Exiled chief returns home a commoner

An exiled Swazi chief has submitted to King Mswati and surrendered his title as a condition for returning home. "I am now going back home as an ordinary man," said former Chief Mliba Fakudze of Macetjeni, in the eastern lowveld. Fakudze had the backing of human rights and pro-democracy groups, and the Swaziland Court of Appeal ordered his return after ruling that Mswati had acted illegally in evicting the former chief and his followers from their ancestral lands. In a midnight raid in October 2000, the army rounded up the people of Macetjeni and deposited them 100 km away in an open field without food or water, because the chief and his supporters refused to recognise Mswati's older brother, Prince Maguga, who had been appointed by the palace as their new chief. The palace has contended that Fakudze could return home from South Africa once he apologised, and recognised Prince Maguga as the rightful chief. Although Maguga died last year, one of his many sons stands to claim his title. Human rights groups said the resolution of what one human rights lawyer called "the persecution of an old man [Chief Mliba Fakudze]" does not end a rule of law crisis in Swaziland, in which the palace is accused of ignoring court orders it dislikes.