Swazi king takes teen bride
2004-09-12 11:16
Wonder Hlongwa
Mbabane - Swazi King Mswati III has taken a 16-year-old Miss Teen Swaziland finalist as his 12th wife.
Ludzidzini royal residence governor and Swazi royal family spokesperson Jim Gama confirmed to City Press on Saturday that Nothando Dube - the first princess in the recent Miss Teen Swaziland beauty pageant - has been taken to be the 36-year-old Mswati III's next wife.
Dube is younger than Mswati III's first born, Princess Skhanyiso, 17, who is studying in England.
However, Gama played down Dube's age saying they have taken her "to raise her up".
Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, already has one fiancée - Noliqhwa Ntentesa - and 10 wives.
Dube, a Grade 9 pupil at Mater Dorolosa High in Swaziland, was snatched by Mswati III's royal guards after the annual Reed Dance in the kingdom last Saturday.
Her mother, who refused to give her first name, declined to comment only saying she had been assured by the royal family that she "will have a say on how Nothando would be raised".
When asked if Mswati III would be prepared to have his own daughter taken as a wife at such an early age, Gama laughed it off and refused to comment.
Dube attended the Shiselweni Reed Dance as Mswati III's official liphovela (fiancée) on Saturday.
Mswati was deserted by two queens in June this year apparently over fears of contracting HIV-Aids. Queen Delisa Magwaza, also known as La Magwaza, and Queen Putsoana Hwale, left Swaziland for London and South Africa respectively.
La Magwaza was involved in a highly publicised affair with a Soweto man, Lizo Shabangu, last year.
Asked how she felt about Mswati III taking a teenage girl as his 12th wife, the King's third wife Queen Sbonelo Mbikiza, also known as La Mbikiza, said on Saturdaythat she knew nothing about "those arrangements", saying she had just arrived from South Africa.
She said it was not discussed with her.
La Mbikiza is the head of the Swazi Royal Initiative to Combat Aids (Rica). The initiative involves the recording of songs by Swazi, South African and international artists and the proceeds of the sales are allocated to programmes aimed at helping people affected by Aids. La Mbikiza said the initiative will be launched in South Africa and Swaziland later this year.
In line with Swazi tradition, a fiancée becomes a wife once she falls pregnant.
Zena Mahlangu, whose affair with Mswati III was widely publicised when her mother objected to the monarch taking the girl as his 11th wife last year, recently gave birth to the King's 23rd child.
Mahlangu has been transferred from the secluded Manzana royal guest house, where Mswati III keeps his maphovela, to Lugaganeni royal residence.
Mahlangu was traditionally married in May when elderly women inside a cattle kraal at Ludzidzini - where the queen mother stays - smeared her face with red-ochre.
- City Press