Two senior Swaziland High Court officials were appointed on Thursday to interview a young woman, allegedly abducted to become one of the king’s wives, but lawyers representing her mother said they wanted to hear her testimony in court.
Judge Stanley Sapire appointed senior advocates Margaret van der Walt and Maxine Langwenya to travel to the Manzana royal guest house outside the capital to interview 18-year-old Zena Mahlangu on Friday.
”By this order I appoint two representatives from the attorney general’s offices to visit Miss Mahlangu to find out if she is there under her own will and whether she has a relationship with the king,” Mswati III, the high court judge said. Van der Walt and Langwenya are due in court again on Tuesday with Mahlangu’s reply, but a lawyer close to the case said he was concerned that the young woman might be coerced into giving answers.
”I’m comfortable with the two representatives from the court. They are senior and respected counsellors. But it’s much easier to convince her to give answers when she’s not in court,” said the lawyer, who asked not to named.
Initial papers filed by Lindiwe Dlamini, Zena’s mother, accused two of the king’s messengers of abducting her daughter, after she was spotted by the tiny kingdom’s absolute monarch at a reed dance ceremony last month.
Large numbers of young bare-breasted maidens gather at these ceremonies in the hope of attracting the king’s attention.
The 34-year-old monarch already has nine wives. His father, King Sobhuza II, had more than 70 wives at his death in 1982. In papers before court, Dlamini demanded the immediate return of Mahlangu into her custody.
”The continued detention of Zena without my consent is a criminal offence,” she said last week. Dlamini said the two men approached her daughter’s paternal grandmother on September 22, saying the king had asked them to take Mahlangu to the royal kraal for the performance of royal duties.
Her daughter went missing from school a few days later and she was told that one of the king’s employees had taken her away to an unknown place.
It was later established that she was performing royal duties at the Manzana royal guest house. Dlamini, the communications manager of Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications, expressed concern about Mahlangu’s schoolwork, saying the whole year would be wasted if she was not allowed to take her A-level year-end exams.
”My right to custody of my child will have been unlawfully infringed, and Zena’s rights to liberty, privacy and protection from abuse will have been breached,” she said. – Sapa-AFP