these debates echo historical injustices where Basotho land and cattle were seized by what was then known as white South Africa. “What began as dispossession, turned Lesotho into a labour reserve; a system that continues in different forms to this day,” he said.
The film is dedicated to King Moshoeshoe I, whose leadership in resisting colonial land and cattle confiscations is remembered as a foundation of Basotho identity and resilience.
Following the screening, percussionist, composer, poet, educationalist and animator Professor Eugene Skeef reflected on the cultural and philosophical significance of the work saying, “Land, art, and freedom speak the same language. We cannot be properly free until everyone and everything is free”.
He highlighted that The Lesotho Land Question is not only a political text, but also an act of cultural recovery. He said the film “revives a sense of ancestral memory” and calls on audiences to see land as more than territory, to see it as “a living archive of identity, memory, and belonging”.
The discussion closed with a contribution from a Lesotho activist who cautioned that “many fear speaking about land because of arrests like that of Tsepo Lipholo.” His statement reinforced the film’s central argument that silence, and displacement remain tools of control.
He further noted that many young Basotho who speak publicly about land rights or question government silence face intimidation and arrest. He described this as a strategy to discourage public conversation around Sechaba Sa Basotho the ancestral land question.
“It’s not just about history, but who controls the story of land today. When you silence those who speak, you erase the memory of our dispossession,” he said.
The Lesotho Land Question stands as both a cultural and academic intervention - a call to revisit histories that have been sidelined, and to question how borders continue to shape belonging and dignity in Southern Africa.