To Duggie Lukhele (back)

by the Treason Trial. I even recall the strange incident that occurred when you visited Zami & I at our home in Orlando West in Dec. ’60. As you approached the gate a bolt of lightning split out with such tremendous force that Zeni, then only 10 months [old], was flung to the ground where she remained motionless for some seconds. What a relief it was when she came round & started yelling; it was a close shave. Your presence at the DOCC on that occasion put a new & deeper meaning to your magnificent stand at Winburg & added more weight & lustre to the eulogies that have since been heaped on you in memory of your outstanding service to the womenfolk. Lenvick! There you established yourself with Manci as articled clerk & ably assisted by the smooth & energetic Joe Magome. I have not forgotten the good things you did for me personally those days. I was still involved in the T.T. and during adjournments you kept me busy by giving me work, & it thus became possible for me to assist Zami in some way to keep the home fires burning. I hope one day I shall be able to reciprocate. Anyway I was very happy when I was informed that your fatherland, the beautiful country which is full of so much promise & potential, could now avail itself of your talents to the fullest extent. I was even more pleased to be told that you were now member of your country’s Senate. But I knew at the same time that it must have been a grievous blow for you to sever connections with a country you had chosen to be your permanent home & to be cut off from a community you had served so faithfully & courageously. These & other reminiscences, occupy the long & difficult moments of my present life. Spiritual weapons can be dynamic & often have an impact difficult to appreciate except in the light of actual experience in given situations. In a way they make prisoners free men, turn commoners into monarchs, & dirt into pure gold. To put it quite bluntly, Duggie, it is only my flesh & bones that are shut up behind these tight walls. Otherwise I remain cosmopolitan in my outlook, in my thoughts I am as free as a falcon. The anchor of all my dreams is the collective wisdom of mankind as a whole. I am influenced more than ever before by the conviction that social equality is the only basis of human happiness. We & the children of Mswati & Mbandzeni are linked by a million threads. We have a common history & common aspirations. What is precious to you touches our own hearts. It is in this light that we think of Sept. 6 – an historic event that marks the close of an epoch & the rise of a people whose national pride & consciousness helped them to survive the changes of fortune brought by the imperialist era to our Continent. It is around these issues that my thoughts revolve. They are centred on humans, the ideas for which they strive; on the new world that is emerging, the new generation that declares total war against all forms of cruelty, against any social order that upholds economic privilege for a minority & that condemns us the mass of the population to poverty & disease, illiteracy & the host of evils that accompany a stratified society. Remember me to Ntlabati, Leslie’s wife, Andrew & wife, Stanley Lollan, Maggie Chuene, Regina Twala, Wilson & Gladys if they are still around. I am particularly grateful to Wilson for looking after my son, Kgatho, after he had been expelled from school for organising a strike, & for all the help he & Gladys gave him. Let everyone keep well & be of good cheer; my fist is firm! Yours sincerely, Nel Senator D. Lukhele Parliament Lobamba, Swaziland