Joseph Leabua Jonathan was the second prime minister of Lesotho.
11 Facts About Leabua Jonathan
2.
Leabua Jonathan succeeded Chief Sekhonyana Nehemia Maseribane following a by-election and held that post from 1965 to 1986.
3.
Leabua Jonathan worked as a mine induna at Brakpan but because he was a chief he went back to Rakolo's and got involved in local government in Basutoland from 1937 and was a member of delegations to London that sought self-government in Basutoland.
4.
Leabua Jonathan converted to Catholicism and in 1959 founded the Canadian Catholic missionary-backed Basutoland National Party, renamed Basotho National Party at independence.
5.
Chief Leabua Jonathan did lose his seat and had to stand for election in a safe seat later.
6.
Leabua Jonathan took office as Prime Minister on 7 July 1965.
7.
Leabua Jonathan forged closer links with the ANC after the PAC-backed Lesotho Liberation Army, the exiled BCP military wing, prepared to target Lesotho after 1973.
8.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Chief Leabua Jonathan, the ruling BNP refused to cede power to the rival Basotholand Congress Party, although the BCP was widely believed to have won the elections.
9.
Much of Leabua Jonathan's unsavoury early political life history has been obscured by his late opportunistic alliance with the ANC, which itself was a highly controversial organisation despite its ostensibly principled stance against apartheid.
10.
The best accounts of Leabua Jonathan's life are in archive material provided to university collections by a White Tanzanian intelligence officer, Lt.
11.
Leabua Jonathan was placed under house arrest in August 1986 and died of a heart attack on 5 April 1987 at the age of 73.