Swazi king picks wife no 13
2005-09-25 22:27
Mbangweni - Africa's last absolute monarch, Swaziland's King Mswati III, has picked his 13th wife, a palace spokesperson said Sunday.
The 17-year-old Phindile Nkambule, who finished her final exams in June to allow her to join the royal house, was unveiled as his next wife-to-be at a traditional reed dance ceremony at the weekend.
"Nkambule is here to perform royal duties. So as to what form of duties, I am not mandated to disclose that but she is a guest of the king," palace spokeskam Ntfonjeni Dlamini said.
The public came to know of Nkambule when she participated at the reed dance at Mbangweni, south of Mbabane, where some 4 000 bare-breasted maidens danced before the 37-year-old king to allow him to choose his next wife.
According to custom, the king, who rules by decree, will marry Nkambule once she falls pregnant.
In June, Mswati married the 16-year-old Nothando Dube and currently has 12 wives but two of them have absconded.
Swaziland is a small country wedged between South Africa and Mozambique where the majority of its 1.2 million inhabitants live on less than a dollar a day and suffer under severe food shortages and record-high Aids rates.
Mswati has been repeatedly criticised for living lavishly and spending exorbitant amounts on parties and gifts for his string of wives who have beared 27 children for him.