Too much booze killing off Swazi chiefs

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Mbabane - Swazi chiefs are dying due to alcohol abuse, and many are involved in the illegal sale of land, Swaziland’s top traditional leader reported to King Mswati this week. “Chiefs are dying at a very tender age because they are drinking too much alcohol,” said Timothy Mtetwa at the swearing-in ceremony of new chiefs at Ngabezweni, one of Mswati’s many residences. As the powerful governor of Ludzidzini royal residence where Mswati’s mother resides, Mtetwa is Swaziland’s Traditional Prime Minister. Swaziland’s head of government, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, is a member of the royal family, but his appointment was vetted and approved by the king’s traditional counsellors. Mswati wanted to know why he had to keep replacing chiefs. Mtetwa reported that Swazi chiefs have a particular passion for dry gin and beer. “Worse, they drink on empty stomachs. Soon the alcohol destroys their livers and they die like flies,” Mtetwa reported to the king.

“As I speak to you, Your Majesty, a lot of chiefs have lost their lives due to reckless living, and you wonder who will look after these communities on your behalf,” Mtetwa said.

Swaziland has about 300 chiefs who are appointees of sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. They have absolute power over their subjects.

About 70 percent of Swazis live as peasants without ownership of their land in chieftaincies run by chiefs answerable to traditional authorities.

Swazi royalty retains its power by ensuring that the country’s masses do not have the independence that land ownership brings. Swazi chiefs ban their subjects from engaging in pro-democracy activities and have warned them that they will be expelled from the chieftaincies if they join political parties. In the midst of ongoing food shortages, Chief Dambuza Lukhele recently forbade his subjects from planting crops because they did not build a house for one of his three wives.

Swazi chiefs often illegally sell land in their chieftaincies. Because all Swazi nation land is considered the property of the king, Mtetwa warned that “this habit of calling the land your own must come to an end or you will pay a serious price”.

However, no chief has ever been disciplined for taking money in payment of Swazi land.

Mtetwa also accused chiefs of being undisciplined and disrespectful. “The problem is that they neglect their elders and listen to people who give them money. They even listen to Mozambicans,” he said.

Adrivas Mtindi, a Mozambican who gave a chief money for a plot of land near Manzini, said: “I know all about Swazi culture because it is the same everywhere in Africa. If you want something, you pay off a chief.”

The Star