Swaziland: Settlers, colonialism and the struggle for national identity (1907 - 1945) (continued)
In 1932 Sobhuza attempted to unite the Zionist and separatist churches into a "'National Church of Africa", but though it failed, the close ties of these churches with the royal family and their rapid growth in the 1930's culminated in the formation of the League of African Churches in Swaziland (LACS), which "with a flexible dogma and a great tolerance of custom" (Kuper 1963, 68) was to become a bulwark of royal support in years to come (Cummergen 2000, 375, 376). The growth of the Zionist churches in the 1930s could be seen as a reaction to the Swazi perception of the mission churches as agents of the colonial authorities and their assertion of, as Peter Kasenene (cited Cummergen 2000, 376) expressed it, "their desire for religious and political change. Independence in the church became a form of protest and search for social justice and political freedom in a religious language'. The proportion of Christians in the population (and especially of Zionists) continued to rise rapidly, reaching 35% by 1946 and 60% by 1956 (Booth 1983, 51). However, the introduction Christianity by Zulu speaking missionaries established isiZulu as the language of liturgy, education and literary activity, and the emergence of siSwati as a national language was considerably retarded as a consequence (Macmillan 1989, 302).
Sobhuza's sustained campaign against the colonial government's efforts at transforming traditional authorities into paid bureaucrats prevented the decay of chiefly authority that occurred elsewhere in British African colonies (Macmillan 1989, 305). Consequently, despite land alienation, settler incursion, labour migrancy and the emergence of a relatively westernized, educated and Christian intelligentsia, the chiefs were able to maintain a good deal of their traditional power and authority (Macmillan 1985, 654). They retained their control over the redistribution of land, labour tribute and income from traditional gifts and fines, especially as land hunger became more acute; between 1904 and 1936 the Swazi population increased by 81% and stockholdings had increased dramatically (Macmillan 1985, 654; Levin 1997, 45, 46). British requests in 1941 for assistance with the war effort, resulted in the provision of some 4 000 men for service in North Africa and Italy; the regimental system's revival was given impetus for it provided the basis on which manpower was recruited (Patricks 2000; Macmillan 1989, 302).
The Second World War greatly strengthened Sobhuza and the Swaziland National Council against the colonial government, as his successful policy of ethnic mobilization bore fruit (Macmillan 1985, 656). His appeals for relieving overpopulation, over stocking and land hunger were favourably met with a reversal of the previous policy of selling Crown Lands almost only to white settlers, and the bulk of Crown Lands were earmarked for Swazi use (Booth 1983, 31; Macmillan 1985, 656). Moreover, Colonial Welfare and Development funds were channeled towards the repurchase of settler land for Swazi resettlement and both areas were eventually successfully contended for as areas over which the Swazi traditional authorities could exercise traditional systems of tenure control (Booth 1983, 31; Macmillan 1985, 656. For more detail see Levin 1997, 47-51). In 1944 Sohuza also was permitted to set up the Lifo Fund with income from levies on cattle and cash, which was able to repurchase 268 093 acres of settler land by 1960 (Levin 1997, 52). The native Administration Proclaimation of 1944, which vested the High Commissioner with the power to appoint or depose all chiefs, including the King, set the stage for a protracted conflict between the Swazi Aristocracy and the colonial government that was only resolved in 1950 (Levin 1991, 51-52).
References
BOOTH, AR 1983 Swaziland: Tradition and Change in a Southern African Kingdom, Boulder, New York, 1983.
CUMMERGEN, P 2000 "Zionism and Politics in Swaziland", Journal of Religion in Africa, 30(3), August, 370-385, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/1581497 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).
KUPER, H 1963 The Swazi: a South African kingdom, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
LEVIN, R 1997 When the sleeping grass awakens: land and power in Swaziland, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg.
MACMILLAN, H 1985 "Swaziland: Decolonisation and the Triumph of 'Tradition'", The Journal of Modern African Studies, 23(4), December, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/160683 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).
MACMILLAN, H 1989 "A Nation Divided? The Swazi in Swaziland and the Transvaal, 1865-1986" IN Vail, L (ed) The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, University Of California Press, [www] http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft158004rs& chunk.id=d0e7328&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7328&brand=eschol [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).
PATRICKS, RM 2000 "Olden Times to 1900" IN Swazi History, [www] http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/swazihistory1.html (accessed 10 Mar 2010).