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The popular myth in South Africa is that the African natives were devoid of mathematical knowledge until the advent of the Europeans. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Basotho, like other Africans, boasted an incredible mathematical lexicon long before the advent of the Europeans. The Basotho have used mathematics in order to count, estimate, measure, philosophize, solve and model, among others. In this public lecture we show an African origin of mathematics among the Basotho as confirmed by the ambitious book project Sesotho Dictionary of Mathematics.