KING UNVEILS KING SOMHLOLO’S E2M STATUE

His Majesty King Mswati III (C) posing with the Municipal Council of Manzini staff members in front of the King Somhlolo statue.

MANZINI - His Majesty King Mswati III unveiled an about E2 million bronze statue of King Somhlolo at Jubilee Park and further named the park after the great King.

The idea of having the late King’s statue at King Somhlolo Park came with Intellipark Director Mpilo Nhlebela.
Intellipark is the company that operates Pakani in Manzini and the director renovated the park as a form of appreciation to the Municipal Council of Manzini for having a good working relationship with the council in his first 10-year contract. The statue and renovating the park cost E3m.

His Majesty King Mswati III said the name; Jubilee Park was difficult for other people, especially the elderly population to say because it was English not siSwati.
He said following the fact that there was a statue of King Somhlolo at the park; he decided to name the park after him so that everyone Swazi could easily pronounce the name.

He said the bronze statue captured the great vision that King Somhlolo shared with the nation; that of encouraging Swazis to choose the Bible over money.
He said it was this vision that helped shape the foundation of the society as a predominantly Christian people.

Vision

“We urge all you here today (yesterday) to keep this vision alive everywhere you go. We are told that the project cost E3m and we would like to extend our appreciation to Intellipark, a Swazi-based company, for supporting this memorable project,” the King said. He also thanked the Municipal Council of Manzini for its contribution towards the success of the project.

 The King reminded the nation that Jubilee Park was named by the British white settlers during the colonial period as a place where they would meet to celebrate British jubilees and commemorations.
“However, from today (yesterday) the Jubilee Park will be called King Somhlolo Park. We trust that the Manzini people and the entire nation will embrace the park and preserve it as a significant part of our history and future,” the King said.
Meanwhile, Nhlebela said after working in the city for a while he asked himself what he could he do as a development initiative.

He said the park came to his mind and he looked how other countries’ parks were developed and that was when he thought of making a landmark by putting a statue of one of the greatest Kings in the history ot the  country.
The director said he used a rock as a stand for the statue because he wanted it to look natural. He said this was a four-year project but it took six months and also took 21 days to transport the rock from LaMgabhi to the park using a low-loader truck.

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