WE HAVE TO BE A PROACTIVE NATION

Sir,

I have read, with sadness, the news of the death of the maidens along the Manzini-Mbabane highway as they were being transported to the Umhlanga ceremony that we love. I know that this has shocked and saddened many of us. So my prayers are with their families, the King and the entire Swazi nation.

I have had the pleasure of seeing the maidens in such trucks before. It’s a wonderful sight to behold. I can imagine how all around our kingdom, the maidens would wait for these trucks to pick them up at certain stations.

They would be dressed in the traditional attire, walking proudly to an event that we Swazis treasure and mindful of the fact that their mothers attended it too, so did their grandmothers and those who came before them. It therefore, to some extent, is a rite of passage to them. When the trucks pass by your village, one is struck by the many happy young women singing traditional songs, loudly.

 So when such a calamity occurs, I can understand the ripples of sadness engulfing the whole nation. However, we don’t all react to such sad events the same way. Some look at who is to blame, that there must be someone at fault, maybe the driver in such an incident. While others like me, choose how we want to remember the maidens who died on this fateful day. I choose to remember their happy singing faces, happily attending a national event that we all love.

I’m sure by now that a lot of Swazis are questioning why they were carried in such a dangerous mode of transport, after all these years government still persists in carrying the maidens with trucks. But then such questions completely miss the point.

They relegate us to being ‘after-the-fact’ people who start complaining once a calamity has occurred. What I want to propose now is a way of thinking that I wish we could use as a nation. More so not only because it is a modern thinking approach but that it is also in line with the king’s dream of a First World Swaziland.

Firstly, we must develop a way of being able to analyse, locate problems and change our present situation. This means that we should be able to objectively see a problem and not be afraid to point it out. It is a fact that carrying them on trucks is dangerous. It may be a cost-effective practice but then the dangers far outweigh any benefit.

Secondly, the government should develop a way that would be accommodating to such individuals. It is sad to deliver a proposal to the ministry concerned and be thrown out, not because the minister or PS concerned has a better idea but just because he has more power and is simply exercising it.

If such an environment existed in my country, I’m sure that some Swazis would have freely raised this issue and government having looked at this issue without prejudice. We should be proactive as Swazis. We have one Swaziland; let us strive to improve it for our children and those who will come after them. They must be grateful for the wonderful effort we have made.

Wandile Dlamini,
Student at the University
of Limpopo, BSC Honours
(computer science)

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