Phokolang Fela Se Matla

‘Phokolang Fela se Matla’ must have been written in the last years of Mohapeloa’s life for it was located in his former office in the National Teacher’s Training College of Lesotho, where he taught in 1978-81 after his retirement. Dr Karabo Eric Lekhanya, who followed Mohapeloa as the principal lecturer at what is now called Lesotho Teachers’ Training College, discovered the manuscript of this song in a filing cabinet in the office. It is a powerful religious exhortation, as the title suggests, using the same kind of vivid imagery to express emotion – mountains crushed, thunder roaring, the jaws of death – that Mohapeloa had drawn upon throughout his life, in songs about love, African freedom, and faith.