[Swaziland] King Mswati III bans & kicks out wife # 12 after "affair".

The 12th wife of Swaziland's autocratic king, who allegedly had an affair with his justice minister, has been thrown out of the royal palace without her children.

Inkhosikati LaDube, 23, who married King Mswati III at the age of 16, says she has been kept under virtual house arrest in her official residence since she and Ndumiso Mamba were caught in a hotel in Mbabane, the capital, last year.

She told a South African newspaper that after more than a year in captivity, she was ordered "immediately to leave the palace" on November 12.

It followed a row with a security guard who blocked her from taking the youngest of her three children, a two-year-old boy, to hospital after he injured himself while playing, she said.

"He threatened to hit me, saying I am not going anywhere with my child, who was bleeding from a deep wound," she said.

An altercation ensued, she told South Africa's Sunday Times, and she was "physically prevented" from leaving the palace. "I had to protect myself, so I pepper-sprayed him in the eyes," she said.

The matter was reported to the Queen Mother, who shares power with her son and is known as the Indlovukazi, or Great She-Elephant. She is said to have decided that LaDube had been disrespectful and should be evicted from the royal household.

LaDube said she was forced to leave behind her children and her belongings.

The King, who is 43 and has 23 children by 13 wives, is on his annual period of seclusion. He has not seen LaDube for a year and, she alleges, knows almost nothing about the couple's children.

Swaziland Solidarity Network, a South Africa-based umbrella organisation of pro-democracy organisations, lambasted the king for his wife's "brutal eviction".

"The ill-treatment that LaDube has endured and the subsequent separation from her children is a very inhumane act," Lucky Lukhele, a spokesman, said. He said the king had "never forgiven" LaDube for embarrassing him with her alleged affair.

"Mswati has never again set foot in her house after the scandal. He further instructed her bodyguards to deliberately frustrate her to the point where she could no longer take it and then hopefully leave," he said. He added that without their mother, LaDube's children were at risk of being "terribly neglected" in the royal household.

source

[Pre-wedding Dinner] King Mwsati III of Swaziland (and one of his 14 wives whom I don't know the name)

source of the photos

[Swaziland] Concert controversy on King Mswati III's over-expending taxpayers' money

US rapper Jadakiss gave a concert linked to the embattled royal family early Sunday, performing in a nearly empty hall in Swaziland's main city Manzini following an opposition boycott call.

The event, billed as a fundraiser for a charity bearing the name of the son of King Mswati III, Lindani, was supposed to start at 6:00 pm Saturday.

But Jadakiss finally took to the stage around 1:00 am Sunday, giving an "excellent" performance to a small audience of under 500 people, including several princes and princesses, according to Mphikhelele Msibi, a reporter of the state-run Observer newspaper.

VIP tickets for the Jadakiss show were sold for 100 dollars (69 euros), the equivalent of a month's salary for many workers in this impoverished African nation.

The banned Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), who had called on young people to shun the "royal" event, hailed the poor turnout as a success.

Several big name South African acts who had been billed to perform -including DJ Tira and Jozi, did not travel to Swaziland for the concert.

Neighbouring South Africa's ruling ANC party's Youth League also called for a boycott of the event, saying it is a "celebration of the suffering and starvation of the people of Swaziland by the king, his friends and family".

"We have no problem with Jadakiss personally we have a problem with taxpayers' money being used to organise activities of this kind," SWAYOCO's national organiser Mxolisi Nghamphalala told AFP, adding: "Jadakiss performed and he got his money."

But he dismissed the concert as "a publicity stunt by the royal family," saying: "It is about winning the hearts and minds of the Swazi youth. Bear in mind the timing -- it comes immediately after April 12th."

On that date Swazi police stopped anti-government protests from going ahead by detaining, beating and tear-gassing demonstrators.

Swaziland's trade unions have embarked on a campaign of mass action demanding that the government step down and that multi-party democracy be introduced in sub-Saharan Africa's last kingdom.

King Mswati III, at 43 Africa's last absolute monarch with a fortune estimated at $100 million by Forbes magazine, has ruled tiny Swaziland for 18 years.

The landlocked country wedged between Mozambique and South Africa is fast running out of money to pay for the day-to-day running of state, including civil servants' salaries.

The economy depends almost entirely on South Africa, which finances most of the Swazi government's income through a regional customs union that sees Pretoria lavish money on its smaller neighbours.

source

[VIDEO] Top 10 Longest-Reigning Monarchs of the world

10 - JAPAN - Emperor Akihito (22 years of reign)
9 - SWAZILAND - King Mswati III (24 years) 
8 - THE NETHERLANDS - Queen Beatrix (30 years)
7 - SPAIN - King Juan Carlos I (35 years)
6 - SWEDEN - King Carl XVI Gustaf (37 years)
5 - DENMARK - Queen Margrethe (38 years)
4 - OMAN - Sultan Qaboos Bin Said (40 years)
3 - BRUNEI - Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (43 years)
2 - UNITED-KINGDOM - Queen Elizabeth II (59 years)
1 - THAILAND - King Bhumibol Adulyadej (64 years)

Swazi royalty praised for Zwelithini's virgins

ZULU King Zwelithini has praised His Majesty King Mswati III and the entire Swazi Royal family for the role the played in grooming his children and instilling proper values in them.
The Zulu King was addressing hundreds of guests during Umemulo ceremony for his two daughters Princesses Lomkhosi (25) and Bukhosibemvelo (22) held at the KwaKhangela Royal Resident at Kwa-Nongoma over the weekend. He said he was pleased to see his daughters graduating into adulthood whilst they were still virgins and free from problems such as alcohol and drug abuse. The Zulu King attributed the success of his daughters to the values instilled in them by their mother, Princess Mantfombi who is a daughter to King Sobhuza II. “Undlunkulu Princess Mantfombi has been a good role model to my children. This showed that she was also from a family that brought up its children through the culture of respect and a great love for children’’, the King said. Umemulo is the coming of age for a child in a family. According to the Zulu culture when a member of their family attained puberty stage it is a must for the family to declare such by performing certain rituals to qualify her/him to adulthood. It was the same for Lomkhosi and Bukhosibemvelo after their parents realised the two ladies had already attained puberty stage and were ready for marriage. The King declared them ‘Omamgonqo’ (puberty subjects) and were placed into seclusion which lasted for a month during which they received counselling from selected members of the royal family. The girls spent the seclusion period under a make-shift structure called ‘Umgonqo’. The structure is erected by girls’ peers who also join in the month long seclusion camp. When the seclusion period elapses the community is invited to the event where the child celebrates his or her transitional period to motherhood or fatherhood. King Zwelithini and Undlunkulu Princess Mantfombi followed the same culture for their children on Saturday. They showered the two girls with gifts before opening the stage for guests to also give gifts too. His Majesty King Mswati III through Prince Qethuka Dlamini gave each girl some money. This gift was also followed by many from different well-wishers. Whistling sounds and cheers from the audience dominated the arena when Princess Lomkhosi received a Mercedes Benz Compressor from her fiancee Melusi Moyo while Princess Bukhosibemvelo’s fiancee Sipho Nyawo presented her with keys for a house worth E2.5m. The house is situated in Johannesburg. The King wished the girls well as they took a new direction in their lives.