Medicine murder in Basutoland: Colonial rule and moral crisis

This article analyses an acute moral crisis in the colonial administration of Basutoland in the late 1940s. It was provoked by a contagious rash of wh at became known as 'medicine murders', apparently perpetrated by senior chi efs. Two particular murders of this kind are examined in detail, as a resul t of which, in 1949, two very senior chiefs and some of their followers wer e hanged. This harshly dramatic episode brought into stark question the mea ning of generations of the 'civilising mission', the fitness of the chiefs as leaders of the people, the moral integrity of the Basotho nation and the legitimacy both of colonial rule in general and of certain specific practi ces of the police. The political context of the murders is outlined, and th e judicial process is dissected with special reference to the question of t he validity of accomplice evidence.