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Khuzulwandle is dead

25/07/2012 00:00:00 SENZO DLAMINI

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MBABANE – His Royal Highness Prince Khuzulwandle, the Chairman of the Border Restoration Committee, is dead.

Acting Ludzidzini Governor Timothy Velabo Mtetwa, in an interview yesterday, confirmed the demise of the prince.

Mtetwa said the chairman of the Border Restoration Committee succumbed to death while undergoing treatment in a private clinic in neighbouring South Africa yesterday morning.

"I’ve acted quick enough to report his death to the authorities," he stated. "As I’m talking to you, the traditional authorities are fully aware of the matter you’re talking about."

The acting traditional prime minister said the prince, who was a Cabinet minister from the early eighties to the mid nineties, had been indisposed since last year.

Prince Khuzulwandle, 70, was admitted to one of the clinics in SA for a few months before returning home.

He spent a few days at home and his health condition deteriorated thus he was rushed to the Mbabane Clinic where he was admitted and later on transferred back to SA.

The acting governor described Prince Khuzulwandle as one of the intelligent princes, saying he did everything with aplomb.

Mtetwa said the prince was never naïve on both modern and traditional matters.

"It is with no doubt that the nation has lost a great man," he added.

Efforts to get comment from Mabili Dlamini, the acting Chairman of the Border Restoration Committee, drew a blank as his cellphone rang unanswered on several occasions yesterday.

Brigadier Fonono Dvuba, a member of the committee, said it was still too early to comment on the death of the prince.

He was a rare talent - ex-PM

MBABANE – Obed Dlamini, the former Prime Minister, has described the late Prince Khuzulwandle as a rare supremely gifted talent.

In an interview yesterday, Dlamini said he personally requested the prince to serve as the Minister of Education in his Cabinet.

"I can unflinchingly say that he performed well in the education portfolio," he stated with his voice breaking with emotion. "Prince Khuzulwandle knew what he was doing. He was a proper man and you could depend on him."

Dlamini, now a member of Liqoqo, reminisced that, while the two of them were still in Cabinet, no one had a bad word to say about the prince.

His Majesty King Mswati III, according to the erstwhile PM, later moved Prince Khuzulwandle to the Ministry to Natural Resources and Energy.

"The King shifted him to the Natural Resources and Energy portfolio because of his academic credentials and experience," said Dlamini.

The prince was a proud holder of an Honours Degree in Geology.

He said news the prince’s death was broken to him by Prince Masitsela, the Regional Administrator of the Manzini region.

He served under three PMs

MBABANE – The late Prince Khuzulwandle once served government as Assistant Director in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy.

This was before his appointment as minister in the same portfolio. In Cabinet, he served under three different prime ministers in Prince Bhekimphi, Prince Mbilini and Obed Dlamini.

While at the Geology Department, he was an assistant to Allen Ntunja Dlamini, who held the position of Director of Geology.

Allen, in the eighties, was once prominent for running the Miss Swaziland Beauty Pageant.