In a quiet, yet graphic way, the photograph of King Goodwill Zwelithini in the Mercury on March 31 expresses the reality of our colonial legacy.
In a manner which Queen Victoria would have endorsed, King Goodwill was shown using a ceremonial sword and tapping his kinsman gently on the right shoulder to mark the installation of Inkosi Senzeshle Dlamini.
According to the report, the ceremony was attended by 3,000 community members along with political dignitaries. Nobody objected to the King’s use of what is a very British and colonial custom, the ceremonial sword.
As such, that occasion proves how legacies unobtrusively have pervaded and, indeed, enriched our lives. The Decolonisers and their ilk should take note.
Sent into The Mercury and published, 3 April 2017.
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