VIDEO: Swazi king goes to India with 15 wives, 30 kids, 100 servants

News from the Third World takes longer to get to Walt's cabin in the woods than news from, say, Springfield. Just in is a report from India's Zee Media claiming that His Royal Highness Mswati III, king of Swaziland, took 15 of his wives, 30 children, and 100 servants to India for last week's India-Africa Forum.

The report goes on to say that at least 200 hotel rooms in a five-star, $230/night, New Delhi hotel were booked a week in advance, with all expenses paid by the Indian government. Struggling to carve out a high profile in Africa, the Indians treated African delegates to lavish spectacles and even richer gifts, before the two sides shook hands on a US$10.6 billion deal for cheap loans and grants.

The Swazi Observer, a mouthpiece for the Swazi royal house, termed the Zee reports "blatant lies" and "totally fabricated". The journal did not, however, deny that Mswati III has 15 wives. Nor did it make any mention of the famous Swazi Reed Dance, featured here on WWW before, in which hundreds of virgins dance before the king, hoping to be chosen to fill any vacant wifely positions.

As a public service, we present a short educational video explaining the Reed Dance, taken by Shari Rogers in 2015. Ed. asks me to make clear that this is not a barbaric cultural practice.



Footnote: Wondering what happened to the video of the Swazi girls doing the reed dance that we posted on 1 July 2012? It's still there! You're [not "your"] welcome.

"No more killing albinos for good luck!" warns Swazi king

Even though it's been "liberated" from the "civilization" imposed by the evil white settlers, Darkest Africa remains a continent where old and barbaric notions and practices still inform daily life. One of the most powerful is witchcraft.

Witchcraft is used throughout sub-Saharan Africa to ensure sexual satisfaction, good fortune in business, and "fix" things like the results of soccer games and elections. Yes, elections, and they do have them, even in autocratic states like the tiny kingdom of Swaziland.

In fact, elections are expected later this year, and King Mswati III has already warned politicians against committing murder and other "acts of magic" to get elected. Ritual killings are common in Swaziland, and elsewhere in Africa, with practitioners of “muti” – a catch-all for traditional medicine and witchcraft – using limbs or body parts as amulets.

The king's stern admonition has not gone far enough to satisfy Swaziland's albino community. They are calling on the government for protection fearing their body parts will be harvested by candidates seeking good luck.

The Pretoria (South Africa) Daily News quotes Skhumbuzo Mndvoti, a leader of the community in the southern town of Nhlangano as saying, "Those in authority must make sure our safety is guaranteed. I can warn adults and parents of albino children to take extra care during these election days."

In the past albinos as well as epileptics have been specifically targeted. Another community leader said such albino killings regularly took place, but in the past were masked by rumours about albino behaviour. "People were told that when an albino dies, he would go and die far away where he or she would not be found. I think they were killed.", he said.

Mr. Mndvoti blamed witchdoctors who mislead people into believing that using human body parts will help them win seats to parliament or prosper in business. But the President of the Traditional Healers of Swaziland said those who misled people to use ritual murder to win elections or wealth were witches and wizards and not traditional healers.

"A witch is born and never trained but a traditional healer undergoes intensive training to heal people through traditional means," Nhlavana Maseko told the press. "We have a problem here in Swaziland of the colonial law called the Witchcraft Act which does not make a difference between a traditional healer and a witch or wizard."

Yes, obviously the wicked British colonizers didn't understand. Or couldn't understand. It's an African thing.

Note from Ed.: I couldn't find a picture of a Swazi albino to go with this piece, so hope this photo of some other Swazis will do. And we do have a video, currently sitting at the top of the WWW list of most-watched videos.

No regime change in Swaziland, vows King Mswati III

Breaking news from the tiny African kingdom of Swaziland. On Monday, its polygamous ruler, King Mswati III, taunted his political opponents, both domestic and international, saying their dreams of a popular uprising in Africa's last absolute monarchy would not be realised.

"Some from the Western world have been waiting patiently and nursing hopes that the people of Swaziland will revolt and bring about regime change," said the king, adding "Swazis are known the world over for being peace-loving and I would like to urge you to remain like that."

Mswati has at least a dozen wives [Who's counting? Ed.] and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million. 18 months ago the monarch faced rare protests when his administration ran out of money following a recession in neighbouring South Africa. The fiscal crisis emboldened his pro-democracy opponents, who also took heart from the "Arab spring" uprisings against autocratic rulers in North Africa and the Middle East.

However, not all of the king's subjects are disenchanted. Ed. has been able to come up with a picture of some of the more comely subjects rejoicing on hearing that Mswati intends to keep it up... so to speak.

Swaziland girls doing the reed dance -- VIDEO!

Walt has finally figured out why "Where next? Swaziland next?" has a perpetual lock on our "hit parade". It's not the text you're looking at, right? Could be the National Geographic-style picture of nubile Swazi maidens?

Never let it be said that Walt doesn't heed the wishes of 1000s of readers. [Have you considered that it might be just the one guy, looking at it 1000s of times? Ed.] Here is a three-minute video clip of the famous Swaziland reed dance. For anyone who cares, notes on the cultural aspects of the dance may be found below the video window.



Umhlanga, or the Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu tradition held in August or September of each year. Tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi/Zulu girls and women travel from their villages to participate in the eight-day event. In Swaziland they gather at the Queen Mother's royal village, which currently is Ludzidzini Royal Village, while Nongoma is the site of the royal reed dance in Kwazulu, a province of South Africa.

After arriving at the Queen Mother's royal residence, the women disperse to surrounding areas and cut tall reeds. The following night they bundle them together and bring them back to the Queen Mother to be used in repairing holes in the reed windscreen surrounding the royal village. After a day of rest and washing the women prepare their traditional costumes consisting of a bead necklace, rattling anklets made from cocoons, a sash, and skirt. Many of them carry the bush knife they used to cut the reeds as a symbol of their virginity.

Today's Reed Dance ceremony developed in the 1940s and 50s from the Umkwasho custom where young girls were placed in age regiments to ensure their virginity. The official purpose of the annual ceremony is to preserve the women's chastity, provide tribute labour for the Queen Mother, and produce solidarity among the women through working together.

The women sing and dance as they parade in front of the royal family as well as spectators, tourists and foreign dignitaries. After the parade, groups from select villages take to the centre of the field and put on a special performance for the crowd. The many daughters of King Mswati III also participate in the Umhlanga ceremony and are distinguished by the crown of red feathers in their hair.

The notes are by Alex Ohan, producer of an excellent slide show of the Reed Dance. With regard to the last two sentences, Walt presumes that the king's daughters are ineligble to be taken to wife. Although, Africa being Africa, and Mswati being Mswati, my presumption might bear further investigation.

US diplomatic cable calls African-born head of state "not intellectually well-developed"

Shame on you if you thought the headline refers to the US head of state! The quote is from an American diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, and refers to King Mswati III of Swaziland.

His Royal Higness has been mentioned here before, in "Where next? Swaziland next?", which for some reason leads all other posts in the number of hits. Ed. regrets that he has not yet been able to find a picture of Africa's last absolute monarch, so we'll have to make do with this old photo of some of the king's subjects dancing for his entertainment.

King Mswati was mentioned in this week's Economist. Their analysis says that Swaziland, which was in a mess at this time last year, is in less of a mess now. This has nothing to do with the policies or efforts of the king, who continues to lead a life of ease, even though two-thirds of his 1,200,000 subjects subsist on less than $2 a day.

Perhaps it's not really a "life of ease". Mswati has a dozen wives, more or less, and that can't be easy. Still, he is ranked by Forbes as the 15th-richest reigning monarch in the world. The Economist calls him "profligate but widely revered".

Those closer to the king are less flattering in their descriptions. According to the leaked cable, a former royal advisor described Mswati as "unbalanced", and "not intellectually well-developed". In addition, he is said to be "influenced by witchcraft". [Ed., please check to be sure they're not talking about Comrade Bob Mugabe. Zimbabwe isn't far from Swaziland, is it?]

Another half-brother quotes one of Mswati's several half-brothers as saying he was surrounded by "dishonest, uneducated people" who are "giving him bad advice". [Ed., no need to check this reference. The same could be said of any African leader of any African country.]

But, the Economist advises, we should not cry for Swaziland. ...nothing truly horrific is going on. There may be the odd suspicious death in custody, but no mass killings or other grave atrocities. Little Swaziland has no big deposits of gold, diamonds or oil to covet. No civil war is threatening the region. So it [may safely be] left to its own devices, while the world looks the other way.

King of Swaziland too tired to dialogue?

There seems to be a lot of interest in my post of April 13th on prospects for change in Swaziland, the last absolute monarchy in Africa. [I can't imagine why! Ed.] So here's an update.

On Friday, a "meeting of civil society" was convened in Mbabane, the nation's capital, to discuss democratic reforms. King Mswati III -- he of the many wives and concubines -- was invited to deliver the opening address. Unfortunately, he thought it inappropriate or inconvenient to attend a convention whose aim must be to depose him, so decided to give it a miss.

In retaliation, the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, the country’s largest labour group, walked out of the meeting. The labour group argued HRH, by snubbing the meeting, had not shown a commitment to dialogue.

“Our position is that the king has refused to entertain the question of dialogue. He said this as recently as last year. It would appear that instead of strengthening our mass power we are busy talking dialogue, a language that the king refuses to embrace,” said national organizer Fundizwi Sikhondze.

Apparently the SFTU failed to consider the possibility that Mswati, who has around 67 wives at last count, might have been just too tired.

Where next? Swaziland next?

From the sandy deserts of Libya and Egypt, our search for examples of misrule in Africa takes us south, way way south, to the remote mountain kingdom of Swaziland.

Wedged in between Moçambique and South Africa, it is a desperately poor little place, with a population of only 1,4 million. 40% of Swazis are unemployed. 70% live on less than $1 a day.

Swaziland has two things that set it apart. It is ruled by King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch. And it is the site of the annual "Reed Dance" in which His Highness chooses a new wife -- he has 14, at last count -- from amongst hundreds of nubile young maidens.

Now the winds of change are blowing even in that remote corner of the Dark Continent. Perhaps inspired by the "Arab Spring" and this week's overthrow of Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo (even though he had only one wife), protesters are thronging the streets of Mbabane demanding political reforms.

Speaking for King Mswati, who was otherwise engaged, Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini declared the demonstrations illegal and warned that anyone who took part did so at their own risk.

Police Commissioner Isaac Magagula said the police, the army and prison services were ready to face down “evil” protesters. “Such evil will not be tolerated,” he told the local Times newspaper.

Another spokesman for the king cautioned a western journalist that [the protesters] "only want His Highness to share some of his wives. But that is not necessary. Plenty of girls here. See for yourself next reed dance."