Halala Ngwenyama, halala maSwati lamahle!
Sir,
We, on April 12, celebrated the true context of our liberation and reflected upon it, in our last article. The occasion of His Majesty, King Mswati III, turning 55 years old, on Wednesday April 19, a week later, bears no coincidence; it was ordained. The official announcement that was issued by the Minister of Home Affairs, Princess Lindiwe, that this year shall mark a double celebration (55 years of independence from colonial ‘rule’ and His Majesty’s birthday, of the same years), mark a watershed moment, which we do believe is divine. So we say, Halala Ngwenyama, halala maSwati lamahle!
Leadership
‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown’. Any person who has been in a significant leadership position knows the meaning of that statement. A slightly modified version can be found all the way back in William Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV’ and is often used to talk about the burden and difficulties of being a leader. The aforementioned quote is paraphrased from the ‘celebrated’ William Shakespeare, through the internet.
We can talk, criticise and do all manner of speculation in our different ‘corners’ but ultimately we do not know, first hand, what it takes to run a country.
The armchair critiquing, that we are all so comfortable with, does not, ultimately, get us further than the realm of speculation. If anything, it gets us mired in issues that we do not have a proper grasp of and leave us in despair, devoid of fact and truth.
Simply put, you are much the poorer if you do not bother yourself to understand history and context of your being. It is fashionable to lay all the blame at the foot of the leader, even though the one who shared that falsehood with you is not armed with the facts or the truth, or worse still, a gatekeeper who is chowing and wants to keep you out.
His Majesty has been ‘burdened’ with the responsibility of leading our great nation for the past 35 years. Many detractors will have you believe that he has been seized with a lavish life of just, as crudely put, ‘hanging on to power with brutality, chowing money and gathering brides’.
This oversimplification of His Majesty and indeed the institution of the monarchy and us as a people, is not only an insult, but also smacks of self-hate from emaSwati (who are lost) and those foreign sponsored propagators of this unfortunate narrative but also exemplifies the envy of those who wish they still could have what we have; our true being as a people at the core of everything about us.
For someone who has been consistently maligned, not to exhibit good leadership and vision, we only have to bring up our ‘scorecard’ about how His Majesty has actually done very well in following in his forbearers’footsteps; in first and foremost, whether we like it or not, defending and keeping our nation sovereign, more so with all the modern ‘demands and challenges’that call for us to abandon our true being, to confirm to the confusion of bullied systems of how we should be in the ‘soulless imposed system of the modern world’.
Then, also, statistics continue to speak for themselves in that ‘scorecard’; infrastructure, tourism, literacy, human development and so on, are great points of reference, be it, as it may, with challenges but point to the fact that we are on the right track, thanks to his leadership.
Halala!
We salute you Ngwenyama and implore the Almighty to give you further strength and wisdom to uphold the nation of emaSwati for generations to come, as per your God-given mandate. We shall not be swayed into mistaking who we are, from who we really are; a nation blessed by God to shine in the way that the Lord has purposed us.
Many seem not to have listened to the tone and manner of your growth in faith, in our Lord and Saviour but choose to demonise. The consistency of year end and year opening prayer sermons, the recent remembrance of the sacrifice of the Lord for our sins at Easter church services, do not go unnoticed; you are truly steeped in the way of the Lord, blessed to us by our heavenly Father and show, to those who genuinely understand, that we are truly blessed by the grace and mercy of the Almighty!
We take pride in being Africa’s pulpit and being Africa’s new promise, no matter the sponsored distraction that will try to have us believe otherwise. Let us continue to choose God and elect wisely; siyinqaba!
G Tsalalisa Dlamini