Times Of Swaziland: SWAZILAND LOSING GREAT LEADERS

SWAZILAND LOSING GREAT LEADERS
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By Musa Hlpohe on 17/02/2018 22:47:00


Once again, Swaziland has lost one of her best sons in Pastor Pheneus M. Kunene
of the Evangelical Church in Manzini.
Kunene demised shortly after one of Swaziland’s leading intellectuals in
Michael David Zwane.
Oh! Can I ever count all of them as they passed on while some of us were still
reeling in shock over the senseless killing of our pride - Victor Gamedze.
What have we done to our only God in heaven to be forced to go through such
pain?
However, today I am dedicating this article to one of my mentors and hero –
Michael David Zwane.  Some of you may ask; a mentor to an 80-year-old? Yes.
Much as I do not know how old he was when he met his death, but he was at
university while I was still at high school.
Zwane and others used their freedom at Roma University in Lesotho to mobilise
Swazi students to form the Swaziland Students Union which championed the
political awareness for students at the time. He was joined by the likes of
Arthur Khoza, Joe Nxumalo waMgqobeya, Jamee Nxumalo and Lydia Makhubu – a
wonderful woman leader of the time.
Ngwane National Liberatory Congress
Then he worked with the likes of the late Gwece Dlamini, Prince Dumisa, who then
left the student movement and joined the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress
(NNLC) as its Secretary General.  However,  he was more on mobilisation than
doing his secretariat work, hence the party eventually elevated the late Nimrod
Malaza to the position of Secretary- General.
Talking about Professor Lydia Makhubu while searching for some of the names I
had already forgotten; I could not miss her deep sadness at the now fast passing
away of that generation, a generation which we regard as the foundation upon
which the newly-independent Kingdom of Swaziland was actually built upon.
reins from colonial masters
These were the first civil servants to take the reins from the colonial masters
and they each did a fantastic job of what they were given. Of course, it was
easy for them to do that. They were politically enlightened and fully understood
the demands of the new African public service.
They had to be honest in their dealings with the newly liberated African people.
Each one of them had a duty, especially to those whose voices were not heard or
simply ignored by the colonial powers and their stooges.
This crop of professionals knew what was needed even by the political leaders
who had led us to independence.
They knew what they had to do as political leaders to avoid corruption or be
used by the departing colonial powers to win back the continent through the back
door of neo-colonialism.
While  Professor Makhubu accepts that it is now our time to go, she is hurt by
the departure of Mike Zwane and asked me to convey her heartfelt  condolences to
his family and all those whose lives he once touched. I am in total agreement
with Professor Makhubu.