When Lord MacMillan flew to Swaziland in 1960 to announce independence, which was celebrated yesterday, was coming within five years, he expected a Lelethu Ngema to jump up for a song and dance: “Freedom is Coming, TOMORROW, freedom is coming.”
But it was not so in Swaziland.
MacMillan then proceeded to Cape Town to make his winds of change speech, which was acclaimed throughout Africa, except for South African blacks for whom it was not intended. The announcement and prospect of independence was quickly embraced within the High Commission Territories of Basotholand, Bechuanaland and Swaziland (BBS). The BBS was a mythical federation of disparate countries that had nothing more in common than that Britain saw them as a regional family of its global polygamy.
Education and early missions
Education was not the strongest point of colonialism in Southern Africa. It was fobbed off as a chore of the NGOs, the churches at the fore. Education was late coming to Swaziland.
Ngwenyama Somhlolo, who was well travelled and spoke Sesotho, kept a close ear on developments in the kingdom. He was aware of the arrival of the Boers and how his peer, Moshoeshoe I, was solving the problem. Hoping to secure missionary interest, he sent his nephew Mnkonkoni Kunene into the Cape, eventually bringing back James Allison and Richard Giddy in 1844.
Yet, the Swati were already wary of missionaries, the Boers and the British — a triumvirate that often conspired in divide-and-rule schemes.
By 1881, King Mbhandzeni revived his grandfather’s vision of education and welcomed Father Joel Jackson, who established St. Christopher’s. Despite early setbacks, education gradually took root, though progress was slow.
A 1966 census revealed that only 30% of the population could read and write after nearly 90 years of schooling. Most Emaswati lived as subsistence farmers, with thousands working in South Africa.
The road to independence
As independence loomed, Britain proposed a joint university for the High Commission Territories, leading to the founding of the University of Basotholand, Bechuanaland and Swaziland in Lesotho. But political and cultural differences soon fractured the partnership, and Swaziland went its own way, building Kwaluseni campus.
When it came to governance, the British expected Eswatini to adopt a European-style multi-party democracy. King Sobhuza II and the Swazi Nation Council firmly resisted.
“That’s not us. That’s not how we do things here. We are not Europeans and have no interest in pretending we want to be,” Sobhuza asserted.
Despite Britain’s insistence, Sobhuza launched the Imbokodvo movement in 1964, which won the elections decisively. By the time independence was declared on September 6, 1968, Swaziland had already charted its own political path.
A sovereign vision
At age 69, King Sobhuza II addressed the international community at the United Nations, not in a suit but in the ceremonial regalia of a warrior general. His symbolic choice underscored his vision: independence would not mean mimicking European systems, but affirming Swazi traditions of governance.
The standard he set 57 years ago has stood the test of time, providing a stable foundation for modern Emaswati to continue to live in peace and relative prosperity.
