Zwide Nxumalo has defied a court order to stop being chief of the Ezikhotheni area in the Shiselweni region of Swaziland because he was appointed to the post by King Mswati III.
Magistrates told him he couldn’t go ahead with a sibhimbi ceremony that officially introduces a new chief to his subjects because of a dispute about whether he had been correctly chosen as chief.
So he went with the ceremony anyway.
Now he is being accused by some of his subjects of contempt of court.
Nxumalo told the Swaziland High Court in a written affidavit to mind its own business. He was he says chosen by King Mswati (sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch) and that to him is the end of the matter.
1 comment:
Professor Rooney, this story raises the important question regarding the issue of land and citizenship of the people in Swaziland. Can the law clearly specify the process of installing a chief in this country. The question also remain about the ownership of land in the hinterland. Maybe we could see forceful removals as we saw a few years ago.
The problem really goes back to one source: ineffective governance. The current government is obvious not people/citizen oriented. Which means that the solution does go towards the direction of a comprehensive overhaul of the Swazi system of governance to one that guarantees citizenship and full ownership of land by the citizens.
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