Residents ordered to pay E500 for E3.4m umphakatsi
NYAKENI – Some residents of Nyakeni are up in arms as each homestead has been ordered to contribute E500 towards the construction of a modern E3.4 million for their new
umphakatsi chief.
Nyakeni is a chiefdom located about 20 kilometres from Manzini (north-east) and it is under Kukhanyeni Constituency in the Manzini Region. The chiefdom, which did not have a chief for a while, is now under the leadership of Chief Jokovu, who was installed and blessed by Their Majesties in the last quarter of 2022. The chiefdom has over 1 200 homesteads.
The chief is part of the community leaders who joined the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) during its recent recruitment exercise. Currently, he is attending a military-related course out of the country.
Disgruntled
According to some of the disgruntled residents of Nyakeni, between October and November 2023, they were called to a community meeting at the royal kraal and were informed that since they had a new chief, they needed to build a home (royal kraal) for him as culturally, he could not use the one which was used by his late father.
They said they were told that there was a select committee put in place, specifically for the project, and according to its analysis; each homestead should contribute E500 towards the construction of the umphakatsi. They said the order was that they were expected to have all paid the money by the end of April 2024.
“The announcement was made in the absence of the chief, as he is out of the country attending a work-related course, which they said made them wonder if he was aware of the development or not,” the sources said.
The aggrieved residents said the announcement was met with mixed feelings from the community members and some of them raised their concerns during the very same meeting, but were purportedly not given a clear response. They said their concern was that some, if not most of them, would not afford the amount considering the economic situation of the country, which, just like other countries of the world, was hit hard by the outbreak of COVID-19.
They claimed that the political unrest in 2021 also affected the economy.
“Most of us are struggling even to pay school fees for our children. On top of that, we have child-headed families and homes headed by elderly people, who take care of their orphaned grandchildren,” said the aggrieved residents.
Some of them argued that they were recently informed that government was working towards upgrading the gravel road from Lugaganeni to Luve into a tar road. They said it was a norm that if there was such a development in a community, the contractor also engaged the authorities on what developmental project, it could do to assist the community. Therefore, they said surely the contractor would assist in the construction of the umphakatsi.
On top of that, they claimed that they were informed that there were some partners who had been approached to assist them in this community project.
“Kunetinini teNkhosi leticeliwe kutsi titosita kulomsebenti,” they said in vernacular.
They said even though some of them raised their concerns about the matter during the community meeting at the royal kraal, a certain group had started paying the money.
For those who have not paid, the aggrieved residents said they were clear on what lay ahead.
They said the manner in which the inner council operated, those who would not pay the money would not get assistance or service from the royal kraal, such as letters and stamp, among others.
“To those who require any assistance of service from the royal kraal, they will be ordered to pay the E500 first before being assisted,” the insiders claimed.
Operations
This, they said, was because even now, they paid E100 annually for the operations of the umphakatsi, but if a homestead had not paid it, the family members would not get services from the royal kraal.
“So, they (inner council or the committee) might say this will not happen, but as community members, we know where it is going,” they said. One of the affected community members said recently, he wanted a letter from the royal kraal to take to the Social Welfare Department for her child to get scholarship, but the inner council refused to give her until she paid the E100.
Again, another issue which they said was a concern to them, was that when a son in a family wanted to build a home in the fields with his wife, he was supposed to pay E5 000, yet the land had already been allocated to the family through kukhonta (customary way of acquiring land - Eswatini Nation Land).