Swazi King Mswati III has appeared in public with his latest ”fiancee” in what appeared to have been an event staged to show she had not been abducted and wanted to marry the king, a press report said on Saturday.
Zena Mahlangu (18) appeared relaxed in the company of the king and other future wives as the group toured Aids centres here on Friday.
Mahlangu’s first royal walkabout came a day after High Court judges refused to obey an order by Mswati’s government to either resign or drop a case in which Mahlangu’s mother has sought an application for her release.
Lindiwe Dlamini alleged she was taken away by two men sent by the 34-year-old king after he chose her as his 10th wife at a reed dance last month.
Justice Stanley Sapire told the court on Thursday he and his two colleagues were visited at court on Wednesday by Swaziland’s attorney general, the chiefs of the army and police and the commissioner of correctional services.
They issued the judges with an instruction from the Royal Palace to drop the case by Thursday or resign from their positions, Sapire said.
He read out a statement in which he said he and his colleagues would not resign and would stay on to ensure justice was done.
The case has become a major test of the powers of the absolute monarchy versus the people’s rights at a time when a Constitutional Review Commission has written a draft Constitution that would seek to return Swaziland to democracy. – Sapa-AFP