Just weeks after the king of Swaziland made international headlines when officials from his court were alleged to have abducted an 18-year-old girl as his tenth wife, he is reportedly eyeing up wife number 12.
King Mswati III has indicated his intention to marry the reigning Miss Swaziland, Nozipho Shabangu, when she returns home from the Miss World Pageant in London at the weekend, media reports in South Africa said on Sunday.
On her arrival, Shabangu would be whisked to the royal
headquarters at Ludzidzini, the home of the Swazi Queen mother Ntombi, who performs traditional pre-marital rites, the Sunday Sun newspaper reported.
It was believed that Mswati had already entered into a
relationship with Shabangu when he made his decision to select 18-year-old Zena Mahlangu as his 11th fiancee.
In an unprecedented challenge, Mlangu’s mother took the royal family to court to contest the selection of her daughter as a future queen by Africa’s only absolute monarch.
The minor was kidnapped from school and denied contact with her family, her mother claimed.
But Mahlangu dropped the case after the teenager expressed her wish to marry the king, having undergone pre-marital rites and appeared in public with some of his other wives.
Of the two girls plucked from school along with Zena Mahlangu, 18-year-old Noliqwa Ntentesa was selected as the king’s 11th bride.
Mswati can wed as many women as he pleases. He chooses most at a traditional reed dance ceremony. If they are found to be unsuitable, he can offer them to chiefs, elders or other members of the royal family.
His late father King Sobuza II had more than a hundred wives in the 60 years he ruled the southern African kingdom. – Sapa-DPA