1973 DECREE WAS TO PROTECT SWAZIS

Last week I wrote about the past 50 years since our King was born and what he had achieved in those 32 years since ascending to the throne.

I promised then to deal specifically with the history of the country in those past 50 years; its achievements (where these exist) and its failures (where these exist as well and why) and then close with what needs to be done to ensure the next 50  years are nothing but great success!

When our great country gained its independence on September 6, 1968, just after I had turned age 30, I was sitting at home (my rented flat) at Msunduza township. I was unhappy because, though the freedom we were getting had been fought for and achieved by my political party, it was, however, the Imbokodvo National Movement that was getting the glory of having liberated the country. So, there I was, seething with anger while my King was restoring our great country to full nationhood and himself no longer a ‘Paramount Chief’, but the King we had always called him, notwithstanding what the colonialists called him.

To his people, he never ever was the ‘Paramount Chief’ but King, never mind that the Imbokodvo’s strategy for an independent Swaziland was to reduce the Swazis to vote under the trees, while white settlers were to vote in a democratic way- therefore, keeping the Swazis  as underdogs in their supposedly free country!

But soon after independence, Prince Makhosini - the first Prime Minister, began to shock everyone by the way he approached development of the country. The man we despised began to demonstrate that he was not so stupid after all; as we first thought he was! He began setting up clear goals about where the country’s development was being directed - prioritising the social sectors and agriculture.

He prioritised education, health, agriculture and rural development. Before we knew it, the man we despised had become a true African nationalist overnight! What had caused this dramatic change? Was it the influence by his boss - His Majesty King Sobhuza II? Or, was it the influence of his Personal Secretary Arthur Khoza - a man who had foolishly been sacked by the hooligans of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress - or a combination of that and that of the King? We never got to know what truly transformed the son from Enkhungwini to be the surprise he became, such that our first five years of independence were years of great success in development terms.

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