Mswati, a 45-year-old who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, introduced Sindiswa Dlamini at a Reed Dance celebration over the weekend, Mtetwa told AFP. She wore red feathers on her head — a sign of royalty. The young woman graduated from Mbabane’s St. Francis High School last year and is a finalist in the Miss Cultural Heritage beauty pageant which winner will be announced on September 28.
The king, who has steadfastly resisted reforms, has come under fire for his household’s lavish lifestyle while the tiny mountain kingdom’s 1.2 million people struggle to make a living. Mswati reportedly has a personal fortune of around $200 million (152 million euros) and the UN estimates that 70 percent of his 1.2 million subjects live below the poverty line.
The weekend’s celebrations were a smaller repeat of last month’s official annual Reed Dance, where young virgins from across the kingdom gather and dance for the king.
It would be recalled that three wives left the household in recent years. The latest, Queen LaGija, fled the palace in 2012 claiming years of physical and emotional abuse. Another queen, LaDube, was reportedly abused after she was caught in bed with the justice minister, a close friend of the king.
Mswati had kidnapped and married the queen when she was 16 in 2005.
The monarch’s colourful private life is said to be off-limits in local media, but has drawn a lot of international interest. "It just happened that the international community was there to witness the event," said Mtetwa.
The question on my lips is, where are the parents of these girls? When will the use of women as playthings by african men stop?
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