MBABANE:King Mswati is highly expected to officially open the Luke Commission Hospital much against Swazi Law and Custom that restricts him from facing or coming near dead bodies.
The health facility situated at Sidvokodvo will be officially opened by His Majesty the King on Friday, the event will be attended by, among others, Cabinet Ministers and members of the royal family.
Reached for comments on Thursday evening, King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane said the King does not go out when people die, adding that premises such as hospitals, are normally screened and/or cleaned before the arrival of the King to perform his duties.
“Our experience is that the King does not go out of Eswatini when people die.This then brings us to the question of proximity to the dead body or bodies. It is the responsibility of the security advance team to “sweep” (do security checks) of the venue where the King is going to be performing his duty at including being awake the proximity the mortuary if any in the case of a hospital or clinic.About a year ago he toured and officially opened the Referral Wing of the Mbabane Hospital which is about 200 meters from the mortuary there.So as short as to tell, we believe proximity counts lots to ensure that responsibilities of the King prevail,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
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