HOUSE BURNT IN MPOLONJENI CHIEFTANCY DISPUTE

MPOLONJENI – A long-standing chieftaincy dispute at Mpolonjeni Chiefdom, near Siteki, turned violent on Monday night when a house of one of the members of the ruling Dvuba clan was torched, allegedly by a group of young people, who had been accusing him of frustrating the process of installing a new chief in the area.

Msibhose Dvuba, a son of the late Mpolonjeni Chief Macebo Dvuba, was asleep in another house, together with his family, when the house (a stick and mud rondavel) was set alight by unknown arsonists.
All the items inside the house were destroyed but fortunately, there was no one inside the house.

Dvuba said he could not estimate, in monetary terms, the damage that was caused by the fire.
“The house was used for family gatherings. Nobody was sleeping in it,” he said, while stating that he was happy that none of his family members were hurt.

Prior to this incident, Dvuba had been embroiled in a succession battle with his brother Bhekindlela Dvuba, who was reportedly appointed by a faction of the Dvuba clan to succeed the late chief of the area, who reportedly passed away in 1968.
It is understood that Bhekindlela was appointed a successor to the late chief in 1972 but since then, he had failed to get enough support from some of the senior members of the Dvuba clan and, as a result, his bid to succeed the late chief failed.

However, Bhekindlela’s supporters allegedly blamed Msibhose.

Bhekindlela passed away last Saturday, reportedly after an illness.
Soon after the community learnt of Bhekindlela’s death, Msibhose said he started receiving death threats from people who identified themselves as supporters of Bhekindlela.

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