MAXWELL DLAMINI WAS MY PRE-SCHOOL TEACHER… IN FACT, HE BREASTFED ME!

A response to a retired “comrade”

I have been wrong. I have not given myself enough time and space to acknowledge the role played by some people in my life, especially during my darkest hours. Many people do not know that Maxwell Dlamini, despite him being younger than me, was my pre-school teacher. He literally taught me how to read and write, and I have him to thank for teaching me all about the nine planets, from Mercury to Pluto. By the time I got to university, he was there to welcome me and teach me all about the ins and outs of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) – as it was called then. In fact, though he was enrolled on a Bachelor or Commerce degree at the University of Swaziland, he wrote all my Law exam papers and assignments – despite zero knowledge of the law programme! I have so much to thank him for.

When my mother was in labour, Maxwell, believe it or not, was there to help her deliver me without any complications! I came first in my potty-training class all because I had a mentor; Maxwell himself! Is this not amazing?

Is the above narration too good to be true? Is it ridiculous? Is it unbelievable? If it is unbelievable, why is it that some people believed the ramblings that Maxwell published on Saturday 14 July 2018 on Facebook as well as a PDF version he was pushing through WhatsApp? He deleted the Facebook post a few hours after publication, mainly because many people could easily see through his fictitious stories presented as facts, and also because some of the people who know the facts were able to easily point out the lies.

I am not in the business of writing people out of history. As such, in order to counter the attempt to write many people out of history, particularly on issues where I feature, I am forced to respond to Maxwell’s article titled “STOP IT PIUS VILAKATI”. My conscience does not allow me to sit silently as the practical solidarity I received over the years from many individuals and groups is deliberately concealed and in some instances distorted. Therefore, this article has nothing to do with clearing my name, but has everything to do with clarifying the course of history and, most importantly, publicly acknowledging the people who gave me solidarity during my darkest hours, the people whom Maxwell is attempting to erase from history, either by spreading blatant lies or by distortion.

Dear Maxwell, sir, lie if you must, definitely go on and lie if your life depends on your lies, but surely there is a limit!

I had to allow Maxwell’s article to enjoy the bright shining sun for some time without any response from me, however, mainly because of my wish for people to thoroughly read his article and make their independent conclusions about it (and about me) before they could consider any response from me.

Below I lead each issue with a quote from his original article so that the discussion is easy to follow, but also for the benefit of those who may have not seen his embarrassing article.

1.    “I have further been elected Secretary General of SWAYOCO”

After colourfully painting his “revolutionary journey”, Maxwell concludes it by telling us that he was elected Secretary General of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), the youth wing of PUDEMO (People’s United Democratic Movement). After doing all this painting, he probably forgot the following historical facts:

(a)  That he was elected in the year 2012;

(b)  That the term for the post to which he had been elected officially expired two years later in 2014;

(c)  That, constitutionally, he and his NEC should have vacated office in the year 2014;

(d)  That they continued to hold onto power and never convened a national congress so that a new leadership could be elected;

(e)  That despite calls by SWAYOCO membership for him and the rest of his colleagues to convene a congress, they refused to do so, and SWAYOCO disintegrated due to this refusal and a generally inactive SWAYOCO;

(f)   That six years since he was elected Secretary General, at the time of his anti-Pius rant, SWAYOCO had not convened a national congress; and

(g)  That the future of SWAYOCO remained uncertain because of such refusal and/or failure to convene congress.

2.    “I have known Pius Rinto Vilakati since 2007 during the semesterization struggle. He was a Hip Hop and used to wear torn denim jeans with an afro as well”

Somehow Maxwell believes that my activism began when that semesterisation saga began in 2007. It would therefore displease him to know that already in 2006 some of my classmates and I were among other leading students in the fight against the Ministry of Education’s “high priority - low priority” policy, a precursor to the Scholarship Policy which we fought against in 2010. As students who were new to the LLB Degree programme, having transferred from the Diploma in Law programme on the same academic year in 2006, we fell on the “low priority” category and were not eligible for scholarship, according to the government. We fought against the ministry and won! Surely this displeases Maxwell, for he was not there to “guide me”, as he claims later on in his article. Oh, where were you Lord Maxwell to show me the way?!

Linked to the above is the fact that it was during those 2006 struggles against the government that I met Wandile Dludlu, who was Kwaluseni campus chairperson at that time. It was Wandile’s uncompromising spirit at that time that inspired us to fight on for our right to education. Wandile went on to make it clear that the students’ class boycott and protest would not stop until each and every student had received scholarship. He is also famous for calling for the Minister of Education, Constance Simelane, to resign. This definitely inspired students. This is exactly what students needed; an uncompromising mood and utmost bias towards students’ interests! Maxwell would have admonished Wandile if he had been there, and would have called him an extremist and anarchist, the words he later places upon my head for similar actions.

It was also at this time that other student activists like Musa Ngubeni came to the front – or were born – and would henceforth live a life of political activism along with their studies. Maxwell has decided to shut them out and forget about these activists. Maxwell was not even there by then, yet, somehow, he is the creator of Pius and his activism!

Pius “was a Hip Hop”? Perhaps Maxwell meant to say I was a hip hop artist or rapper, not a hip hop, the music genre. Nonetheless, all that aside, he is not the first “comrade” to ever publicly mention that I was a rapper with the belief that it is an insult to me. It is not. In fact, if he cares to know, I am still a rapper. My music is also available online for free downloading. He should just download the music and enjoy himself freely!

I actually miss my life of torn jeans (well, I called them patched jeans, but of course they would often look torn). They were custom designed and made for me by Chenx, a genius fashion designer in Swaziland. I still have a jacket he made for me around 2008 or 2009. If it interests Maxwell, or any of his groupies, I have always put faith in local designers and innovators. This is why, instead of buying Levi’s and Guess jeans, I invested in local art. This is the future I wish for a democratic Swaziland. But I do not understand how this point was relevant for Maxwell to include it. It is just jeans goddamn it!

I had an afro? The man clearly does not know me. By the time he knew me I had no such. A small point this is, but I must make to clear up distortions.

3.    “I took him in to my house and stayed with him for the duration of the year”

I have always been poor, that I must confess. So many times, I relied on the solidarity of other people to survive. But this need for solidarity was at its highest from 2009 to 2010. This was the most stressful era of my university life. I just did not know that many years later someone would dance on my misfortunes and attempt to use them to make petty political gains.

Nonetheless, despite the high emotions that characterise this period, we must place the truth on the table. Before I even knew that Maxwell was renting a one rom flat just outside university campus, I received practical solidarity from some of my former classmates. It is these people who took me in, gave me food and water for a greater part of 2009. Of course, I also got assistance from my family.

But Maxwell will not tell this to the people. He wants the world to focus on the contribution he made and forget about that of the rest. He then wishes the world to believe that it was him, and only him, who housed me when in fact I took refuge in many other friends’ rented rooms. Additionally, I only started squatting in Maxwell’s room in very late in 2009. Well, I do not really know whether it was only Maxwell who paid rent, because he had a roommate, another student activist.

Maxwell somehow forgets even to acknowledge his roommate for also allowing me to sometimes spend the night in their room. For Maxwell, his roommate does not exist. He simply beats his chest and proclaims, “I took him in to my house and stayed with him for the duration of the year”. Such narcissism!

Maxwell also neglects to mention the other people who brought us food whilst I stayed in their room, easing the financial burden we were all in. Not Maxwell! He did everything! Omnipotent Maxwell!

4.    “He and some group of students organised themselves into a group called “CHOIR” and at some time wanted to stage a coup by dethroning the elected SRC leadership as led by Mancoba Mabuza and some of us were quick to rise up and defend the properly elected SRC of that time.”

Maxwell is now distancing himself from the “Choir”. This is interesting, and certainly good for history to record it from the man’s own writing. Let history never forget this confession.

Nonetheless, in this statement, Maxwell refers to the year 2007 during the semesterisation saga, the longest class boycott UNISWA had ever seen since the early 1990s. The “Choir” he is referring to was a group of students (a group of few students – about ten), of which I am still proud to have been a member, who stood firm in their conviction against the UNISWA administration’s imposition of a new system. We were among the most vocal students that year and due to this we found ourselves discussing a lot among ourselves – some argue that we were the unelected leadership, partly because when the SRC members started to shiver and vacillate, we took charge of the situation and even convened informal student body meetings which always got support from the majority of students. It was therefore a spontaneously formed group.

But with time we became a distinct and highly influential group. So powerful we were that at some point we were even more influential than even the SRC. In so many instances the SRC had to consult with us when a meeting had to be held and what was to be discussed. Indeed, we wielded so much power.  

But let it be known that, contrary to Maxwell’s claims, we were not really exclusively the Choir. All students were the Choir, even Mancoba Mabusa who was campus chairperson at that time. Maxwell must come to us so that we school him ton how this name “Choir” came about. He will also be taught how the phrase “Choir nawe” (literally meaning, “You are also a part of the Choir”) emerged. All the students of that time were members of the “Choir”. It is for this reason that I would, in all student body meetings, begin my address by proclaiming “Choir” over and over again, and the students would reciprocate the slogan. It is also for this reason that, from that era, students started greeting each other by saying “Choir yam” (My Choir). Sadly, Maxwell was not part of this wonderful movement! He has already confessed!

Nonetheless, we must separate fact from fiction. Indeed the tiny group which Maxwell refers to as the “Choir” was a very radical group. That is the truth. Guilty as charged! We never compromised on principles. Hence when we realised that most of the SRC members were now literally working against the students’ cause, we were clear that they no longer represented students’ interests. There was no way they could claim to represent us when they were practically working to sabotage students’ resolutions taken at the Multi-Purpose Hall. And we could not merely sit by and pretend that this was not happening.

Whilst Maxwell claims we wanted to remove the SRC, it must be clarified that actually Mancoba Mabuza was among the tiny minority of SRC members who always abided by students’ resolutions. This is why, in the meeting in which the SRC was lambasted by students, Mancoba was among the few who were praised for standing by the interests of students – along with Mbuso and Percy. Maxwell has forgotten this fact. He even forgets that he never stood up to “defend” the SRC! But more on this below.

Unfortunately, that meeting, like many others during this period, was illegal in terms of UNISWA regulations (In fact, if we had limited ourselves to legal meetings, like Maxwell is advising the oppressed people of Swaziland to do, we would never have recorded even a single victory during the course of that struggle.) As such, our vote of no confidence on the SRC could only be symbolical. It worked to send a strong message to the SRC that they had to choose whether they were with the students or on the university administration’s side. And they lived another day.

At some point during the academic year, however, we (the “Choir” – that is, the nucleus) did not agree with Mancoba. He seemed to suggest that the class boycott must end, whilst we wanted to continue marching strong. We were also of the strong view that he was imposing his own decisions on the rest of the students, the exact reason we were fighting against the university administration! Tempers flared at the MPH (multi-purpose hall) as we, for the first time since the action started, publicly differed with Mancoba. But this state of affairs was not a healthy one, partly because some of us within that “Choir” were already members of PUDEMO, though Maxwell did not know this fact.

Maxwell must take the phone and call Wandile Dluldlu and Mancoba Mabuza so that they can tell him how the disagreements between us (that is, I and the other two comrades I will not mention here – though Maxwell knows them), on the one hand, and Mancoba, on the other, were managed so that we could reach a common ground and set aside our differences – since we were all members of PUDEMO. At that time, the three of us (“Choir” members) were not even in the SRC. Maxwell must then ask himself how it was possible for Wandile to engage the three of us together with Mancoba if we (the three) were not already members of PUDEMO, as he claims in one section of his article.

Maxwell then goes on to claim that he was among some of the students who “were quick to rise up and defend the properly elected SRC of that time.” Oh what a liar! That “vote of no confidence” was not opposed! I remember that I eve kicked away all the chairs that had been lined for the SRC and declared that we no longer have the SRC. The members of the SRC were not even there when we did all this! And Maxwell never even lifted a finger in defence of the SRC.

Like I pointed out above, the fact of the matter is that Mancoba was never voted out of his position. In fact it was made clear that when we elect a new SRC he would retain his position. But then Maxwell will not be outdone. He has had no choice but to show his creative juices by recreating history and distorting it in the process!

5.    “I campaigned for him to be President of the SRC”

I was elected SRC President in 2009. Maxwell has somehow forgotten that in 2008 I was elected SRC Kwaluseni campus secretary where Musa Ngubeni was the chairperson. He will not mention this, of course, because he never contributed anything to my campaign. He will not mention it, of course, because our campaign during that year prepared us for the next year’s campaign when I was going for the presidency – and as such, Maxwell got learned from us on how to run a campaign.

It would have been better for Maxwell to state the truth that he was part of other comrades who campaigned for me and the other members of my team during SRC elections in 2009. He must drop the “I” and remember that he was with a team. Even in this instance he did not play a major role! Our experience during the previous academic year’s gruesome election campaign had taught us a lot. Indeed we could not have won the elections without the contribution of many other friends and comrades, Maxwell included.

6.    “I was the chairperson of the underground structure of the movement…”

Oh! If ever Maxwell were a chairperson of some underground structure, then it means I was not part of that structure. The nature of our respective recruitment into PUDEMO, in fact, prohibited such a “unified” underground structure. It simply could never have happened that he and I could be in the same underground structure of the Movement. This only exists in Maxwell’s brain, not in reality. In any event, who in their right state of mind ever reveals underground structures to the public? Only those who are extremely desperate to expose critical information to the oppressive regime!

Underground structures of the movement are never, and should never, be publicly mentioned, especially now during the intensification of the struggle against the tinkhundla regime. The names of members of such underground structures should not even be mentioned. This is one of the basic rules Maxwell has violated in his article. He has put the lives of any suspected members of structures at risk and has also alerted the regime that there possibly exists at the university some underground structures of a banned movement. His narcissism risks the life of the entire movement!

7.    “I was responsible for inducting him into the SNUS as well as to tell him about the good news of PUDEMO and SWAYOCO”

Before there was Maxwell Dlamini, there already was a SNUS branch at the Kwaluseni campus. Leading members in 2007 included Sonkhe Dube (now SWAYOCO president), among others. But before these comrades, there was Wandile Dludlu. Already I knew about SNUS through Cde Wandile, before there was ever a Maxwell Dlamini who thought he was a super revolutionary by wearing a Mario Masuku T-shirt!

8.    “I used to write speeches for him while still President of the SRC… I introduced him to SNUS as SRC president and into the work of the organisation”

If anyone has ever seen Maxwell’s writings and compared them with mine, they would know that there is just no way I ever could rely on Maxwell for my speeches. In any event, throughout my SRC days, I never ever relied on written speeches to address students. Lies sometimes forget to dress themselves properly! Look at this now!

9.    “[Pius] left the country before he can formally join PUDEMO and participate in the activities of the organisation”

These lies have already been dealt with above. PUDEMO leadership would never have directed me to exit Swaziland if I was not a member, in any event.

10. “When he was suspended, I took his own fight to the SRC and administration and engaged Lawyer Thulani Maseko to take his matter to court. He was finally reinstated into the university to write his exams.”

There was a time in 2010 when the university administration barred me from the university after a long disciplinary case against me. Maxwell, yet again, wants to be the starring. No one, except him, ever played a role in my life. Let us correct this revision of history.

When the summons were delivered to me by the university lawyer (Sabela Dlamini, if I recall correctly), whom I met at the shop next to the university, the first person I saw was Velaphi Mamba, already a former university student by that time. He is the one who helped me first reach lawyer Leo Gama (the late), who was too busy at that time. Again, he is the one who helped me connect with lawyer Thulani Maseko. But Maxwell throws himself into the fray with lies! Of course, Maxwell was among the few who accompanied me to court on the following days until the interdict against me was confirmed.

11. “He had indeed elements of opportunism, anarchism, lack of patience and tendencies of undermining duly elected leadership.”

As evidence of these “elements”, Maxwell claims that during Sipho Jele’s funeral, I “forcefully went to speak on behalf of SNUS even though the leadership of SNUS as led by Bheki Khumalo and Thabo Dlamini was present and ready to speak on behalf of the organisation.” He forgets that when I went to the podium to speak I was actually sitting next to him. We discussed together who would speak between him and me. In fact, student representatives should have spoken before SWAYOCO, but they did not because none was ready.

Maxwell should also tell the leadership of SNUS at that time that he, as SNUS national organiser that year, contemplated speaking on behalf of SNUS – as he had done in many other forums – despite the presence of the SNUS Secretary General at the memorial service. But then this is Maxwell, the master of distortions!

But I have no regrets for taking the podium that day; at the memorial service in Manzini and at the night vigil in Ncabaneni. By that time, I had become sick and tired of the SNUS leadership, which was constantly unavailable for activism work, I had already made by unhappiness clear to a lot of comrades and had made my intentions known that if that vacuum continued, I would take over! That I was clear about through and through. I was also unhappy with the lack of activist language from SNUS leaders. The language was often very lukewarm, conciliatory and lacking any agitative feel. My informal “take-over” is thus not regretted at all. Where there is a vacuum, nature will find ways of closing it. There was a vacuum, and I am happy to have been at the opportune moments to close it and avoid an embarrassment for the student movement. Glory to the revolution!

12.  “[Pius] declared himself Commander in Chief of Umbane””

I have been made to believe that there are videos that were taken during that memorial service. I am one hundred percent sure that nowhere in my speech did I ever proclaim or even suggest that I was the Commander in Chief of Umbane or any other military wing. But I will confess that indeed I did proclaim “Shisa Mbane, shisa!” repeatedly! Of that I am absolutely guilty! And I was the only one to proclaim and uphold all the organisations that had been expressly listed as terrorist entities under the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008. None of the leaders that day did that! And, Maxwell’s colleagues at SNUS, I dare say, would never have pronounced all those proscribed organisations (PUDEMO, SWAYOCO, SSN, Umbane). He also would never have done that if he had taken the podium!

13.  “[Pius] threatened to burn police houses, police stations and the country for murdering comrade Sipho Jele.”

Maxwell is now praising me too much! I cannot carry this glory! I am not worthy! Although I must agree that I indeed called for the attack of the police in retaliation for the murder of Comrade Sipho Jele, he is taking it too far. Somehow, Maxwell forgets what everyone who was there remembers; that I referred to Mswati as “Herod”. None of the speakers in that memorial service ever touched Mswati’s dignity. But I was not scared to drag him all over the place! Maxwell somehow forgets this fact.

And, why is Maxwell even raising the issue that I issued threats to the police? Dear Maxwell, are you feeling sorry for the police? Do you wish to see them protected from the “wrath” of Pius? What a shame! I hope they give you a warm hug for upholding their “law and order” principle!

But before the memorial even started, Maxwell forgets something crucial. He has ignored the contribution of Comrade Mpumi Magagula who placed notices, which I had drafted, all over the Kwaluseni campus of the university. The notices were about the memorial service. He ignores the act of that brave young woman! He wants to write her out of history. What a shame! I, however, cannot simply ignore her brave acts. I cannot ignore the fact that she placed her own life and education at risk for posting all those “terrorist” notices.

14.  “In fact we helped him to escape knowing that he was asthmatic and would not survive police interrogation and torture.”

Maxwell finds himself compelled to state that I was asthmatic. He has to do this in order to “prove” that I was weak. What a gross shame. But he is not the first one to pull out the “asthma card” in an attempt to drag me on the tarmac. A few other comrades have done this in the past. He has learned from them very well.

In any event, why would I not survive the interrogation and torture [because of the asthma]? Maxwell deliberately forgets our abduction by the police on 10 February 2010. He was among the four of us who were abducted that day in Manzini City. I survived that dat. When the police singled me out and took me from Manzini to Bhunya police station for the whole day, I survived all that – yes, fully packed with a very bad case of asthma.

Amazingly, Maxwell has since abandoned the revolution notwithstanding that he does not have asthma, and I am still on the course – still majestically carrying my asthma pump through it all. Additionally, he does not want to mention that Comrade Musa Ngubeni stood outside the Manzini Police Regional Headquarters almost the whole day, waiting to see if I am released by the police that evening.

And he continues with the annoying part of him even here. He forgets the heroism of the other two comrades, one of whom was his own roommate (Thembela) and Sipho, who were also abducted by the royal police and then dumped many kilometres away from the city. No, Maxwell will not mention their bravery, lest they take the struggle limelight away from him. He feels best when he is the lone starring – and the rest of the “victims” waiting on the other side for his messiahship!

Yes, Maxwell was there to assist when I escaped from Swaziland on Sunday 16 May 2010. I would not have revealed this to the public, and in the process expose him, but then he has already done that all by himself in an effort to upgrade his struggle credential with lies. The narcissistic thing he does, as predicted, is that he forgets that he was in fact more of an errand boy at that time. He was directed by another senior comrade. He also forgets the important roles played by his 2011 cellmate Comrade Musa Ngubeni. Vintage Maxwell! He will hoist himself up in the air and start singing his own praises and pretend he has forgotten the roles played by other people. I will not even ask how it is that he was acquitted by the court yet Ngubeni was convicted for the same crime on the same evidence. I will not touch that.

But let me concede one thing about the interrogation and torture that Maxwell claims I was not going to survive. I should not act like a war hero here, and neither should I act like a terminator. Throughout my activism in Swaziland, I never wanted to be tortured. Definitely I am scared of torture. If torture ever finds me anywhere, I will endure it as and when it comes, though I am hoping that when it comes, I will have prepared myself well enough to withstand it. Therefore, I must be clear that I try as best as possible to avoid capture and torture, though I have never compromised my principles merely because I want to avoid torture. I have never compromised my views, any time, anywhere. This is what angers Maxwell to the point of presenting me as an extremist – he respects tinkhundla leaders very much, unlike we “extremists”!

He adds more lies, claiming, “I was instrumental in masterminding his own escape when police were all over that place wanting to arrest him…” He also claims, “in fact it was me that told him to carry the coffin of the late comrade and stay with it in the hearse as a way to stop police from arresting him in that church.” There! “I”, “it was me”, “I was instrumental”! It was Maxwell, working with Maxwell, in a Maxwell place, doing Maxwell things! And what was the brand name of the hearse? I bet it was a Maxwell brand! Oh, by the way, the coffin was also designed and manufactured by Maxwell! Oh hail, Maxwell!!!

When lies kill!

Anyway, I was pushed straight into carrying the coffin by Mphandlana Shongwe, and later into the hearse. It was not Maxwell. After I had delivered the speech at the podium, Mphandlana made me sit on the front and not go back to the rest of the people because he feared I would be an easy target for the police who had blockaded the church entry-exit door.

15. “During the night vigil, after getting tip off that over 500 police officers were coming to arrest him for his utterances in the memorial service”

This is Maxwell! He writes my speeches, houses me, feeds me, campaigns for me, gets a tip off from the police that they want to arrest me, and many other heroic acts! He does all this on his own! Remember, he goes down to lift with both hands the imaginary trophy he has earned, hoists it up in the air, and enjoys the universal imaginary applause from his imaginary audience!

Do you know why, according to Maxwell, the police wanted to arrest me? Yes, “for his utterances”! Utterances! The tinkhundla regime is definitely proud of you, Maxwell! Utterances?! Just utterance?!Really?!

And, why is Maxwell not telling his audience that at the night vigil I again resolutely raised the same issues I had raised at the memorial service in Manzini? Is he ashamed? He reduces my address to merely “utterances”! Why would “over 500 police officers” be mobilise to go and fetch one man for mere utterances at a memorial service”? I ask the readers to think critically on this point.

Maxwell even remembers that I was with my “then girlfriend”, and in the process attempts to slander her. He speaks about her like she was nothing but a mere body to keep me on her “laps and arms”, as he claims. Yes, the same woman he lied to again and again after I had left for exile. The same woman he was insulting when I was in exile, when she had no one to defend her. The same woman who stood by me throughout my ordeals, including the time when Maxwell joined his boss-comrades in a vicious fight to try and discredit me (without success). Yes, the same woman who stood by me and made a sterling contribution to my life in exile when Maxwell and his boss-comrades were failing to help me even with the most basic of things. Maxwell has forgotten that this woman whom she reduces to mere “laps and arms” was a SNUS member, who would later be part of the SNUS Kwaluseni Branch Executive Committee. That is the Maxwell I know! He thinks that by denigrating others he will shine. No, Maxwell, you will forever remain the cow dung that you are!

16.  “[I] organise[d] a car for him to take him to a safe house for the duration of the night. After confirming the threat as real, I went to pick him up from the safe house and took him into exile.”

Alright, may the independent readers please take some time to analyse and decide for themselves whether it is possible for one person to do all these things all on his own! Maxwell even adds, “In fact, I am the last person to see him out of Swaziland.” He is serious about this! Whilst he remained brave, Pius, he adds, “was shaken, afraid, shaking and couldn’t even speak on that day.” Let us take this to a comedy show, it would definitely make a killing at the box office! A definite Oscar Award candidate!

But there is another thing which Maxwell does consistently. He always wants to be the centre of every activity. He can only claim he took me to a safe house (he was not even there when I reached that house), but he will not mention that I actually took refuge at the Roman Catholic Bishop’s house in Manzini. He will not mention the solidarity role that the late Bishop Ncamiso Ndlovu provided to me, and indeed to PUDEMO, that early morning. In Maxwell’s world, it was all him, and he took me to some “safe house” which he will not mention – because, of course, there was no such safe house! Alright, let us argue that the Bishop’s house was the “safe house”. Kudos to you, Maxwell!

17.  “I had to face his parents, family and girlfriend to break the news of his sudden departure from Swaziland”

There goes another lie! Maxwell never went to my family! He never met even a single member of my family! I asked him many times to do this, but he failed (or refused). It was that “then girlfriend” who was brave enough to go and face my family and also got many of my clothes and smuggle out some of my crucial documents. If it were not for her sacrifices, I would not have been able to further my studies in exile.

18.  “I have gone even an extra mile for him, to defend and protect him”

Oh, here we go again! The ultimate narcissist! Some have done far more miles and they are humble enough to not go around screaming about the many extra miles they took for me and other comrades!

In lieu of a conclusion

After Maxwell spewed all his bile, he went on to make his opinions on the correctness of a decision of the interregional forum which decided that PUDEMO’s national executive committee had failed, without just cause, to hold any national general council and also, without just cause, postponed the national congress and thus that the NEC naturally had to step aside as per the constitution. I may engage his opinions on these issues at some other stage. In this article I mainly wanted to correct history and also to state clearly the roles played by many people in my life and in the struggle, whom Maxwell had deceitfully written out of history.

It is perhaps good that I allowed Maxwell’s article to go through the full mile and more, for history has already started exposing his true position in the struggle. The man has, countless times, already come out publicly to call for the revolutionaries of Swaziland to participate in the backward tinkhundla system’s elections. Additionally, he recently tried to mobilise the democratic forces to join him in attending Mswati’s cultural gimmick, Incwala!  All this without a shame! The man is actively working hard to ensure that Mswati is always cast in good light. 

Maxwell doing the bidding for tinkhundla!

Having considered Maxwell’s strong “activism” to protect the regime, especially how highly agitative he has been on deflecting any attention away from the monarchy since his acquittal (while his co-accused continued prison life), and thus largely demobilise and pacify the people, one then wonders about his stay in prison. What were the conditions there in prison? How did he survive? Did he ever have anything to sell in order to survive? Did he ever have to do any favours to anyone (warders, fellow inmates, or anyone) in order to survive? Perhaps we will never know the answers to these questions. Perhaps other prisoners at the time would have better information.

Maxwell’s narcissism and selfishness is so deep that he failed to even acknowledge the hard work done by many comrades who campaigned for his release along with the other comrades. When he came out was to claim that he was the face of all political prisoners, around whom all campaigns had to be centred! If the reader does not see that in Maxwell we are dealing with an individualistic person, a selfish fellow, then they will continue to be misled by Maxwell’s revolutionary phrase-mongering and lies.

Lastly, unlike Maxwell who commands me to “STOP IT”, I am encouraging him to continue raising issues, to debate with me, to differ with me if he so wishes. I say, “KEEP GOING MAXWELL!”