Hope after the ‘African Thunderstorm’ in Quthing

Mohalenyane Phakela

THE memories of the 14 March 2018 hailstorm which claimed the lives of five people will remain forever embedded in the minds of the communities in the village of Mount Moorosi in the district of Quthing.

The inhabitants of the village which lies about 40 kilometres north of Quthing town are still haunted by and live in fear of the reoccurrence of the hail storm which tragically killed five people and left a trail of destruction in its wake.

The Sunday Express crew recently visited the area to get a first-hand appreciation of the impact of the natural disaster which seemed to have been taken straight out of the classic ‘African Thunderstorm’ poem by the Malawian poet, David Rubadiri.

“From the west/clouds came hurrying with the wind…like a plague of locusts/whirling, tossing up things on its tail like a madman chasing nothing,” Rubadiri wrote of an “African Thunderstorm”.

The Mount Moorosi hail storm was a carbon copy of Rubadiri’s thunderstorm in terms of the tears and destruction that it left.

Mount Moorosi is the home of Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Chief Thesele Maseribane, who wears many hats as the area chief as well as the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology.

From the vantage point of his home which is perched on higher ground, this reporter had a bird’s eye view of the entire village which enabled him to take in the scope of the destruction wrought by the storm which came from the west  as did  Rubadiri’s thunderstorm.

From north side, a vast field lies with maize stalks strewn all over the place as a stark reminder of a harvest that could have been. It was a classic case of so-near-yet-so far as the maize crop was destroyed by the storm when it was so close to maturity which would have given its owner a bumper harvest.

The storm appeared to have a respect for authority and spared most of Chief Maseribane’s property save for the brick wall surrounding his house and the fields which are further down in the valley with the rest of those of his co-villagers.

Even the trees were not spared the violence of the angry storm which also laid to waste some of the people’s homes and the four primary schools and a high school in the area.

Their windows were battered into submission by the ice balls some of which were bigger and certainly stronger than golf and tennis balls.

This reporter observed that several vehicles in the village are now covered in plastic after the rains which hammered the windscreens as though they were hammer blows from a deranged blacksmith.

Pointing to the nearby village of Ha Robi on the western side of Chief Maseribane’s homestead, one villager, Hlofa Khalla, narrated the incidents of that tragic day.

“It was in the afternoon of 14 March, when very dark clouds came from that side beyond the mountains, about 15 kilometres away. The clouds had something like a sinister tail in the form of a whirlwind which unroofed some houses as it menacingly marched trail towards us.

“I also learned that someone at Maralleng – a village after Ha Robi – tried to take a picture of the strange pitch black clouds when he was struck dead by lightning. On my part, I just stood in shock as I had never seen something like that before.

“Shortly after there was a heavy wind and I sought refuge in the house from where I continued to watch the unfolding developments through the window.”

He said as the dark “sinister clouds” moved towards the other side of the hill that gives Mount Moorosi village its name hill, it became clear that they were about to experience something which rarely occurred.

“I think some traditional ritual was performed on the other side to chase it away so that it moved into our village and huge balls of hail started falling, wreaking havoc.”

Khalla also spoke about the truck which went viral on social media when a video was posted showing it being swept away by the floods.

He said that there were 10 people in the truck, seven of them sitting at the back after completing their mission of delivering poles to be used to electrify the area, and were caught in the storm on their way back.

“The driver stopped the truck so that those who were at the back could come in front to hide from the storm but the truck could not move after that. They then decided to escape by swimming out of the water which was beginning to submerge the truck but only five managed to escape to safety.

“The sixth person held on tightly to the truck and when the pressure from the rising waters finally pushed the vehicle into the valley below, it hurled him into the sky where he miraculously survived by clinging onto a tree branch. The other four were not as lucky as they all died.

“There is this belief that incidents of this nature occur when a khanyapa (giant snake) relocates. But then I do not know whether this tragic incident can be associated with that. I am still shocked and I hardly sleep at night as we all believe we are bound to experience it again as the clouds are still heavily pregnant,” Khalla said.

Khanyapa is believed to be a monstrous river snake – a lord of the deep water – which causes a cyclone or thunderstorm whenever it relocates.

The unfortunate people of Mount Moorosi have however, not been abandoned.

Her Majesty, Queen ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso, toured the area with a high powered delegation of government, non-governmental officials as well as the Chinese embassy who all brought aid packages to assist the victims.

Her Majesty asked for a mass to be conducted in the chapel at Leshoboro Primary School to pray for Quthing district.

The sermon was taken from the biblical book of Mark chapter 4 verses 35-40 where Jesus Christ calmed the storm which had threatened to sink their boat in the Sea of Galilee.

After reading the scripture, the preacher asks the church to join him in prayer to ask Jesus to calm the storm in Quthing like he did for the disciples back then.

At the end of the mass, the sun streams through the clouds and rays of hope also light up the faces of the community members as they step out of the chapel to join the donation ceremony which is about to begin.