Background
Ingwenyama Sobhuza was born in Zombodze on 22 July 1899. He ascended to the throne after the death of his father, Ngwane V, as King of Swaziland on 10 December 1899, when he was only four months old.
Ingwenyama Sobhuza was born in Zombodze on 22 July 1899. He ascended to the throne after the death of his father, Ngwane V, as King of Swaziland on 10 December 1899, when he was only four months old.
He was educated at the Swazi National School, Zombodze, and at the Lovedale Institution in the Eastern Cape, South Africa before assuming the Swazi throne as paramount chief at the age of twenty-two. His grandmother, Labotsibeni Mdluli, served as regent throughout his youth, formally transferring power to the Ngwenyama on 22 December 1921.
Immediately after his accession he started legal proceedings to regain land ceded to Europeans under the Partitions Proclamation of 1907. He pursued his quest by leading a delegation to London in 1922. Despite an unsuccessful appeal to the Privy Council in London he persisted for 15 years with his claim and petitioned King George VI. He won concessions in a settlement scheme for European land to be purchased and reassigned to Swazis.
This campaign led him to launch the “Green Revolution”- a bold scheme for agricultural development. He is a keen advocate of bigger units with producer co-operatives and national farms. He has also promoted the extension of training schemes for farmers. In his speech to Parliament on June 2, 1972, he said. “Political and economic independence are inseparable Siamese twins.”
Racial harmony has been one of his basic objectives from the start of his reign. He has opposed any attempt to introduce segregation on the South African pattern. At each stage of his country’s development he has been cautious about pushing ahead too fast.
Thin, wiry and pragmatic King Sobhuza expressed his shrewd philosophy at the end of British colonial rule in this down-to-earth fashion: “As one of the last countries to achieve independence we have had the opportunity of learning from nations which have won their independence before us. We have watched them crossing rivers. In the exercise we have seen others being swallowed by crocodiles. Now that we have learnt from their mistakes, now that we have seen the crocodile-infested drifts, we shall try to cross through crocodile-free drifts to a peaceful independent Swaziland."
Racial harmony has been one of his basic objectives from the start of his reign. He has opposed any attempt to introduce segregation on the South African pattern. At each stage of his country’s development he has been cautious about pushing ahead too fast.
Thin, wiry and pragmatic King Sobhuza expressed his shrewd philosophy at the end of British colonial rule in this down-to-earth fashion: “As one of the last countries to achieve independence we have had the opportunity of learning from nations which have won their independence before us. We have watched them crossing rivers. In the exercise we have seen others being swallowed by crocodiles. Now that we have learnt from their mistakes, now that we have seen the crocodile-infested drifts, we shall try to cross through crocodile-free drifts to a peaceful independent Swaziland."
He had 70 wives.