By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Madzabudzabu Kunene of Msunduza, about five hundred(500)meters away from the capital city, Mbabane was shot and forced into disability by King Mswati’s police officers.

Kunene, a member of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) grew-up sleeping in the streets, he was literally a street kid, due to poverty, he used to wear torn clothes and was subsequently nicknamed “Madzabudzabu”(a person who wears torn clothes).

When the political unrest erupted in June 2021, Madzabudzabu was among the protesters who were shot by Mswati’s police, he told this Swaziland News earlier that he knew the identity of the police officer who shot him and sometimes he meets him on the streets of Mbabane but would not reveal his name.

“I know the police officer who shot me, sometimes we meet in the streets of Mbabane and talk, I think he knows that I know him because he is always shy when looking at me. I don’t want to reveal his identity, my focus is on liberation not to revenge to those who forced me into disability,” said the political activist when speaking to this Swaziland News.

Madzabudzabu Kunene is now the Chairman of the Swaziland Massacre Victims and Survivors Association(SWAVISA), an association of those who survived the political unrest.

Recently, the organization received a donation of one hundred and twenty three thousand(R123,000.00) from the family of incarcerated pro-democracy Member of Parliament(MP) Bacede Mabuza and their lawyer Sicelo Mngomezulu.

Madzabudzabu Kunene, the Chairman of SWAVISA suggested that even police officers and soldiers  who were injured during the political unrest must benefit.

This week Kunene was seen hard at work at Dlangeni during the renovation of Mkhulu Mkhetheni Nkambule’s home.

Despite his disability, Kunene who is active in charity work, has always maintained that the only difference is that he walks with the assistance of clutches, otherwise, there is nothing he can’t do.