It was joy, pride, and ecstasy this weekend when His Majesty, the King, officially installed iNkosi Mzitshwa Memela of the Memela/Sizanani Traditional Community on 23 May 2015, at eNtekaneni, Ward 5, Ingwe Municipality, within the Harry Gwala House of Traditional Leaders.
Thousands of community members of gathered together to see ISilo samaBandla Goodwill Zwelithini officially installing iNkosi Memela. His Majesty was accompanied by the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Honorable, Mr. Cyril Xaba, MPL who was standing in for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Honorable, Ms. Nomusa-Dube- Ncube, MPL.
In his speech, IMbube made an impassioned plea to the community to not deface and/or paint over the statues of past leaders during the dark days of apartheid system, uBayede, argued that such statues are part of our history and therefore they must be kept somewhere safe. Adding that, they remind us of where we come from.
“Destroying statues means that our history will vanish””. His Majesty the King also warned the youth to stay away from using drugs and alcohol. He continued urging the community to be proud of their culture because culture unifies people, and that culture does not go along with being lazy, people must stand up and do cultural craft work like bead work, carving izinqoko (traditional tray) etc as means of putting food on the table.
