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MGABHI GOT IT WRONG

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Sir,

The best and wise thing would be to frown at and ignore the letter of November 9, 2014 in your Times SUNDAY written by Mgabhi Dlamini.
However, I wish to point out a few facts he has conveniently did not state. Mgabhi Dlamini joined the NNLC youth wing, Malindane, while working as an unskilled labourer at Usutu Pulp company at Bhunya.


He resigned from the NNLC when he failed to be elected into the Bhunya executive committee branch of the party and joined Imbokodvo where he remained a rank and file member until the cow dung incident threw him into political oblivion and he was thrown out of all traditionalist structures.


This clique will forgive you for any other crime but not something like the cow dung issue. Indeed, the Imbokodvo has many colours as it cannot ignore the whites, the Afrikaners in particular, who have been its Trojan horse since its inception in 1964.


The campaign for the 1964 referendum was won by Imbokodvo due to the massive intimidation of sugar cane, plantation, mine and domestic workers by the whites who had exclusive control of employment and threatened to fire anyone who did not vote for Imbokodvo. They had been angered by the massive ‘mpondo ngelanga’ crippling strike that had been organised by the NNLC to demand an increment from 20 cents a day pay to E2 per day.


There were no trade unions at the time in Swaziland. You will recall that King Sobhuza II had publicly condemned the strike.
From its inception in February 1963 and in its founding Constitution, the NNLC has always consistently stated that the King should be a constitutional monarch with no legislative powers, no executive powers and no judicial powers in order to insulate him from the inextricably conflict-prone political activity.

Dr AP Zwane was a university graduate and a medical professional, a founder of the party and its constitution together with Princess Bethusile, Prince Dumisa and others.
It is, therefore, mischievously naive of Mgabhi to suggest that he could contradict the constitution of the party and his principles and make the utterances attributed to him.


Mgabhi should recall that the King used to be called ‘paramount chief’ indvuna yetikhundla and it was the NNLC  that insisted that he be called King, for which the NNLC was later rewarded with banning in 1973 and its leadership subjected to repeated terms of 60 days detention without trial.


Imbokodvo was saying they would rectify that after independence, just as while the NNLC was insisting that the British must  reinstate the borders of the Ngwane state to its pre-concession position, hence our ‘atibuye emasisweni’ slogan.
Before giving us independence, Imbokodvo said they would do the border adjustment after independence. It is now 47 years of border restoration committees which have become nothing but a fattening ranch for some.


Finally, I wish to offer my sympathies to Mgabhi Dlamini for missing out on the awards that were lavishly dished out recently.

Dr AT Dlamini (NNLC)
MBABANE

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