MNP pays tribute to the late Albert Zwelibanzi Gumede

Albert Zwelibanzi Gumede was appointed as a chief of the Mthwakazi people living in South Africa on the 22nd of March 2014. He was installed under the South African Law. According to the Traditional Leadership Framework Act 41 of 2003, that was last amended in 2009: a chief can be chosen by a traditional King or by a group of people who have called for a gathering (Imbizo) meant to choose a chief. The process thus gave Mthwakazi community living in South Africa an opportunity to legitimise their chief.

His appointment and installation came with much controversy as it offended others, especially those who consider themselves to be the custodians of Ndebele culture because he was not in the lineage of any chieftaincy. On one hand, there was excitement celebration in the inauguration of a chief who now was to represent uMthwakazi ethnic group in South Africa and gave hope of the renewal of the Mthwakazi nation.

Regardless of all these controversies, Gumede, a businessman, a culturalist and philanthropist, his appointment as a chief came in the wake of a great concern among the Mthwakazi people scattered all around South Africa with no sense of community or territorial root. This culminated to a fear of the Mthwakazi people losing "their culture". Gumede worked really hard in his role of cultural significance entrusted to him by his people, as he was appointed to lead the 'natives of nowhere'.

He was the opposite of absent-minded. He was never embarrassed about working hard, even if the results were failures. Realizing Mthwakazi do not have a culture anymore, Gumede worked so tirelessly trying to restore our culture and remind people of our cultural practices and where we come from. He emphasized in the need to start first with collecting all the scattered Mthwakazi people around South Africa and create a cohesion, a central space that we can use to easily communicate our message.

He was perhaps the greatest symbol of the Mthwakazi of the past, and of the Mthwakazi of the future, that we could have had. We stand on this perilous edge of the present as Mthwakazi nation, between that past and the future to be, and we face all manner of perils. And the greatest peril is sometimes the lack of faith which comes to us, the sense of frustration that comes to us, the sinking of the heart and of the spirit that comes to us when we see ideals go overboard, when we see the great things that we talked about as Mthwakazi nation somehow pass into empty words, and life taking a different course. Yet, he believed that this period will pass perhaps soon enough. Let us be worthy of him.

Lala ngoxolo Qwabe, Mnguni kaYeyeye, Phakathwayo! Wena kaMalandela ngokulandel' izinkomo zamadoda, Gumede!

We carry on!
Vuka Mthwakazi Sizwe

Mthwakazi National Party
Email: mthwakazimnp@gmail.com