How South Africa’s Famo music gave birth to Lesotho’s ‘terrorist’ gangs

Members of Terene, a Lesotho gang rooted in Famo music, a local form of hip-hop tied to a wave of violence in Lesotho and South Africa [File: Molise Molise/AFP]

Maseru, Lesotho – On a sunny afternoon, a white minibus taxi carrying 22 passengers pulled out of a crowded bus station in Johannesburg and headed to neighbouring Lesotho, the landlocked kingdom inside South Africa’s borders.

The moment the minibus got on the highway, the driver switched on the radio and the speakers crackled to life with the sound of a solo accordion – the intro to a well-known Famo song.