In honour of King Sobhuza II

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Swaziland celebrates the late His Majesty King Sobhuza II's  birthday with a holiday today. What better way to honour such a legend. This is a man who stood for everything that is right and was determined and succeeded to lead the country in the right direction until his death on 21 August 1982.
Any child growing up at the time of King Sobhuza II's death will remember how sombre the mood was in the country. All young and older, unmarried citizens were ordered to shave their hair and if you didn't, it was assumed that you would be called to order by the authorities that be. No one was really forced to follow the mourning tradition of shaving, but it had been announced over the radio and everyone simply obliged. It was the one thing that everyone felt they should do, in honour of such a great man and the young and old made their paces sporting shiny heads with pride.

While my mother saved my hair for a week or so after the late king's passing, it was my grand father who thought it fit to do the honours. It was customary for us to visit the old folks when schools close. I remember the old man pulled out his bench from behind the kitchen door and placed it under the mango trees that still dominate the yard. One by one, we were sat between his legs as he chopped our hair. I had really long hair, thanks to Hair Glo, so with each chop he made, a tear streamed down my ashen cheeks. I was too young to understand why my hair was being cut - well, today I'm sort of glad I experienced that. Call me weird!

Well, because my grand dad had done a miserly job marred with patches here and there, my mother ordered that his brother (mkhulu lomncane) drives us all to the Manzini market to get a clean shave. Still in our ashen state (damn, we used to play), my cousins, aunts, uncles and I (my grand dad is quite the polygamist so some of my uncles and aunts are my age and younger - don't judge!) hurriedly jumped on the back of the pale green Peugeot (read Pyuja) while my mother, two of my uncles and my 'grand dad' took the front seat. Yes, all four of them sat comfortably too. I don't remember if one of her sisters in law came with to, but well, even five adults would still sit comfortably in Mkhulu lomncane Ty's pyuja. 

Okay, okay, long story short. We got clean decent shaves emakethe under the big tree and when we were done, made our way back home.

Today being that kind of special day, many took to Twitter to spread their message of love to the late King Sobhuza II. This is what we found:






More Tweets keep pouring in as Swaziland celebrates one of it's greatest leaders. Bayethe wena waphakathi!

It would be great though if the country would celebrate this day more meaningfully like have various charity drives around the country. Just a thought!

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