The protectorate was then annexed to Cape Colony despite protests from both Basotho and Boer leaders. This step provoked widespread dismay in Basutoland as magistrates in Cape Colony were seen as interfering with the traditional laws of the Sotho people and even demarcated parts of Basutoland for white use only.This rumbling discontentment saw Cape magistrates introduce a law in 1879, the Disarmament Act, that was designed to ensure that all firearms were surrendered to prevent any conflict. Instead it triggered the Gun War of 1880-1881 which saw 8000 Basuto dead and 2000 British casualties. Although peace was eventually established, Cape Colony was unable to establish any effective control over Basutoland and it requested that London re-establish direct control over the territory which it did in 1884 restoring it as a Crown Colony. After regaining Crown Colony status, Maseru was restored as Basutoland's capital however the British had little interest in developing it, nor indeed did that interest spread to anywhere in Lesotho.

On independence in 1966 Maseru remained the capital of the renamed Kingdom of Lesotho. In the early 1980s it became known as a place of hiding for ANC activists who were struggling against South Africa's apartheid regime. In 1982 South African troops (SADF) carried out what was called the 'Maseru Massacre' when they launched a strike on Maseru in search of ANC 'militants' killing 42, 30 of them ANC members. 16 years later in 1998, Maseru was nearly destroyed after post-apartheid South Africa troops 'invaded' Lesotho claiming the kingdom was on the brink of a coup and they needed to maintain stability in the enclave. This invasion caused 6,000,000UK worth of damage and almost totally decimated Maseru, destroying its economy and infrastructure not only from the attack but from the riots and pillaging that followed it. Cont/...