Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Ambrose Phesheya Zwane was born into a relatively privileged family background and had bright prospects in Swaziland's traditional political system. However, he chose to strive instead for fundamental social reform, taking a path that placed him at loggerheads first with the British colonial power, then with the Swazi traditional authorities, and finally with the postcolonial regime. Zwane's father, Amos Zwane, was a personal physician and advisor to King Sobhuza II - the Swazi crown prince from 1900 to 1921, and then the country's longest-reigning monarch, ruling from 1921 to 1982. The elder Zwane was in London in 1922 (accompanying Sobhuza II, who was appealing a land case at the Privy Council) when his son Ambrose Phesheya was born: Phesheya means “across the seas” ( Kuper 1978 ). Ambrose Phesheya Zwane studied in neighboring South Africa and became, in 1951, the first Swazi medical doctor to graduate from medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand. Three things engendered his embarking on what many in Swaziland saw as quite a revolutionary path. First, his studies in South Africa at the Universities of Fort Hare and Witwatersrand introduced him to African nationalism , which gave rise to a rejection of both colonialism and traditional power. He became active in campus politics. Second, when he returned to Swaziland he suffered racial discrimination: he saw this as ... log in or subscribe to read full text