Swaziland is currently in the midst of its sacred Incwala ceremony, which many believe is crucial for the welfare of the country. However, the celebrations have not been without controversy.
Variants of Incwala, a harvest festival, are celebrated by a number of ethnic groups in Southern Africa. The ceremonies typically begin in mid- to late December, and coincide with the reaping of the first crops that people have historically depended on for survival.
The pageants have a strong supernatural element, relying on ancestral spirits, magic and ritual for success.
”The emadloti [ancestral spirits] intercede on behalf of the living with the Almighty, whom we call umkhulumkhulu, ‘the greatest of the great’,” said Gogo Ndwandwe, a sangoma or traditional healer.
”The ancestors will see to it that good rains come, and that the king will be made ‘straight’ (protected and given wisdom),” she added. Swaziland is currently ruled by King Mswati III.
However, politics have found their way into Incwala — with supporters of pro-democracy groups tending to shun the event.
Vusi Thwala, a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress — the youth wing of a banned opposition party — says: ”The Incwala is a national cultural event, and we respect that. We are also Swazis.”
But, he adds: ”Right now, if you participate, the royalists look at it as a referendum on the monarchy, [as if] every participant supports the monarchical system of government. So, people who favour democracy don’t want to get involved, and they are shut out of an opportunity to celebrate what being a Swazi is all about.”
At present, all opposition parties are banned in the tiny Southern African country, which has been ruled by decree since 1973: the year that Mswati’s father — King Sobhuza II — repealed the 1968 Constitution.
Swaziland is the only country in Southern Africa that does not have an elected government. Activist groups like Human Rights Watch say civil society in the kingdom is tightly controlled — and they have expressed concern about interference in Swaziland’s judiciary.
This week, the Ministry of Education also decreed on the day before the opening of schools that children should stay home for another week, so that boys participating in the Incwala could finish their duties.
The decisions raised objections in the local media. Only about 200 boys are participating in ceremonial activities being held near the capital, Mbabane, and at the Engabezweni royal residence. But, hundreds of thousands of school children had their academic year disrupted.
The king’s older brother, Prince Sobandla Dlamini, sees the Incwala in a cultural rather than political context.
”This is the high point of the year, when Swazis show our pride in who we are,” he told a group of foreign visitors.
Although the Incwala is a magnet for tourists, its starting date cannot be announced in advance, as palace priests determine this from observing the first moon to follow the summer solstice.
The current pageant began just more than a month ago, when the king sent a party of priests on a trek to the Indian Ocean to collect sea water and sacred herbs used in the ceremony. It will culminate in the Big Incwala, a national holiday. At the climax of the pageant, the king also blesses the first fruits of the year’s harvest.
”As crucial as these rituals are to our national identity, they are little understood by outsiders, and scant literature exists about them,” said Mfanakhona Ndzibele, a scholar of Swazi culture at the University of Swaziland.
While certain Incwala ceremonies elsewhere in the region languished under colonialism, this was not the case for Swaziland. Impressed by the Swazis’ retention of the ritual, South Africa’s Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini has reintroduced the Incwala in his own community.
”Right now, these are fun events well-attended by tourists visiting KwaZulu-Natal,” says tour guide Charles Mngomezulu, who is based in the South African port city of Durban.
”But it will take some time for people to take them seriously as sacred pageants. I worry that we have lost that reverence.” — IPS