Appendix A: King Sobhuza II's Speech of April 1960
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Appendix A: King Sobhuza II’s Speech of April 1960 Your Honour and Gentlemen We are met here to consider and talk about what is happening in the world today. We have seen from reading newspapers and hearing radio reports that there is quite an unrest and a number of things happening around us. I am sorry that the day has proved unsuitable in that we find that the weather is inclement and that therefore the roads are not very nice to drive on; but I hope that is an omen of something good that may come from what we are trying to do here today. [Rain is an auspicious omen.] The unrest and many disturbances that I have mentioned just now alarm us and cause us to wonder where the world is leading to, and in particular Africa. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in his speech at Cape Town mentioned something to the effect that Africa is on the crossroads— they did not know which side they might have to choose of the two worlds, East or West; he was convinced that the only way to solve the problem would be by treating the African people in a humane way, and in a way that would so satisfy them that they would not join in the struggle that is at present taking place between the East and the West. But as we see the day to day events taking place we feel unhappy about what is happening in Africa, so much so that we cannot pride ourselves in Swaziland that we are not included in the struggles that are taking place elsewhere; nor can we © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), 349 under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 H. P. Dlamini, A Constitutional History of the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), 1960–1982, African Histories and Modernities, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24777-5 350 APPENDIX A: KING SOBHUZA II’S SPEECH OF APRIL 1960 say that we are better off in any way. I personally think that we are utterly in the midst of the trouble. There is no room for complacency. The most disturbing factor which I think is the source of all trouble in Africa is fear. If only we could get rid of that fear complex we would have solved all our problems. Let us consider what the source of fear is. Now let me explain it in this way—a human being is an animal like other animals; then in this analogy, consider what animals do when they are in fear, and I come to certain conclusions. I have observed that an animal such as a lion will kill a male cub when it is still young, kill it, because once it grows to maturity, it may be a danger to it. So is the case with a human being; it has also got that instinct, with this exception only—that a human being has got the power of thinking ahead on any proposition before him. One finds two types of human beings. There is one type that will bring up his children in such a way that they will become very cruel and unhuman because they have been brought up in a rough way at home, and another type of person will bring up his children in the spirit that they are his children, his responsibility and the future prop of his declining years. Even if he beats the child, he only does so in order to teach him or give him a training of some kind, and when he is grown, the child will say, ‘Oh how my father did beat me’; but the father will be in the position to say that ‘I wanted you to be a man and by my discipline, I have brought you to what you are now.’ And in his own private talks, the child will be able to tell his comrades and friends: ‘You know, I was brought up by my father, under hard discipline, but that was good for me and has made me what I am today.’ The other child who has been brought up in a brutal manner in a cruel way, when grown will try to do what was done to him by his father. We have come to the conclusion therefore that the difference between human beings and animals is that in the case of human beings where the child has been brought up in a reasonable, humane way, the child will develop to be a good citizen but when the child has been brought up in a brutal and unreasonable way, he may develop to be something unruly, difficult and a bad man generally. Next we come to consider what happens in the case of the treatment of races be they White or Black. Let us take for instance the case of Europeans and place them in the position of parents who have to bring up their child and we watch how they bring up the child. We find that what actually happens today is that the Europeans will so handle the African that they would not like to see him grow and try to be something to contend with. The treatment the African receives is such that it aims at keeping him just at APPENDIX A: KING SOBHUZA II’S SPEECH OF APRIL 1960 351 that level so that he does not achieve complete independence. In a way you could say that the European is defending himself, is protecting his interests. Can anyone tell me if it is a good state of affairs that the European must seek to protect his interest in this way? What will be the position if the White man acts thus? The African too will seek to do that at some stage. There are many ways of stifling the development of a person so that he does not grow or does not thrive. One way would be the elder man will not give full rights to the younger one. Another way is so to apply economic pressure that the African has no incentive to develop. In certain cases you will find that there are many obstructions that are in the way of the development of the younger man. Yet another way is to deny him a full and fundamental education that will enable him to stand on his own, as a man. All those are ways and means of trying to debar the progress of the junior man to develop to the stage where he compares with his senior. I read the other day something that was said by the leader of the Oppo- sition in the Union, Sir de Villiers Graaff, where he said that he did ‘not think that the people overseas who thought that there should be equality even in the economic world were genuine in what they said’. He thought that that would never obtain. He thought they merely meant that there should be equality in a shallow way because no African can hope to be on the same level with the European at the present moment. When I read the article, I wondered what Sir de Villiers really meant, what sort of equality was he referring to, that of stature, or what? I could hardly appreciate his idea, because as an African together with many others we are looking for fair play and justice only. All that the African people seek to achieve is to be able to face their own problems themselves rather than have things done for them by some other person. The type of equality and fair play that we are referring to is not such as to demand that even though someone has his own property here we will try to oust him from that property of his or show off in any way. All we need is fair play in every sphere of life, that’s all that we are asking for. Having read that article I felt I wasn’t at all convinced that Sir de Villiers had grasped what type of equality we are striving for. I thought of what’s happening up in North Africa. In casting my thoughts over this and wondering what actually it was that was worrying the whole of Africa, and looking around in my predicament, I read one article from a man in East Africa, in Kenya, who says: ‘No, we are not actually trying to deprive some other person of his own right, we want rights of our own.’ And another one came out from Nyasaland 352 APPENDIX A: KING SOBHUZA II’S SPEECH OF APRIL 1960 who says: ‘We are not out to fight against Europeans – we realize that we must live together with the Europeans.’ I said: ‘This is exactly what we have been thinking ourselves, because, when someone says “We don’t want Europeans here, we don’t want Europeans with us” I just wonder really if those people are saying so genuinely from the bottom of their hearts. Truly speaking, one wonders if there is anything at all in that type of talk.’ Personally I feel that no man with all his senses and a good citizen could ever think of depriving one of his own property and still remain complacent with somebody else’s property. People who try to do such things are those who have had ill-treatment like a child that has been ill-treated from its earlier stages, which usually thinks: ‘If one day I grow, I will pay back to this person.’ That type of person I am referring to now, is such as we have read about in papers who say: ‘Let the Europeans go back overseas’ and speak in an unreasonable way like that.