King introduces 11th bride
2003-09-03 19:52
Mbabane, Swaziland - The 11th bride of Swaziland's King Mswati III was introduced to the public on Wednesday after a year of living behind royal walls.
Noliqwa Ntentesa, 17, was chosen by Mswati to be his bride along with two others in September last year. She was however not introduced to the public as a result of a lawsuit at the time around the selection of his 10th bride.
Lindiwe Dlamini last year asked the High Court to force the royal family to release her 18-year-old daughter, Zena Zoraya Mahlangu, from a royal guest house.
Mahlangu and two young women were selected by King Mswati III's aides in September at the annual reed dance ceremony where future royal brides are chosen.
The lawsuit did not name Mswati, who is above the law, but said several royal family members defied tradition and the law in taking Mahlangu. Last November Dlamini postponed the lawsuit indefinitely saying she had little chance of winning.
A 12th bridal candidate was rejected after royal sources said it had been discovered that she had had a previous relationship with an employee of Mswati. She was then reportedly adopted by the Queen mother.
Cow fine
Ntentesa was part of a traditional reed bearing ceremony outside the capital on Tuesday. About 20 000 young women were paraded before Mswati at his Ludzidzini royal residence for him to choose a new bride.
The kingdom allows polygamy and Mswati may marry as many times as he pleases.
The introduction of his latest bride comes a few days after the monarch was fined for violating the five-year sex ban he had imposed last year.
Mswati banned girls under 18 from having sex - a decree he said was intended to halt the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A few weeks after declaring the ban, Mswati selected a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife for which he paid a fine of one cow.
Ntentesa's father, a University of Swaziland lecturer, said he had wanted to challenge his daughter's selection in court but he could not afford to.
The two will be officially married once she becomes pregnant according to Swazi tradition. The annual reed dancing ceremony will draw to a close on Friday and is a public holiday in Swaziland.
- AP