Early life and career[edit]

Born in Leribe, Jonathan was a minor chief, like many others a great-grandson of the
polygamous King Moshoeshoe I.
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.

Politics and premiership[edit]

Jonathan converted to Catholicism and in 1959 founded the Canadian Catholic missionary-
backed Basutoland National Party (BNP), renamed Basotho National Party at independence. In
the 1960 election, barely a year after its formation, Leabua's party came fourth but in the election
where women were disfranchised. In the pre-independence elections of April 1965, the BNP won
31 parliamentary seats out of a total of 60 and thus became a legitimate government that
eventually took Basotho to independence in October 1966, despite protests from opposition BCP
and MFP who now wanted independence postponed. Chief Leabua did lose his seat and had to
stand for election in a safe seat later. He took office as Prime Minister on 7 July 1965.
Soon after Basutoland gained independence in 1966 as Lesotho, executive power was
transferred from the British High Commissioner to the Prime Minister. Jonathan's government
took a pacifist stand in South Africa, and this was supported by independent Southern African
states such as Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, and Tanzania among others as they understood the
unique situation Lesotho was in as it is completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa
and the majority of its people work in the mines there; also because Jonathan at the time thought
that he could talk sense with South African prime ministers Henrik Verwoerd and Balthazar
Johannes Vorster, who were contemporary with him. Jonathan was hostile to the Pan Africanist
Congress of South Africa who supported the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) and Marematlou
Freedom Party (MFP, but friendly to the African National Congress (ANC). He forged closer links
with the ANC after the PAC-backed Lesotho Liberation Army, the exiled BCP military wing,
prepared to target Lesotho after 1973.

State of emergency[edit]
Early results of the first post-independence elections in January 1970 indicated that the Basotho
National Party (BNP) might lose control. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Chief Leabua
Jonathan, the ruling BNP refused to cede power to the rival Basotholand Congress Party (BCP),
although the BCP was widely believed to have won the elections. Citing election irregularities,
Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan nullified the elections, declared a national state of emergency,
suspended the constitution, and dissolved the Parliament. In 1973, an appointed Interim National
Assembly was established. With an overwhelming progovernment majority, it was largely the
instrument of the BNP, led by Prime Minister Jonathan. In addition to the Jonathan regime's
alienation of Basotho powerbrokers and the local population, South Africa had virtually closed the
country's land borders because of Lesotho support of cross-border operations of the African
National Congress (ANC). Moreover, South Africa publicly threatened to pursue more direct
action against Lesotho if the Jonathan government did not root out the ANC presence in the
country. This internal and external opposition to the government combined to produce violence
and internal disorder in Lesotho that eventually led to a military takeover in 1986.
Under a January 1986 Military Council decree, state executive and legislative powers were
transferred to the King who was to act on the advice of the Military Council, a self-appointed
group of leaders of the Royal Lesotho Defense Force (RLDF). A military government chaired by
Justin Lekhanya ruled Lesotho in coordination with King Moshoeshoe II and a civilian cabinet
appointed by the King.
In February 1990, King Moshoeshoe II was stripped of his executive and legislative powers and
exiled by Lekhanya, and the Council of Ministers was purged. Lekhanya accused those involved
of undermining discipline within the armed forces, subverting existing authority, and causing an
impasse on foreign policy that had been damaging to Lesotho's image abroad. Lekhanya
announced the establishment of the National Constituent Assembly to formulate a new
constitution for Lesotho with the aim of returning the country to democratic, civilian rule by June
1992. Before this transition, however, Lekhanya was ousted in 1991 by a mutiny of junior army
officers that left Phisoane Ramaema as Chairman of the Military Council.

Racial policy and opposition to apartheid[edit]

Despite Lesotho's economic dependence on South Africa and the government's official policy
during the 1970s of dialogue with its neighbour, Jonathan began criticizing the South African
government's policy of apartheid supporting for the prohibited African National Congress (ANC)
when international advisers suggested Pretoria's days were numbered.
During the late 1970s, Jonathan, despite his regime's protests to Libya, nevertheless accused
the South African government of supporting the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA). Mokhehle did go
to Pretoria but only in late 1981. The main LLA force was wiped out in 1979 but later recruits
were assisted by a Transkei-based American mercenary with Rhodesian army service,
Major Bob MacKenzie, son-in-law of the former CIA deputy-director, Ray Steiner Cline, a former
member of the 1969 Nixon administration. The South African government denied these claims
but later admitted Mokhehle was part of the notorious Vlakplaas operation. Much of Leabua'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. The best accounts of Leabua's life are in archive material (included over 20
hours of audio recordings of Basotho leaders) provided to university collections by a White
Tanzanian intelligence officer, Lt. Gen. Bernard Leeman, who served as a Major in the Lesotho
paramilitary and gathered evidence supporting the view that the 1970 was peaceful and the
Police Mobile Unit was surprised when the state of emergency was proclaimed.

Awards and recognition[edit]

 Dag Harmaschalt award in 1983
 Honorary Ph.D. in Education by NUL in 1984
 Companion of O.R. Tambo Award (gold) in 2007 (posthumously)

Downfall and death[edit]

On 15 January 1986, a military coup led by Major General Justin Metsing Lekhanya, under
pressure both from Pretoria and the Leballo faction of the Pan Africanist Congress, deposed the
Jonathan government. Leabua Jonathan was placed under house arrest in August 1986 and died
of a heart attack on 5 April 1987 at the age of 72.