Sir George Mamba

Sir George Mamba

Swaziland High Commissioner

London

 

26th August 1987

 

 

 

Dear Sir

 

RE: MY INPOCKET EXPENSES AND MY RETURN TO SWAZILAND


I refer to the above matter which was well documented to you and the Prime Minister Mr. Sotja Dlamini on the 27th July 1987.

 

Close to a month today no response to the questions raised is forthcoming. When I met you by sheer coincidence in Paddington on Sunday 23rd August 1987 you gave me the impression that you were completely innocent (which may be true) and that you had done absolutely nothing official to contact the Swaziland Government or King Mswati (which is an abdication of responsibility).

 

You also indicated that Prime Minister also regarded himself as innocent (which may be true only in the criminal sense of not having sent me out of the country himself) but not in the public office sense. For if government officials around the world put right only those omissions in which they were directly responsible in the narrow “criminal” sense, the world would be in chaos. Both your offices were used and directly involved yet you regard yourselves so “innocent” that you do not want even to raise a voice or lift a pen to seek directions from your superiors i.e., the King. You are the King’s Counsellor and a Senator, who then advises the young King on matters of government and external affairs if both of you do not want to get your feet wet? Who advises the King when it comes to compensating policemen e.g. the Prime Minister and civil servants e.g. yourself? Our lesson here is that you and the Prime Minister are prepared to see the Swaziland Royal Family dragged into the mud so long as your own skins are safe. What you both do not understand is that.

 

1)      Guilt by omission carries the same weight as guilt by perpetration of the evil itself.

2)      Subsequently, so long as we have no written evidence of action on your part, you are as guilty as “the Gang of Four” and all their lackeys including Prince Bhekimpi.

 

I understand you have just returned from Swaziland to bury your brother. My female father (Aunt) Princess Lomusa died and I could not go and bury her. My sister Princess Duduzile who cooked for me died and I could not bury her. Several of my blood relatives, princes and princesses, have since died and I could not bury them. What have I done except tried to help the Swazi Nation all my life, including before independence?

 

These are the questions Sir Mamba which men of justice, if you consider yourself to be one, have got to answer. You mentioned money being too much, according to the Prime Minister. It is not just money involved; it is the principle of justice. If I was paid even half that sum and given a clear and unequivocal letter of safe conduct, that would be sufficient for me to go and bury my dead without fear as a citizen, like you. I have business projects like I told you, and in my letter to King Mswati in May. To date I have had no answer. Until I heard you speak to the Prime Minister I did not know that this was your Government’s frame of mind, which obviously influenced the King through “advice.”

 

If this is the type of “advice” you are to dish out to our young King, you might as well pack your little bags and go. What hurts most is that you are the person I trusted most and briefed to the full. You cannot say you did not know that my being sent out here was wrong and unpleasant in many respects, including you’re the Government’s refusal to pay my bill at the London Metropole which caused Mr. Rowland to impound my belongings at the instruction of Mr. George Msibi who was then staying at the Metropole each time he visited London. For two months I was wearing one suit.

 

The specific questions I want answers to are:

 

  1. How much is the Swaziland Government prepared to pay in compensation to injury to myself and my family? My mother is old and sickly and can die at any time. My children back in Swaziland are sick and in need of school fees and support. My blood relatives have died and I have not been able to bury them. This part, as you know Swazi law and custom, cannot be bought by any amount of money.

  2. In the vent, is the Swaziland Government prepared to issue the letter of safe conduct since it is impossible from to return to Swaziland without it? In other words, am I going to be allowed to bury my dead and loom after my family? My mother does not to die without seeing her granddaughter of 2 years, now in London.

  3. What to you is the meaning and implication of a Diplomatic Passport when issued to a Prince living abroad, and what steps has your Government taken to ensure my wellbeing and security? And if I were to die, would my wife have the right to go and bury me in Jamaica or would you have the first claim on my body on behalf of the Swaziland Government? If so, on what grounds? You see, Sir Mamba, this is not the world where you react to “sunshine conveniences.” You remain bound by principles and responsibilities as well.

  4. Am I permanently exiled, and if so, for what good reasons?

 

If you not reply (Prime Minister Sotja Dlamini did not reply to my letter of 26th January 1987) do not be surprised three weeks from now.

 

Yours Faithfully,

 

 

Dumisa Dlamini