Stiff fines for kuhlehla refusal
ORDER:
“He alleged that some families who, however, were not acknowledging the current acting chief by paying allegiance to him, were made to pay E10 000 or a cow in order for them to get a royal kraal (umphakatsi) stamp to be able to process documents for the burial of their loved ones.” IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllll
M– Some residents are allegedly paying hefty fines for refusing to acknowledge the Acting Chief, Maliwa Maziya, through at Maphungwane, in the Lubombo region.
Kuhlehla
These allegations were raised during a community meeting on Tuesday whereby they said that acquiring national documents had become very expensive for some residents who are adamantly refusing to pay allegiance to the acting chief of the area.
Acting Chief Maliwa is the son of the late acting chief Loyiwe Maziya, who took over the reins after the late chief Saphaza Maziya was reportedly removed by the King Sobhuza II.
During the meeting, one of the residents, Sikelela Maziya, revealed that life had become difficult and expensive for them in that community.
He alleged that some families who, however, were not acknowledging the current acting chief by paying allegiance to him, were made to pay E10 000 or a cow in order for them to get
A community meeting in session at Maphungwane.
the royal kraal (umphakatsi) stamp to be able to process documents for the burial of their family members.
“The acting chief demanded this hefty fine from a Tsabedze family recently after the passing away of the head of the family. He demanded that they pay E10 000 or a cow because their father had refused to pay allegiance while he was still alive.
DemanDeD
The family reportedly paid a cow because they couldn’t afford the E10 000 as demanded by the acting chief and then they were able to get the stamp to process the documents for the burial of their father.
Meanwhile, another resident,
Dumisa Maziya, revealed that they were made to pay between E500 and E1 500 for the acquisition of the royal kraal’s stamp for their children who were applying for scholarships for their tertiary education.
The residents have decried that they were also made to pay these amounts towards the acquisition of national documents such as identity cards, marriage certificates and birth certificates.
Notably, the residents said that it was only those not paying homage to the acting chief were subjected to these hefty fines.
Paying allegiance is a normal practise, according to the Eswatini law and custom, whereby residents are expected pay homage to the local traditional chief.
The community members are expected to attend to meetings arranged by the local authority, who is the chief. Also, during the harvesting season, the community members are expected to apportion part of their harvest to the umphakatsi.
In some instances, the community residents are expected to participate in building the chief ’s kraal and weeding the fields, but if they are absent, they have to pay a certain amount of money.
Controversy
This controversy at Maphungwane emanated after the death of the late Acting Chief Loyiwe in the 1990s who took over the chieftaincy on an acting basis after the late Chief Saphaza was expelled for misconduct. The Indvuna Yemcuba, Gibson Shongwe, has alleged that acting Chief Maliwa was not a chief of Maphungwane. He alleged that Maliwa imposed himself as acting chief of the area after the death of his father, who was also an acting chief.
“Being a son of an acting chief doesn’t necessarily mean that you are his successor and in this case, it is up to the indlunkhulu to decide on whom to succeed the late Chief Saphaza. Maliwa imposed himself as an acting chief of this area and we will not stop until the King hears our side of the story,” the indvuna said.
Shongwe said the indlunkhulu already had a candidate for the chieftaincy position and they had reported this matter to the Eswatini National Court in Siteki.
Therefore, Shongwe said they expected to meet with the acting chief at the national court last month, however, he allegedly never showed up even though summons were issued. “At the national court, Maliwa was expected to authenticate his claims of being the acting chief of Maphungwane. If he does have a letter, we are certain that he somehow forged the signature of royalty,” alleged Shongwe.
The indvuna yemcuba, who is aligned to the faction that opposes Maliwa, alleged that the indlunkhulu’s efforts of trying to engage royalty over the chieftaincy dispute had been blocked. “We have been praying for so long over this matter and right now we have decided to take the matter up with the country’s authorities. We have tried to report the misuse of the stamp to the Regional Adminis