Swaziland is the last country in Africa that maintains an absolute monarchy, and King Mswati III takes his absolute ruler position very seriously. Among other things, he continues a longstanding tradition of the king picking multiple girls each year as potential wives. The girls are then forced to the royal court where Mswati eventually takes one as a wife. The others are offered to lesser royal figures as wives.
But Lindiwe Dlamini, a single mother living in central Swaziland, has filed a lawsuit in Swaziland claiming that this tradition amounts to little more than kidnapping among other things.
Dlamini’s daughter, Zena Mahlangu, 18, was taken by the King’s courtiers during an annual Reed Dance ceremony in September. Mahlangu was one of four women selected by the King and required to return to the royal court for training as potential wives.
“My right to custody of my child will have been unlawfully infringed, and Zena’s right to liberty, privacy and protection from abuse will have been breached,” Dlamini said.
Sources:
Mother challenges King over girl’s ‘abduction’. Michael Dynes, Times (UK), October 21, 2002.
Case against King Mswati III goes to court. SABCNews.Com, October 21, 2002.