25 July 1990

 

The Private Secretary

His Majesty Mswati III

Pondo State House

Mbabane

Swaziland

 

 

Dear Sir

 

Please convey the following message to His Majesty, Mswati III and urgently give me a message by facsimile as above.

 

1. My ageing mother, Emelinah Mgocozi Ndwande, of Nxambeni and Bulandzeni Chieftancy of Swaziland is lying dying in a Mbabane government hospital. She has expressed her burning desire to see me and her small grandchildren who are here abroad with me.
   
   
2. I was informed about her serious illness about seven weeks ago when attempts were made, through the High Commissioner here in London, to convey the matter to His Majesty the King, through the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We got a reply the following day from the Minister, Mr. Mamba, that the matter had indeed been conveyed to His Majesty who said he was going to report it to the Council. That was about five weeks ago before the Foreign Minister went to Botswana, Mozambique, Addis and now Egypt until, we are told, the 28^th July 1990.
   
   
3. I know of nowhere else in the world where the serious and death is taken so lightly. His Majesty is supposed to rule and reign over people. Unlike the soil and trees, people have feelings. They cry, weep, laugh, sing and dance. The King is there to cry, weep, laugh, sing and dance with the nation which is made up of individuals like me, my mother, her grandchildren and other relatives. It is therefore a bizarre absurdity that today His Majesty is still “reporting to the Council”, according to Mr. Mamba.
   
   
4. The crux of the matter is that while everyone can advise, it is His Majesty who, at the end of the day, is finally responsible now and throughout the pages of history. Should my mother die without seeing me and her grandchildren, I shall find it too disgraceful to even call myself a Swazi, let alone a member of the Swazi Royal Family. If the King is being advised otherwise, it is the type of advice that is either ignorant or is dancing on his political grave because even those who do not care two-pence for me, my mother and the future of the Swazi Monarchy, shall capitalize on this situation to the detriment of us all.
   
   
5. What I do need, as the longest political detainee in the country, is the letter of safe conduct. That is to say, a letter from either the King or the Prime Minister, categorically stating that to the best of their knowledge and intention, I shall not be detained without trial upon landing in Swaziland until my safe return to the United Kingdom, where I have been granted a stay until political normalization in Swaziland, where a state of emergency still exists – hence the law of detention without trial.
   
   
6. Secondly, because I was brought here by the Swaziland Government, I need an apology in the form of return tickets and cash. That shall be a clear indication to me that even if I do not return to stay for now, I shall always be welcome to return in the future. The twist in the tail that Mr Mamba was trying to suggest over the phone that it is me who must apologise and thereafter pack my bags and return to Swaziland is not only ridiculous and absurd but completely bizarre. Namely, that
7. the injured party is to blame.
   
   
8. Realising this, he then suggested that I had insulted time. I would like time to quote to His Majesty and the nation (Libandla) the exact and wherefore words of my insult. What I did tell him there and then on the phone was that I personally have no place and time for grudges and that if he shall handle matters of state according to the whims of his grudges, he does not deserve high office and that the office he was holding was therefore in dire straights.

 

We therefore pray for His Majesty’s heavenly peace. Let your children drink water again.

 

Dumisa