swaziland times

MANKONKO – Two elderly people aged 71 and 69 were among seven couples who held a mass wedding ceremony last Saturday.

The mass wedding was held at the Mankongko Freedom Gospel Church. At the event, relatives, friends and church members gathered together to send their best wishes to the newlyweds.
The mass wedding was the idea of ​​Pastor Mandla Shongwe, who spoke with Daniel Motsa and discovered that some members of the church were not formally married.Songwe approached church members and identified seven couples who were willing to get married. The event started at 10am when the newlyweds entered the church and were admired by many well-wishers.In front of each couple was a cake.

Accept an interview

They took turns reciting their wedding vows. After the mass wedding, Daniel and Toko Mosa said in an interview that they had been together for more than 45 years since they met in 1979.
Daniel said there were many reasons why they did not get married, including a life of sin and alcoholism. Another factor, he said, was that they came from poorer backgrounds and therefore were not able to marry. Daniel said the priest bought the rings for them, adding that he spent only 500 Egyptian pounds on the wedding. The couple had nine children, four of whom have died. Daniel said that after he quit drinking, he and his partner joined the church.

He said the priest approached him and asked if he was officially married to his partner and he responded in the negative. Another elderly man, 71-year-old Hezekiel Simelane married the love of his life, Fikile Ndlovu. In an interview after taking the oath, Simelane said he and Ndlovu lived together and were already a couple when they confessed in church. He said the idea came from the church’s pastor, who asked if they were officially married. Simelane said the pastor asked the congregation and found out that some members wanted to change their Swazi legal and customary marriage to a civil ceremony. Simelane said he was very happy with his marriage and his heart was free. The couple had a child with their ex.