Swati dynasty now leads both Zulu and Swati kingdoms - Scrolla.Africa

Monday 22 March
                                           2021, 0145

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Swati dynasty now leads both Zulu and
Swati kingdoms
Lungani Zungu

Revered Swati monarch King Sobhuza II himself couldn't have
dreamed that at one point his son and daughter would rule
both the Swati Kingdom and the Zulu Kingdom at the same
time.

The death of Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu pushed
his wife, Queen Mantfombi, to the fore as the regent until a
successor is named.

Queen Mantfombi (above with King Zwelethini) is the sister of
King Mswati III and the daughter of King Sobhuza II.

Poor succession planning in the Zulu Royal family has made the
house of King Sobhuza the most powerful African Traditional
house in Southern Africa.

It is not yet clear whether Queen Mantfombi's son Prince
Misuzulu will be the next King of the Zulus.

The Zulu nation is likely to know by Wednesday who will take
over from the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

The royal house has been locking horns over the succession
plan.

In a statement released on Sunday, Prince Mangosuthu
Buthelezi, traditional minister of the Zulu monarch, confirmed
that a meeting was held by senior members of the royal family
on Saturday.

He said various matters were discussed, including King
Zwelithini’s will, which was expected to name his successor.

The meeting was held at KwaKhethomthandayo Royal Palace in
Nongoma, north of KZN.

Buthelezi said he would update the nation after the meeting.

Queen Mantfombi, tied the knot with King Zwelithini in 1971,
the same year he was installed as king.

According to historian and author Zoza Shongwe, a woman has
been regent before.

When King Jama kaNdaba died in 1781, his daughter
Mkabayi Mkabayi took over as a regent leader as Jama’s son
Senzangakhona was still young at the time.

Normally, Shongwe said, the child of the king’s first wife, who
comes from a royal family, like Queen Mantfombi, took over
the reins when the king died.

In this case that is Prince Misuzulu, 47, the son of Queen
Mantfombi and King Zwelithini.

Apart from the authority, the seat also comes with a budget of
R71 million from the KZN government and other benefits from
private individuals.

Shongwe said he did not know the procedure the royal house
will follow when selecting the next king.

“They could choose to use another selection method, which
can lead to someone else becoming the king.”

Photo: pindula.co.zw

Life, death and denial in a time of Covid
Arthur Greene

Silenced under President John Magufuli’s rule,
one Tanzanian journalist is at last able to make
her voice heard.

Elsie Eyakuze is a prolific writer based in Dar es Salaam.

She has a weekly column in The East African, and has written
throughout the pandemic.

She has not been able, however, to write the story she needed
to write: her own story of living through the pandemic in a
country ruled by a President who denied its existence.

On Saturday, following the death last week of Magufuli,
Eyakuze published a lengthy thread on Twitter. She begins,

“Now. For the real story I have been at a loss to tell for too
long.”

She recalls how quickly the virus swept the nation, and how,
soon after, the deaths followed.

“The first friend to go was a shock. How could someone so full
of life just... disappear? We grieved.”

She notes the negligence with which her country reacted,
“trying to focus on an election and pushing herbal supplements
as a cure for a disease that apparently didn't exist here.”

Eyakuze’s powerful and poetic words display the horror of
living in Magufuli’s Tanzania through a pandemic.

She acknowledges the international commentary of the
country’s situation, none of which knew what the people of
Tanzania were experiencing:

“‘Tanzania Denies Covid! Touts prayer and steaming!’ The
international press was shrill. Gleeful?”

She weaves aspects of her own experience - a cousin and uncle
who died - with the country’s political turbulence.

She also writes of the suppression of the speculation of
Magufuli’s whereabouts, after he stopped being seen in public
in February:

“I might have to write about where Magufuli is. Last time I did,
the piece got killed. I am cautious. I am quiet. I ask another
friend. Ah.”

Before his death was announced, a Tanzanian man was
arrested for publicly claiming that the late president was ill with
Covid.

Eyakuze concludes her thread by reminding us of Tanzania’s
real “Story,” not of its leader, but its people:

“‘Did he die of Covid-19, tho’. Yes, he did. And him, and her.
And them. Tanzanians. And beyond. But they are not who you
want to talk about is it? They are not The Story.”

Photo source: @MikocheniReport

Hungry burglar turns out to be his own
wurst enemy
Arthur Greene

                German police have solved a nine-year-old case
                after DNA found on a half-eaten sausage
                matched that of a man arrested in France over an
                unrelated crime.

In March 2012, a burglar who had broken into a house in the
German town of Gevelsberg seemingly stopped midway for a
bite to eat.

The hungry housebreaker ate half of a wurst - the German
word for a sausage - before completing the crime.

It is yet to be revealed what type of wurst the burglar had
nibbled on, though police have said it was a hard variety.

Now, nine years later, forensics have matched his DNA to a 30-
year-old Albanian man who was recently detained by French
police.

German investigators from the Nordrhein-Westfalen force said
in a statement that the DNA pattern did not produce a direct
hit at the time but that automatic comparisons with
international databases led to a link later on.

The investigators were alerted after a DNA sample was taken
by French police from a man involved in a violent crime.

But Schwelm police said the suspect remains free and he may
yet escape punishment.

The statute of limitations on the burglary has expired, meaning
he is not likely to be extradited to Germany if arrested.

The famished felon is likely to remain on the streets for the
time being.

Picture source: Nordrhein-Westfalen police

Chiefs have the last laugh after
snatching win in the Soweto Derby
Menzi Magubane

For once this season Gavin Hunt can have a peaceful night’s
sleep after finally winning a Soweto Derby. On Sunday,
Amakhosi took maximum points after beating Orlando Pirates
1-0 at FNB Stadium.

Samir Nurkovic's 54th-minute goal gave Hunt the precious win.
This season, Pirates have been a better side against Amakhosi.

Before Sunday's game, the two had met three times and Pirates
had won them all. A win for Chiefs on Sunday saw them having
the last laugh.

As a coach, you win a derby and you win the fans' hearts. This
was Hunt's first derby win and it just might have won the club's
fans. Hunt has been under pressure from day one, but this
victory might have well earned him the benefit of the doubt as
far as Chiefs fans are concerned.

Chiefs' win has taken them to ninth place from 11th, but with
two games in hand over their rivals. As for Pirates, they went
down to fourth place after their loss.

SuperSport United took third place after their one all draw on
Friday against Stellebosch. Meanwhile on Sunday night,
runaway log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns were held at home
by relegation threatened Black Leonards to a 1-1 draw.

The result still leaves Downs on top but with a commanding
advantage. They are still four points ahead of second place
Golden Arrows, having played two fewer games.

A draw with Leopards, who are rooted at the bottom of the log,
was not part of Downs' plans. They are still playing catch-up
matches after their CAF Champions League engagements.

But they are still two games short of second place Arrows and
they are well on course to retain their league title for the fourth
consecutive season.

Other DStv Premiership results
Arrows 1-1 Cape Town City; AmaZulu 2-0 Tshakhuma
Tsha Madzivhandila; Sundowns 1-1 Leopards; TS Galaxy 0-2

Maritzburg United; Baroka 1-1 Bloemfontein Celtic; Chippa
United 2-2 Swallows; Arrows 1-1 Cape Town City.

Picture source: @KaizerChiefs

Robert Sobukwe, the “Prof” who led
the Pass Law demonstrations
Jan Khumalo

             By the time Robert Sobukwe led a small protest
             march to the Orlando police station on 21 March
             1960, he had already acquired the nickname of
             “Prof” because of his achievements as an
academic. He was also known as a brilliant orator.

But by then he had already attracted the attention of the
apartheid government due to his support of the Defiance
Campaign in 1952 and many other actions in which he featured
prominently. By 1959 he had left the ANC and formed the PAC.

So when he deliberately presented his dompas to the police,
proving that he had broken the pass laws by being in an area

where he was not allowed to be, he was duly arrested and
detained.

At the same time, further south towards the Vaal, at a dusty
little police station in Sharpeville, one of the great tragedies of
the apartheid era was playing out.

Police opened fire, killing 69 people who had gathered to
protest against the pass laws. There were 249 casualties in total
including 29 children. Many of the injured were shot in the
back.

Sobukwe was sentenced to three years in prison for incitement
and was then sent to Robben Island. Through what was known
as the "Sobukwe Clause", the Minister of Justice arranged to
extend a prisoner’s term by six years without trial.

Sobukwe was a strong supporter of the Africanist view of
liberation in South Africa. He was opposed to working with
whites, and communists. He argued that whites should be
excluded from the ANC, which was heavily influenced by white
communists.

Released from prison in 1969, he spent the rest of his life under
house arrest in Kimberley, a town chosen for its remote

location, making it difficult for him to promote political
activities and a place where he could be monitored.

In 1977, he was hospitalised due to lung cancer but a request to
release him from restrictions due to ill-health was rejected. He
died in 1978 and was buried in the town of his birth, Graaff-
Reinet.

Photo source: Robert Sobukwe Trust - 21st March 1960