Book Review: The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (Contributions in Comparative Colonial Studies)

Blossom of Thought

Friends/comrades Saneliswa Magagula, Temazulu Zulu, and Sylvester Mhlangameet up with me for a book review on the history of Swaziland. The book under review is “The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (Contributions in Comparative Colonial Studies) authored by D. Hugh Gillis. The book entails Swaziland’s history from the 18th century to 1921 – before Sobhuza II ascends to power. Its focus is the Swazis’ contact and struggle with European colonizers, namely: the British and Boers. The book gives context to the current state of affairs in Swaziland relative to the power wielders – the monarch, culture, tradition and social milieu.

Highlights

· There is a deliberate ongoing effort to erase parts of Swazi culture that disparage the Dlamini royals, an attempt to protect their (Dlamini) dynasty and cement their standing as the custodians of Swazi culture who dictate what traditions persist.

· A study of this history will help Swazis understand how the monarchs’ erasure of culture and downplaying the role of non-Dlamini chiefdoms contributed to the present-day political landscape.

· The author traces the roots of Swaziland’s tinkhundlasystem of governance to the early 19th century, where a militant king Mswati II established royal villages that were entrusted to a brother, a wife, or loyal chief as a way to consolidate power.

The identity of the Swazi people historically was deep-rooted in rituals and mythology, which contributed to the prestige of Kings and authoritarian rule not being sufficiently challenged in the past.

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