CULTURE: The Saga of the Swazi King’s Many Wives

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

LOZITHA PALACE, Swaziland, Jun 18 2002 (IPS) - They are called Emakhosikati, literally “the females of the king (ikhosi)”. As of this month, they now number nine.

In the traditional hierarchy of sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, they reign with an influence unmatched by other women in a country where gender rights is a suspicious foreign concept to male authorities, and women are legally minors.

The nine wives of King Mswati differ markedly from their predecessors, the women who were wed to Mswati’s father, the long-reigning King Sobhuza II. Today’s queens are educated, some are professional women, and they are fashion-model svelte as well as being fashion trendsetters in their own right.

But the queens are part of a culture of polygamy that is under increasing scrutiny locally, where health organisations combating the AIDS epidemic say multiple partners spread HIV and women’s empowerment groups see the system as a hindrance to Swazi women’s social and economic advancement.

Then there is the cost of maintaining multiple royal families in wealthy lifestyles undreamed of by earlier queens, but considered to be entitlement by the current group.

“The queens of King Sobhuza lived in mud huts in what would be considered poverty today,” says a palace official who favours polygamy for the Swazi king because he sees it as a political necessity. “Today’s queens are educated, and they want good things for their children.”

The queens are entitled to individual houses — some live in palaces — chauffeur-driven luxury cars, bodyguards, and expensive wardrobes and jewellery. Each of the king’s dozen children are escorted to their private schools by police officers, who remain at the school premises until the child is brought home.

“The cost of maintaining nine households in wealth is too great for an impoverished country where two-thirds of the (one million) people live under the poverty line,” says attorney Kislon Shongwe, a member of the Swaziland Democratic Alliance that is pushing for democratic reform in the kingdom.

Political opposition parties are banned by royal decree, but pro-democracy advocates seek international support to preserve the Swazi king as a constitutional monarch under a democratic system of government.

Palace sources say King Mswati has sufficient personal resources to maintain his wives in the comfort they feel they deserve. “The queens do not live like Princess Di (Diana). Private schools in Mbabane (the capital of Swaziland) are considerably less costly than schools in London or even South Africa,” says the source.

Palace officials also insist that while fewer ordinary Swazis are entering polygamous relationships, the custom must continue for the king because of political considerations. “A Swazi king marries into select clans who are his subjects to ensure their continuing support,” wrote anthropologist Hilda Kuper.

Historian JSM Matsebula noted that the first wife of any Swazi King is always from the Matsebula family. When a Swazi woman becomes a queen, the prefix “la” is added to her clan name, and this becomes the title by which she is addressed until her death.

Thus Inkhosikati (queen) LaMatsebula was followed by LaMotsa, LaNgangaza, LaMbikiza, LaMagwaza, LaMasango, and LaHwala. Late last month, King Mswati wed Queen LaGija. One week later, on Jun 2, he took his ninth wife, Queen LaMagongo.

To non-Swazis, King Mswati may seem to have a large number of wives, but he is nearly a bachelor compared to his father. Since his installation as king at age 18 in 1986, King Mswati has taken a new wife on average every 21 months. By this measure, some senior princes have observed, it would take him over 200 years to equal the number of official marriages entered into by his father.

King Sobhuza officially had about 120 wives during his long life. He died in 1982 at age 83, the world’s longest reigning monarch and oldest head of state at the time. But unofficial estimates have put the number of his wives and mistresses at over 400.

Foreign reporters regularly ask King Mswati about his polygamy when he travels overseas. He is sensitive to project an image of a modern head of state, and travels with only one wife at a time. The queens take turns on a rotating basis to prevent public gossip that one queen is in favour while another might be in disfavour.

Mswati is also asked by foreign journalists to reconcile his beliefs as a Christian with his polygamous practices. The king responds by saying Swazi culture has been kept alive by perpetuating customs important to the Swazi people while accepting new ways from outsiders that Swazis find useful.

Among the queens, the concepts of public service and self-actualisation have been new ways taken from the examples of European royalty, especially British royalty. Swaziland was a British protectorate from 1902 until national independence in 1968.

Queen LaNgangaza continued her education, and earned her law degree in South Africa last year. Queen LaMasango has pursued painting, and this month hosted an auction of her artwork to raise money for charity. Queen LaMbikiza has joined the Queen Mother in supporting Lusito (the Swazi word for help), a foundation that assists the underprivileged.

At first, traditionalists were aghast that Mswati’s queens were not acting like their predecessors, whose role was to remain still and silent, wrapped in heavy blankets, when they appeared at rare traditional events.

In contrast, the new queens and some of their offspring appear in formal attire to open gala fund-raising fashion shows at the Royal Swaziland Convention Centre. And they do the traditional dance steps at sacred national pageants like the Incwala as if they are enjoying themselves rather than participating in a sombre ritual.

Fewer Swazis are practising polygamy because of the expense involved for a man to maintain multiple households. If the kingdom becomes a democracy, the need for the king to solidify his power by marrying into various clans will disappear.

However, future Swazi kings will determine whether they will choose to honour the custom for the sake of tradition, even after the underlying rationale is gone.