Chief Lucas Mangope, of the erstwhile homeland of Bophuthatswana, once told a story about his childish indiscretions while wandering home, barefoot, through a watermelon field after a parched day tending sheep and cattle.
Like all fallible humans, he became susceptible to the sweet lure of the bulbous fruit. Mangope told of his father’s admonition and the severity of the punishment that followed.
The severity of the crime was increased by the perpetrator’s status, and the punishment was to fit that of a chief’s son. Lashes were followed by a period of ostracism. But more painful than the physical hurt was the awful sense that he had abused his father’s trust.
He recounted these words from his father, Chief Lucas Manyane: “The son of a chief does not steal; whatever you take illegally for yourself deprives your people of their means of life. The son of a chief must learn that he is responsible for the well-being of each tribe member. You must serve your people, not abuse them.”
I have often wondered whether King Sobhuza II had not sat down his son, King Mswati III, during his formative years and taught him the responsibilities that the monarchy had to its people. Mswati’s early coronation at the tender age of 18 years wrenched him into a premature burden of responsibility; it deprived him of his youth and immediately thrust him into the realm of adulthood and statesmanship.
It has become apparent during Mswati’s reign of pillaging the kingdom’s resource that either his father never warned him to the shamefulness of a hand caught in the cookie jar or perchance the young king is only defiant.
Mswati’s reign since 1986 in Swaziland has been a tragic affair. More than 40% of a tiny population of just over a million is unemployed and a staggering 70% live below the poverty line; all this while Mswati and his entourage of young wives live an existence of opulent extravagance.
Mswati is simply stealing from his people, whom he has subjected to an ignoble and pitiful existence. His people have to contend with dehumanising conditions of abject poverty, often resulting in thousands of half-naked maidens parading themselves and dancing to the drooling monarchy with the hope of marriage to the king extracting them and their family from poverty.
If the people of Swaziland have a desire for a shift in their political landscape from autocratic rule to democracy, where they can have a voice through elected representatives and a head of government who is not a mere puppet of the king, then they will rise up against the absolute monarchy and seek their freedom.
Peasants led a widespread insurrection in 1381, and in the many years that followed peasants revolted against any form of subjugation and affirmed their right to justice. The Swazi should obtain inspiration from their neighbours in South Africa who rose against the tyranny of apartheid and liberated themselves. King Sobhuza and his son Mswati have prepared a fertile soil from which a revolution could blossom.
I’m sure a does a better job than Uncle Bob of keeping things quiet. I’ve heard his henchmen can be as bad as that of Uncle Bob but his firm grip on the judiciary and all state organs(and media) ensure that it never goes beyond his border. And the silence of the SA govt and media is also very helpful.
Which is why I get so angry when King Goodwill of the Zulus is criticised. He IS expensive – but then Kings are. The Royal Families of Europe (Britain, Holland etc etc) don’t live in poverty. But when has there been any allegation of him stealing from his people?
The criticism here of King Mswati III is welcome. I notice that within Swaziland criticism of the king is increasing. A recent documentary film Without The King highlighted the wide gap between the Royal Family and ordinary people in Swaziland. There is presently an election taking place in the kingdom, but political parties are banned and the parliament has no real powers. The Prime Minister is directly appointed by the King and the present PM wasn’t even elected to parliament.
There are a lot of human rights issues in Swaziland. I write a blog about this. If you are interested in this subject come visit
http://www.swazimedia.blogspot.com
Richard
“The severity of the crime was increased by the perpetrator’s status, and the punishment was to fit that of a chief’s son. Lashes were followed by a period of ostracism. But more painful than the physical hurt was the awful sense that he had abused his father’s trust.”
Clearly something politicians in the main have no sense of. Abuse of trust, pillaging the national coffers might sound like a terrible thing when talking of Swaziland, but then we don’t have to cross any borders to witness such degradation. It is alive and well supported in SA
i’m really scared of the next piece that sentletse will write, because every time he writes something sane, sensible, and with which i can agree… he takes a 180 and goes off the deep end.
i was in swatini in march for a week or so, just hanging out, as you do. and goodness, it is really difficult to mention the king in a bad light. as another commenter stated, it’s quite clear that their security apparatus is almost as bad as the CIO in zim.
it’s really difficult to live in swaziland if you are not swati. to get papers for things like an ID, you need to have documentation of the chief of your village. if you are second generation city folk, this is a problem. if you are a swazi-born white or chinese person, this is a problem.
i’m not going to give away too much about my hosts there, but they were just gatvol about the royal family, even if they did have will in a well to do section of mbabane. [dear mswati: put some bloody decent sidewalks is in that town. eish.]
maybe that’s why i felt safer on the street in swaziland than i do in many parts of south africa where i’ve been: the regular and secret police are so horrible that breaking the law is just something that Shouldn’t Be Done[tm]. i felt that way in zimbabwe as well.
Lyndall, Goodwill is expensive to the whole country, I’m not a Zulu, why should I pay anything towards his lavish lifestyle? I benefit in no way at all from his “rule”, in fact he and his numerous hangers-on and courts etc have the exact opposite effect on the rest of us.
You are so correct about King Mswati. But what are you trying to say about chief Mangope? Between these two, a debate about who is a master-thief can never be satisfactorily concluded – a question of a kettle and a pot contesting spotlessness.
While you are correct about Mswati, it strikes me that you have chosen Mangope to bring up discourse on moral integrity and sound leadership. Are you not, perhaps, as a motswana finding it easy to trash Mswati while closing ranks with Mangope(a motswana)? By the way I’m also a motswana but between Mswati and Mangope I see leaders who have not only plundered public funds but have sacrificed other people to attain their narrow, individualistic goals. I hope (and pray) you are not a tribalist for that would definitely consign you to the nearest rubbish heap!
HANS, the only difference with Mangope was that, while he allegedly helped himself to governemnt funds, he was delivering to the majority of citizens of Bophuthatswana. If you assess the economic development of all former homelands, you will realise that Bophuthatswana was much far ahead. Mangope demonstrated what’s called benevolent dictatorship. BEE started many years before in Bophuthatswana when ordinary citizens were given the opportunity to buy shares in Yabeng, an entity with investments in number of industries; as well as agricultural programmes for the poor in rural areas under the Agricultural Development Corporation (Agricor)and funding was provided through the Agricultural Bank (Agribank).
Mangope promoted investments into the homeland, which benefited the majority of the people through the creation of jobs. Bophuthatswana National Development Corporation (BNDC) through its various programmes promoted entrepreneurship and funding for the so-called industrialists was made available.
Unfortunately the incumbent provincial ANC government led by Popo Molefe was determined to undo all the good that Mangope had attempted. At least as a politician have some conscience to deliver someting to your people if you’re stealing from them. I cannot say the same about Mswati.
I will defend Mangope’s alleged kleptomania or the charge that he was an apartheid stooge, but I will admit that he did deliver in the process.
Goodwill is the Zulu king and nobody else’s. So the payment for his outrageously-expensive vain upkeep ought to be covered only by his Zulu subjects and not by non-Zulu taxpayers. And they can stump up their Zulu contributions and keep their king in the manner that they can afford.
If that were to happen, Goodwill will experience a very drastic decline in the splendour in which this parasitic non-contributor to the overall well-being of Zulus is maintained. He’d be trading in his 7-series BMWs for a second-hand VW Polo.
Good discussion, let talk about Kings ‘n things. I personally do not think that we should be funding expensive lifestyles of people whom we did not vote for, whom the majority of us do not recognise as our monarchs, and who do not care one bit as they go about spending poor people’s money as if it grows on trees. As a hard working tax payer, I want to puke each time I read about the Zulu King’s ridiculuous westage!
Ash
Goodwill is only one King – the one the ANC is the most afraid of, so gets the most negative publicity. All the tribes have kings paid for by the state, plus traditional leaders, also paid by your taxes.
If you want to question it – question whether we need the whole system, don’t single out one king.
Ash
Come to think of it, if we keep the system should not the whites and browns also be allowed to elect kings?
Would you have Mangope back in power? If the things you say about him are true, why was there a coup against him or why did he need right-wingers (Terribleblank), and not his so-called people, to defend him and his tiny group of beneficiaries?
You sound like you or your family has directly benefitted from Mangope’s leadership hence you are such an unapologetic propagandist for him.
I’m unsure of what you mean by ‘delivering to the majority of his people’, did you want to say ‘delivering to the majority of his cronies?’
Poverty, even abject poverty, was legendary and so was unemployment. The single biggest employer in Maphuthatswana was the repressive arm of the ‘State’ (army and police) – an irrational job creation scheme.Was there any need for wasting money on the development of the army? Could money not have been wisely invested in building the economy (factories)and education?
I went to a school were there was either no teachers for some subjects or those around were unqualified and incompetent. Water was consistently unavailable, kids died from dysentary and kwashiokor as a result (while you frolicked in complete comfort). All this happened right next to the so-called capital city(Mmabatho), that is, under Mangopes’ nose.
Many people in Mafuthatswana knew about the schemes you mentioned but that does not mean they benefitted from them. About the beneficiaries in the Agric sector, were they not mostly ministers and their relatives?
Your comparison of Mafuthatswana with other homelands is a sick, misleading ploy to justify its existance, and in this case, to condone corruption and human right abuses. For instance, the fact that Mangope’s country had a Bill of Right does not automatically mean there was no gross violation of human rights, or does it Sentletse? Similarly, building a stadium should not by itself be construed as development. Development for whose benefit? Perhaps you should have minded to define what did you mean by ‘development’ because while all those things you have mentione existed, a very large majority of people under Mangope struggled to survive – something that made them unhappy and unleashed their determined resistance to his rule.
In your persuit of tribalism, Sentletse, try and based your arguments on facts and truth. You’ll still be a tribalist but at least an honest one. Vilifying other people (Mswati) while caressing a similar monster (Mangope)is simply malicious. I’m truly disppointed that you can sink to such lowest level of discourse and analysis. Next time when you write as a passionate motswana, remember that I’m one of those tswanas whose view of the world is not defined by the tribal grouping to which they belong!! O tla jabetsa dimatla tsa ditlatla monna!! mpthuu!!
Any worthwhile King or Queen would see to it that their people were educated to a level where they became true democrats and no longer needed a monarch.
I am not unaware of the money spent on other Kings & Queens, and I am aware of the strategic reasoning behind Goodwill Zwelithini’s sponsorship from the public purse, it still doesn’t change anything and there must be accountability in how the money is spent for as long as this continues to happen. I personally do not care wether Pedis, Xhosas, English, the Belgians, etc. have monarchs or not. That is their choice, but then I believe that in a modern democratic state that we pretend to be, all leaders should be democratically chosen. I do not see why my hard earned tax money should be used to fund the lifestyles of monarchs who have no place in modern democracy – as in where citizens democratically choose their leaders – and who think that it is owed to them to be given money that could be used to develop ordinary people. Methinks that monarchs, other than being interesting anthropological tourist attractions, should not be allowed to think that the world owes them anything!
Sentletse Mangope took the wrong path in bringing about freedom to our people. He sold out. I am dissapointed in you about this one. When you are related to someone or even friends you do not need to share that person’s view. Your views must be based on principle and fact.
Son of a thief is a thief.
Solly
The money that the kings get are not taken from their people but stipends from the state. The interesting question is going to be in the next generation. There is no tradition of divine kings or primogeniture in Nguni tradition – the tribe must approve the new king. How? Are we all going to get our ID books stamped with our tribe?
Rory
Tell that to the kings and queens of Scandinavia, Holland, Spain and Britain. People like to have royal families. When Australia was given the choice to vote for whether they still wanted Queen Elizabeth as their head of state – they voted FOR her.
Wrong, Lyndall
“SOME” people choose Kings & Queens, not all people! In fact, this matter becomes easier in countries where the said Kings/Queens represent whole nations, as in England and not just a tribe in a nation, and then expect the whole nation to spoil them. Anyway, tribe or no tribe, I think monarchs are things of the past and should be sponsored only voluntarily by those who want to do so, in the same way that one camn choose to donate or not to donate his body organs after death; or to go to a church and contribute financially to it, or not.
Additionally, money taken from the public purse IS money taken from the poor unsespecting public. We should all have a say in how it is spent.
XNM, you’re missing the point. The truth is Mangope, whether you want to call him a dictator or an apartheid stooge or not, he did deliver to his people. The fact that he faltered by being stubborn and refusing to have Bop incorporated into SA, does not take away his economic track record (political one is questionable).
Solly
Then we must do what they did in Australia – have a referendum. You might be surprised.
By the way, I notice in amusement in this week’s Sunday Times (page 5)that a Xhosa queen has been drawing a salary as a teacher since 1989- she has drawn a salary for 20 years without ever being in a class.
Why pick on the Zulus?
LYNDALL, I’d be careful to quote anything from the Sunday Times as fact if I were you, but I’m not.
Even in England there’s a pretty comprehensive sense of it not being ‘one nation under the Queen’. Many of those of us who come from completely the wrong side of the tracks don’t hold allegiance to the monarchy as something that really should be part of a sensible modern economy.
The North-South divide actually exists once you get outside the top end of the middle class.
Sentletse
Well if it is not fact – that can be proved. Why don’t you do it? Some investigative reporting would be great for a change.
It would be interesting to see what the combined annual public expenditure is on all the “monarchs” in South Africa put together. Yes, I also saw the Sunday Times article and the one before that on Zwelithini (and I have nothing specifically personal against the latter – he just happens to be more visible than all the others in his wastage).
Lyndall, Australians (even Canadians had this discussion once) had a referendum on 1 monarch – the Queen of England and what remains of the “Common” Wealth. We, on the other hand, would have a whole community hall full of Monarchs to choose from. I doubt that any of them would obtain unquestionable majority support accross the board! They are all tribal representatives, at best, no longer relevant in a modern democracy!
Solly
I meant have e referendum on whether to keep ALL the monarchs or not. What I object to is just the Zulu king being targeted.
Does anyone know how many queens the present Swazi monarch has? There was an article in the Weekend Argus of 23rd August about a protest over a shopping trip done by eight of his queens for his 40th birthday party coming up soon.
It mentioned that his father had 70 wives, 210 children and over 1000 grandchildren ! No wonder the ordinary Swazi citizen is broke!
The Swazi King has had his 40th birthday. A few months ago our Zulu King had his 60th birthday. At least both of them wore traditional footgear with their traditional garb and not “nike type” shoes like Zuma does when he wears the royal skins to get married in (which culturally he is not entitled to do anyhow ). Both kings had boeps – but our 60 year old Zulu king at least did not have love handles as well and looks a lot fitter, especially for his age!