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Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named in English as Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south and southeast. At no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
The Union of South Africa was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, the Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly a part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.
Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age have been found in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Prehistoric rock art paintings date from c. 25,000 B.C. and continuing up to the 19th century can be found in various places around the country. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. Later, the population became predominantly Nguni during and after the great Bantu migrations. People speaking languages ancestral to the current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the 11th century. The country now derives its name from a later king named Mswati II. Ngwane, named for Ngwane III, is an alternative name for Swaziland the surname of whose royal house remains Nkhosi Dlamini. Nkhosi literally means "king". Mswati II was the greatest of the fighting kings of Eswatini, and he greatly extended the area of the country to twice its current size. The people of Eswatini largely belong to a number of clans that can be categorized as Emakhandzambili, Bemdzabu, and Emafikamuva, depending on when and how they settled in Eswatini.
Mswati III is the king of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family. He was born in Manzini in the Protectorate of Swaziland to King Sobhuza II and one of his younger wives, Ntfombi Tfwala. He was crowned as Mswati III, Ingwenyama and King of Swaziland, on 25 April 1986 at the age of 18, thus becoming the youngest ruling monarch in the world at that time. Together with his mother, Ntfombi Tfwala, now Queen Mother (Ndlovukati), he rules the country as an absolute monarch. Mswati III is known for his practice of polygamy and currently has 15 wives.
Sobhuza II, KBE was the Paramount Chief and later Ngwenyama of Swaziland for 82 years and 254 days, the longest verifiable reign of any monarch in recorded history. Sobhuza was born on 22 July 1899 at Zombodze Royal Residence, the son of Inkhosikati Lomawa Ndwandwe and King Ngwane V. When he was only four months old, his father died suddenly while dancing incwala. Sobhuza was chosen king soon after that and his grandmother Labotsibeni and his uncle Prince Malunge led the Swazi nation until his maturity in 1921. Sobhuza led Swaziland through independence until his death in 1982. He was succeeded by Mswati III, his young son with Inkhosikati Ntfombi Tfwala, who was crowned in 1986.
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A referendum on repealing the constitution was held in Swaziland on 19 January 1964. It had been called by King Sobhuza II following the imposition of a constitution by the British colonial authorities in 1963, which he opposed due to its democratic aspects and the weakening of his position. The constitution had been imposed on the colony due to the failure of the Swaziland National Council and the European Advisory Council to agree on one.
General elections were held in Swaziland between 16 and 17 May 1972. The result was a third successive victory for the royalist Imbokodvo National Movement, which won 78% of the vote and 21 of the 24 seats, based on a voter turnout of 74.0%. The Ngwane National Liberatory Congress won three seats, but five days after the election one of its successful candidates was served with a deportation order as an "undesirable alien". Although he subsequently won a High Court ruling against the order, in November the parliament created a tribunal through which his citizenship was revoked. The Appeal Court declared the act unconstitutional, and on 12 April 1973 the parliament passed a motion that "called on the king to devise ways and means of dealing with the crisis". The result was that King Sobhuza II suspended the constitution, dismissed Parliament, banned all political parties and became an absolute monarch.
General elections were held in Swaziland on 27 October 1978. The elections was held using the Tinkhundla system, in which voters elected 80 members to an electoral college, who then selected 40 non-party candidates for the Parliament, whilst the King appointed a further ten. The new system strengthened the position of the country's traditionalists.
General elections were held in Swaziland on 20 September 2013.
laNgolotsheni (Lomawa) Ndwandwe was the Ndlovukati of Swaziland, the wife of King Ngwane V, and the mother of King Sobhuza II.
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References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Potholm, Christian P. (April 27, 1972). Swaziland: The Dynamics of Political Modernization. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520022003 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "EISA Swaziland: The 1964 election". www.eisa.org.za.
- ↑ Education, United States Directorate for Armed Forces Information and (April 27, 1967). "Swaziland". U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
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