By Zweli Martin Dlamini
Africa-Press – Eswatini. King Mswati must and, with immediate effect, stop some of his corrupt Chiefs from demanding fifty thousand Rands(R50,000.00) from poor emaSwati as “Inkhomo yekukhonta” as this defeats or undermines the constitutional right to access land.
The constitution suggests that, emaSwati can access land through “kukhonta” or inheritance.
I was born from the royal house of Prince Msimudze and as a result, my family was allocated huge land by the King.
As a result within my family, we never struggled with access to land and, I personally benefited through inheritance.
But this country does not belong to the royal family, all emaSwati must benefit from the land by following the constitutional requirements, the land is not an exclusive property of the royal family.
It should be noted that, the institution of the Monarchy is existing because the people has been supporting it and once the people conclude that, the Monarchy must fall, it will fall.
What is happening now, where some Chiefs are demanding huge amounts of money from poor citizens as “Inkhomo yeKukhonta” amounts to oppression and undermines the constitutional right to land.
Chiefs are the pillars of the Monarchy, they take decisions on behalf of King Mswati and indeed, the King cannot disassociates himself from this corruption unless he openly condemns and stop it.
But while some descendants of the royal family respects and appreciates the fact that, this country belongs to emaSwati not the Dlamini royal family, some Chiefs believe the poor must now pay huge amounts of money as “Inkhomo yekukhonta” and this money is referenced as “Inkhomo yeNkhosi”.
Access to land remains the foundation for other constitutional rights including the right to be treated with human dignity and therefore, without access to land, emaSwati will be homeless.
Under the democratic dispensation,this political madness of depriving emaSwati access to land through the demand of huge amounts of money must be stopped and, I don’t understand why some Chiefs found comfort in oppressing other emaSwati.
Personally,I am against the payment of R50,000.00 as “Inkhomo yekukhonta”, this amount is very huge and poor emaSwati cannot afford it.
But in conclusion, let me applaud some Chiefs who are allocating land fairly, all emaSwati regardless of gender, must enjoy access to land.
It is the King who must stop this corruption otherwise, we will conclude that, these corrupt Chiefs are collecting the money on his behalf.
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