#funfact #tbt #HowPlacesGotTheirNames Ever wondered why some places in Lesotho have the word 'Ha' in front of them?
Tshangela had been working in Leribe before then and he had arrested a prominent village chief for smuggling liquor.
He was transferred to the fringes of Maseru for the difficult position he found himself in following the arrest.
Ha' means 'of' and it's analogous to the French word 'chez'.
'Ha' is always spelt with a capital letter and places with this preposition are usually named after people important to that community.
For example, it might be named after its founding village chief and the place becomes identified with them.
Ha Tšosane, one of Maseru's oldest settlements, was named after the chief of the Bamobeli of Mphutlane.
Similarly, when the son of a chief came of age, he was allocated an area to rule within his father's jurisdiction and it thus bear his name.
E.g. The Maseru suburb of Ha Thetsane derives its name from one of Chief Tšosane's sons.
You will find though that there are places with the 'Ha' named after priests/pastors or even traders.
E.g. Ha Bua-sono in Berea was named after parish priest Father Boissonnault who arrived at the Catholic mission of St. Cecilia in April 1960
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