AN elderly chief whose tribe is split between Swaziland and Mpumalanga in South Africa plans to take a 14-year-old Swazi girl as his seventh wife when she matriculates. But the Swaziland Action Against Abuse (Swagaa) organisation has accused Chief Tikhontele Dlamini of the Lomshiyo clan in Low’s Creek in Mpumalanga and Entfonjeni in northern Swaziland, of disguising child abuse as tradition. “It’s a pity that people of high moral grounds find pleasure in abusing young children under the pretext of promoting cultural norms, when all they want is to satisfy their sexual desires,” said Swagaa spokeswoman Nonhlanhla Dlamini. She urged the Swaziland state to intervene in the matter. The chief stresses that he’s not having any sexual relations with the child, however, and only plans to marry her once she finishes school. At the moment, she is in grade eight at Mhlatane High School in Piggs Peak and Dlamini said he might pay lobola, or the bride price, now already. Her family has agreed she can marry the chief and take over the household of her great aunt, who was married to the chief’s late father. – African Eye News Service