LaZwide hosts thanksgiving
SIPHOFANENI – $s over celeErated 6iphoIaneni 0emEer oI 3arliament 03 1om alungelo /a=wide 6im elane¶s Ey elections victory her umphaNatsi¶s traditional authorities were not part oI the event
The Times 681'$< learnt that the chieI oI the area 3rince 0shengu was against hosting the event at *od¶s *race 0iracle 3oint ,nternational &hurch prem ises aIter it was µIorced¶ out oI the inNhundla centre ,t was revealed that &hieI 0shengu vehemently opposed the event and /a=wide had to go against his wishes to host it at the church premises
,t transpired that /a=wide was called into a meeting in the early hours oI yesterday morning Must EeIore the event Eegan to give answers over the change oI venue and the reason they moved out oI the inNhundla centre
.a0Nhweli %ucopho &ouncil 0emEer Thami 6iEand]e narrated that they were called Ey &hieI 0shengu¶s ,ndvuna %en 1gcam phalala in the morning to clariIy the reasons Eehind the change oI venue +e said they received a call Must when they were aEout to call the indvuna Ior a discussion on how the event would Ee handled
6iEand]e e[plained that they had made an attempt to meet the ind vuna on )riday only to Ee told that he was indisposed
³-ust when we were aEout to call the indvuna yesterday morn ing we received a call that the chieI wanted to see us over news that the event has Eeen moved to the church :hen we arrived we Iound the chieI with other coun cil memEers and assistant station commander and he first sought clarity on why the event was moved Irom the inNhundla cen tre :e e[plained in detail how everything happened :e told the chieI that we were told to move the event out since the 03 had invited the whole nation to the event The chieI then Tuestioned the 03 on the matter and she e[plained that she was supported Ey many peo ple during her campaign and she intended to thanN them during the event ´ said 6iEand]e
REASONS
+e Iurther narrated that the chieI Tuestioned the real reasons Eehind the venue change and said the he was not convinced that they did not do anything wrong 6iEand]e said the chieI told them that he was going to investigate the reason Ee hind the inNhundla Ean
+e said the chieI emphasised that there was no reason enough Ior the event to Ee moved Irom the venue since the 03 was now a Ney mem Eer oI the inNhundla and thereIore all her events should Ee held at the inNhundla
³The chieI made it clear that he does not accept the Iact that the event was now going to Ee held at the church /a=wide e[plained that since preparations Ior the event were already at an advanced stage she was not aEle to cancel 6he told the chieI that her main worry was that iI she cancelled the event it would sparN another social unrest 6he e[plained that there was potential that the people would Ee chaotic iI she decided to cancel since they had already ar rived 6he was very respectIul and e[plained that she would rather Ee at the mercy oI the chieI than to have people inMured in her name ´ said 6iEand]e
6iEand]e e[plained that there was no one representing the chieI and umphaNatsi in the event Ee cause the chieI made it clear that he was against the event and did not want it to happen
LENIENT
+e Iurther highlighted that the chieI was going to Ee represented during the event iI it was held at the inNhundla centre Must as they had invited all the other imiphakatsi. +e Iurther said it was not possiEle Ior the event to Ee cancelled at taht time thereIore they chose to apol ogise and hope the chieI would Ee lenient in dealing with the issue
³:e are grateIul that the event is going on and we will Ee approach ing the umphaNatsi to apologise Iurther since we Eelieve that our action was in the utmost good Ior everyone , was personally e[cited at the Iact that even the inNhundla council was aEle to support the 03 at such a time ,t was not promis ing Eut we had to stand together and support her Ior the world to see that we are all one $s .a0 Nhweli %ucopho , hope our chieI will Ee aEle to Iorgive us Ior go ing ahead with the event since we were considering the Eest oI the situation at hand ´ he said
The umphaNatsi was not present and ,ndvuna 1gcamphalala who usually represents indlunkhulu the chieItaincy was also not present on the day :orth noting was the conspicuous aEsence oI the 5oyal (swatini 3olice 6ervice 5(36 in the event There was no police officer in sight and the traffic was manned Ey marshals provided Ey the people oI 6iphoIaneni and some memEers oI the 6wa]iland /iEera tion 0ovement 6:$/,02 The event proceeded without any inci dents until late into the night :hen Tui]]ed on the early events leading to the Eeginning oI the thanNsgiving celeEration /a=wide reTuested not to comment and said the event went well and anything else was going to Ee dealt with later :hen contacted Ior a comment ,ndvuna 1gcamphalala said he was not part oI the meeting and was not sure what was discussed +e said he was in hospital and could not attend to issues Irom the royal Nraal ³, am not aware oI whether they met the chieI or what they dis cussed since , have Eeen sicN , cannot even confirm whether they reported the change oI venue or not and thereIore , am not aEle to assist you with the inIormation you are asNing ´ said 1gcampha lala $n attempt to call &hieI 0shengu was made at around pm yester day and the numEer he was called on could not go through $ddressing the audience through a phone call 6:$/,02 3resident 0dudu]i µ*awu]ela¶ 6imelane thanNed the chieI Ior the guidance and said there was no malicious intent in hosting the event at the church premises Eut it was the only place they could thinN oI at such short notice and they viewed it as a saIe space ³, Nnow that as a chieI oI the area we might have gotten you into trouEling Ey Eringing the event to the church premises Eut we want to assure you that there was no malicious intent Eut only Ior the thanNsgiving to go ahead :e are grateIul and , want you to Nnow that , am not against you or any one in Iact , love you as my chieI Eut , cannot stop telling the truth when the truth is the only thing that is needed ´ said µ*awu]ela¶MANNED
NO MALICIOUS INTENT