News from November 2007

This week the Supreme Court upheld a High Court decision that Ntshangase should be buried at Mkhwakhweni.

Led by a member of the Royal family, Princess Tsase, who was assisted by the area’s Indvuna (headman), Jameson Tshabalala, the authorities said unless a royal directive rescinding an order for Ntshangase’s eviction was issued, he would not be buried at Mkhwakhweni. The eviction order was rejected by the courts.

Princess Tsase is wife to the late Salebona Ntshangase, who held the reins. It has been alleged that Salebona was an acting chief and this is the cause of the chieftaincy dispute in the area.

“Let them dare bring him here for burial,” said one old man, in his strong Zulu accent, who did not look in the best of health.

“Mzikayise is our brother. We know him and we are not refusing him burial rights. But if he is to be buried here, we want a directive to that effect from the king. Without an order from the king, nobody should dare bring his body here for burial,” insisted Gideon Ntshangase.

With the frequent encouragement from Princess Tsase, who would exclaim “ha!” each time a question was posed, the men (Princess Tsase was the only woman in the meeting attended by the area’s elders) took turns to speak against the return for burial of Mzikayise Ntshangase.

“He was separated from us by the king and we have not been told that the problems that forced the king to remove him have been resolved. We are not saying anything about the court order as we have nothing to do with it,” said one of the Ntshangase clan members, but conceded that the press conference was prompted by the court order.

They refused to entertain some questions or be drawn to comment about the unlawfulness of their decision. They refused even to comment on Ntshangase’s (Mzikayise) lineage. Princess Tsase simply declared that he was not known, but Gideon quickly intervened and said they were not yet ready to give that information as their intention was not to expose anybody.

They argued that the death or funeral of Ntshangase had not been reported to them, but also made it clear that reporting the death would not influence a change of their decision. They were also not happy that the High Court inspected the Ntshangase family graveyard without informing them.

The country has barely come out from the effects of the infamous November 28, 2002, statement issued by the then Prime Minister, Sibusiso Dlamini.

Dlamini had declared that government would not abide by a Court of Appeal decision for the return home of families evicted from Macetjeni and ka-Mkhweli at the height of a chieftaincy dispute.

Involved in the dispute were Prince Maguga, who had been appointed traditional leader of the two areas and the deposed chiefs, Mliba Fakudze and Mtfuso Dlamini, of Macetjeni and ka-Mkhweli respectively.

The families’ victory in subsequent court battles did not help them. They were told to return home on condition they subjected themselves to the authority of Prince Maguga, who had been appointed chief of the areas.

The evicted families humbled themselves and apologised to Prince Maguga. Mtfuso remains in exile in South Africa as he refused to apologise to the prince.

Another court order defied by the government involves the restoration court’s powers to grant bail. Prisoners who were subsequently granted bail remained in custody on government’s orders.

Following government’s decision, Court of Appeal judges resigned in protest and for two years, the highest court in the land did not sit. As the country was plunged into a rule of law crisis, Swaziland became the skunk of the world.

A semblance of the rule of law was restored by the current Prime Minister Absalom Themba Dlamini.