Southern Africa’s last absolute monarch, Swaziland’s King Mswati III, has picked his 11th bride — and has already paid an ”admission of guilt” fine for courting a virgin.
The Times Sunday newspaper reported that Noliqwa Ntentesa (17) was escorted to the palace by the same royal aides who landed in court last year for allegedly kidnapping the king’s 10th bride, a schoolgirl.
That case made international headlines as the mother of Zena Mahlangu charged the two men with abducting her daughter — in a first for the 35-year-old King Mswati, whose father, King Shobuza II, had more than 70 wives at the time of his death in 1982. The mother eventually decided to postpone the case indefinitely.
Earlier this week, King Mswati, also known as the ”Ngonyama” (lion), paid a fine for breaking the ”Umchwasho” chastity rite which bars young maidens from sex for five years.
The rule is an attempt to combat a high HIV/Aids rate in the tiny country landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique. The king introduced the chastity rite, under which unmarried women under 23-years-old must wear ”don’t touch me” woollen tassels, in September 2001.
The weekend newspaper said King Mswati had now paid an ”admission of guilt” fine of one head of livestock for breaking the chastity rite, confirming speculation that Ntentesa was the newest arrival in his string of wives.
”Noliqwa is now an official bride to the king and she is very happy about the latest developments, and she has accepted that her future is with the royal family,” a source close to her family said.
Ntentesa’s father, a maths lecturer at the University of Swaziland, said he would have challenged his daughter’s ”abduction” in court, but did not have the money to do so.
The newspaper said Ntentesa was expected to be paraded as the king’s new bride during the annual reed dance in September, a traditional ceremony where young maidens dance bare-breasted in front of the king for him to choose his next wife.
Ntentesa is said to be enjoying the royal life in a luxurious guesthouse nextdoor to the queen mother.
She has been assigned a messenger to report all her needs to the king, is driving a five-series BMW and freely uses a royal credit card to finance her needs and entertain her friends. – Sapa-AFP