Times Of Swaziland: HOSEA YOUTH STOP TRUCK, BURN MAIDENS’ BAGS, BLOCK ROADS

HOSEA YOUTH STOP TRUCK, BURN MAIDENS’ BAGS, BLOCK ROADS
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Melisa Msweli on 31/08/2022 08:53:00


NHLANGANO – At least 11 chiefdoms in the Shiselweni Region only had about five
maidens each.
This is a far cry from the past years where between 30 to 50 maidens were picked
up from their chiefdoms to attend the Umhlanga Reed Dance Ceremony. Some bucopho
from the various constituencies said only 14 maidens were reportedly collected
from all the seven chiefdoms making up Hosea Constituency. It was established
from sources that some of the maidens had to be called through their parents to
come to the pick-up points. Meanwhile, as the trucks were making their way to
the different chiefdoms, one of them was stopped by Hosea youth and they
forcefully boarded it while it was ferrying two maidens to the pick-up point. It
was said that when the youth alighted from the truck, they took with them some
of the maidens’ bags and burnt their items in a fire that was started in the
middle of the road.
Blocked
The youth further blocked roads leading to Hosea and the trucks which were
already inside the constituency centre had to use alternative routes out of the
area with the maidens who showed up. In other constituencies such as Gege, there
were only 12 maidens who showed up from the 11 chiefdoms making up the
constituency, according to sources who were on the ground. Buses had to wait for
over an hour for some of the maidens to show up.  The two buses left Gege for
Ludzidzini Royal Residence via Mankayane with the 12 maidens aboard the truck at
around 4pm yesterday. Also, it was estimated that around 30 maidens showed up at
Nkwene chiefdom for the Reed Dance and were also taken by buses. It is worth
noting that the maidens who were collected from the other parts of the region
including Maseyisini, Hluti and Shiselweni 1, among other places, were taken to
Mbangweni Army Barracks where they then boarded buses to Ludzidzini Royal
Residence at around 3pm yesterday.