President honours Prince Masitsela’s gesture
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – President Emerson Mnangagwa on Thursday honoured late Prince Masitsela for the kind gesture offered to him and their struggle for freedom.
The President told His Majesty King Mswati III that a certain liSwati man, who was not known to them then, clad in traditional attire, came through and paid an entire month grocery bill while doing shopping in Mbabane.
“Your Majesty, we used to come to Eswatini while our guerrilla army was camped in Maputo to buy our monthly necessities. Even on this day we did what we normally did, and out of the blue, a man came and paid our entire bill. He did not mind even when we told him that we had enough to pay for ourselves, but went ahead and paid and there he left to board a Mercedes-Benz, which was parked outside,” the president narrated.
He said they did not know that man until recently, when he related the story this week to Eswatini’s High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, who told him that in fact, that man was Prince Masitsela.
President Mnangagwa said the State banquet he hosted for His Majesty the King and Inkhosikati Make LaMatsebula was in fact in honour of that kind gesture by Prince Masitsela. “We used to come through Mbabane with former South African President Jacob Zuma to exchange notes in our struggle for freedom. We used to sneak in and out quietly without attracting the attention of the security forces in your country,” he said.
In response, His Majesty the King told the president that Prince Masitsela was fully complying with Eswatini culture of kindness to everyone.“We are happy to hear that the prince represented us well as emaSwati for showing sympathy and love to everyone. That’s what we are and we continue to encourage emaSwati to do,” he said.
liBeration
When addressing the issue of their sneaking in and out of the country without being caught, the King said: “In fact, King Sobhuza II was aware of the liberation movements in and out of the country. Pretoria, which was hunting down ANC leaders once issued a warning to the King that such movements would attract risks for the Kingdom.”
His Majesty the King said King Sobhuza II met with some leaders like Oliver Tambo and informed him of the inherent risk associated with their movements within the country.
“The King decided to take the risk and pretended as though he was not aware of what was happening. So Mr President, the King was aware of what was going on but decided to close his other eye, so that you can do your operations quietly,” the King said.