LOBAMBA (18.April 2025): Thousand of Christians from all denominations have turned out at Lobamba for the annual inter-denominational Good Friday and Easters services. The services that are dominated by the Zionist churches start on Good Friday and end on Monday. Religious leaders then have a special service with His Majesty and the Royal Family.
This Easter services was started by King Sobhuza in 1923 after the British High Commissioner referred to him a complaint by the Conference of Churches that the Zionist practice of holding night vigils, including mixed gender retreats to pray in the mountains were ungodly. Instead of chastizing them, the King had invited the Zionists to pray with him at his residence at Lobamba.
From that time, the Zionists are the stronghold of the nation with a firm foothold in every community. Sobhuza’s successor King Mswati lll has continued with the practice.
Meanwhile, other religious sects, including the charismatic churches hold their own services in their respective places of worship. The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) who are also a significant presence in Eswatini travel out of the country to Moria in the Limpompo Province of South Africa, the church’s headquraters.
jm/today/18.04.2025
