He is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, able to crush opposition parties, ban newspapers and ignore the courts. But King Mswati III of Swaziland is proving powerless against an HIV/Aids epidemic ravaging his kingdom.
The landlocked country tucked between South Africa and Mozambique was recently identified by the United Nations as having the world’s highest infection rate, with 38,6% of pregnant mothers testing positive.
Analysts agree HIV/Aids is the king’s biggest challenge. In almost every household someone is infected, said Ncamsile Tfwala, a project manager with the relief group World Vision. Funerals used to be weekend events but such is the scale of death that they are now held daily, she said.
”Everybody knows about condoms but people are still careless. We are really struggling with behaviour change.” She blamed a patriarchal, polygamous society which made it difficult for girls and women to say no to sex, protected or otherwise.
A report last month from the World Health Organisation’s representative in Swaziland, David Okello, painted a bleak picture. ”The reality is now sinking in. History is catching up with us, as Aids-related mortality and morbidity increases exponentially.”
Now the crisis has precipitated an unprecedented personal challenge to the king: two of his 11 queens have severed ties, apparently because of his polygamous ways.
Queen Putsoana Hoala (30) known as La Hwale, packed her bags in June and left her three children to move to her father’s house in South Africa.
Queen Delisa Magwaza, also 30 and known as La Magwaza, moved to London but recently returned to Swaziland to negotiate what is expected to be a discreet separation from the monarch.
The king sponsors relief efforts for Aids orphans, lobbies for aid and preaches safe sex. But critics say those efforts are undermined by his multiple sexual partners.
”For a role model it is not about what they say but what they do,” said Jan Sithole, head of the national trade union federation. ”We hold the gold medal in HIV/Aids. It is very unfortunate.”
Another critic, Mario Masuku, the head of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement, said the tradition of royal polygamy was no excuse. ”His tendency to accumulate young girls is his own decision.”
Soon after independence from Britain in 1968 King Mswati’s father suspended the constitution and became an absolute monarch. At his death in 1982 he had more than 70 wives and his landlocked mountain realm, with a population of just one million, was stable and relatively prosperous.
Recalled home from school in Britain before finishing his A-levels, King Mswati III took the throne in 1986 and acquired a reputation for lavish living with a fleet of BMWs, a host of palaces and foreign trips — which critics contrast with the plight of Swaziland’s 300 000 drought-stricken farmers.
Dwindling customs revenue and sugar exports are squeezing the economy. The king is also under pressure at home and abroad to cede some power and lift the 31-year-old state of emergency which Amnesty International last month said was a cover for human rights abuses, including torture and deaths in police custody.
Interviewed at her palace in Lozhito, the king’s ninth wife, Nontsetselelo Magongo, 19, acknowledged that HIV could enter the royal circle but said she would stay because she trusted God and her husband. ”I’m young, he’s old, I can’t raise my concerns. If I live in fear the trust won’t be there any more.”
The king is adored by most of his subjects. ”I love my king,” said Makoti Dlamini (46) sitting in the dust outside her hut in Lubombo.
But Dlamini, sick from Aids which she blames on a philandering ex-husband, added that she would not want her granddaughters to catch the king’s eye. ”His attention is on too many women.”
Life in the kingdom
Population 1 169 241
Per capita GDP: $4 900
The Swazi people settled in the 18th century, under the leadership of the ruling House of Dlamini. The country derives its name from a later king, Mswati I, but Dlamini remains the surname of the royal family. After the Boer War, it became a British protectorate and gained independence in 1968.
Ruled by King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch and a former public schoolboy educated at Sherborne, Dorset.
Political parties have been banned since 1973, when King Mswati’s father overturned the Constitution.
The king this year asked his government for about $14-million to redecorate three palaces and build 11 more for his wives despite his subjects facing drought and food shortages.
Custom dictates the monarch must take two new wives a year to balance loyal-ties in the country’s clans. At an annual dance he selects brides from 50 000 women. – Guardian Unlimited Â