May the Memory of Paramount Chief Mpezeni be a blessing!

By Daily Revelation Editor

We join the nation in mourning the death of the paramount chief of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province, Mpezeni, who died in the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) on Saturday.

His loss is deeply saddening, not only for his family and the Ngoni people, but the whole nation in general, because like all the paramount chiefs, he was also a national leader in his own rights.

The Mpezeni died in UTH, a few days before he was due for repatriation to India over reported liver and kidney complications. He had earlier received medical treatment over the same problems in India. And for those who could have noticed, he wasn’t the same usual energetic Mpezeni during the last N’cwala Traditional Ceremony that was held earlier this year.

One of his close associates has told us that he died while wishing that he could live a little bit longer, and that he did not expect to die when he checked into hospital. That he was preparing to travel to India where he had been receiving treatment.

“He didn’t expect he would go too soon. And he was always encouraging us that as long as you have life you should continue fighting. He believed he was going to fight and win,” Mpezeni’s associates told us.

Mpezeni died fighting and believing that he could overcome the health odds that were stacked against him. This is truly inspiring, and such is the spirit we all must embrace. That no matter what odds are stacked against us as individuals, or even as a nation, we must not give up on fighting. Even when we lose or don’t win, at least we would remain with the solace that we fought and gave it our best shot. It’s important not to give up on anything in life, including at national level, as the solutions might just be one step closer actually than we realise.

Even Mpezeni fought but he did not win as he ultimately succumbed to death, a natural phenomenon which we all will have to encounter one day. But from death should emerge important life lessons we all must draw lessons on, as while it is written for all of us to be born and to die, it matters the lessons we leave behind for the immediate and future generations to draw upon.

We have our own lessons we drew as a media house from the many interactions we had with the late paramount chief. We can say with confidence that out of all the chiefs, paramount, senior and ordinary chiefs, we enjoyed our best relationship with the Mpezeni.

We found him to be an easy going man, who entertained our calls at almost every time we made them. If he did not take our calls there and then at least he would often make every effort to return them. Very often he would give us interviews also. But there were other times when we would simply say that he had no comment about a given subject. However, whether he gave us an interview or no interview, at least he would often take or return our calls. And at all times he always treated us courteously. We will deeply miss the many interactions we had with the paramount chief. May the Memory of Paramount Chief Mpezeni be a blessing.