Mswati III.

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King Mswati III
Mswati III. at the Reed Dance Festival 2006

Mswati III. ( Mswati III. Makhosetive ; born April 19, 1968 in Manzini ) has been King of Eswatini since April 25, 1986 ( Swaziland until 2018 ). He is the only absolutist ruler in Africa. According to Forbes , he had 2015 assets of at least 50 million US dollars (2008 about 200 million US dollars).

Live and act

Mswati was born on April 19, 1968 at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Manzini. He is a son of King Sobhuza II. His mother is Ntombi , one of the younger of a total of 70 wives of the monarch, who died in 1982, with whom he is said to have fathered about 210 children.

Mswati III. attended the Sherborne School in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1986 . On April 25, 1986, Mswati III. determined to be King of the Swazi people after a secret enthronement ritual . He is the 25th ruler of the Dlamini clan. Mswati III. governs by decree , since in the last absolutist monarchy in Africa all political parties have been banned since 1973. On June 5, 2002, he forwarded a bill to parliament banning any political activity in a party with the threat of up to 20 years imprisonment.

To Mswatis III. During the reign, his lavish lifestyle and his wives' expensive shopping trips abroad are criticized. So Mswati III. several new BMW cars for his wives . He himself drives luxury cars from Mercedes-Benz and Maybach . By 2005 he had ten palaces built for his wives. Swaziland is one of the poorest countries in the world. The majority of Eswatini's 1.37 million people live below the poverty line on less than one US dollar a day. The AIDS rate in Swaziland is the highest in the world; Twenty-seven percent of Swaziland's residents carry the virus. The life expectancy , at times the lowest in the world, 2015 was approximately 51 years.

In 2011 the national bankruptcy could only be averted with the help of South Africa and a loan of 250 million euros. In April rallies were held across the country to mark the resignation of Mswati III. was requested. The opposition accused him of plundering the treasury so that the royal family could afford a luxurious life. The mass protests were put down by the police.

The Swaziland government spokesman contradicted the allegations that a new jet from the King was bought with state funds in 2012. The king received the jet as a present for his 44th birthday from friends. The democracy movement was skeptical; the government tried to buy a $ 51 million jet back in 2002. At the time, this amount was equivalent to a quarter of the country's budget. The purchase was not made due to international protests. The European Union had warned against stopping development aid payments.

On his 50th birthday, Mswati declared in a speech that the English name of the country should no longer be Swaziland, but eSwatini.

family

King Mswati III continues the tradition of polygamy in Swaziland. In May 2005 he married his eleventh wife - Noliqwa Ntentesa, born in 1984. She had already been engaged to the ruler for three years and had lived in his court. The twelfth wedding followed in June 2005: the choice fell on the 16-year-old beauty queen Nothando Dube, who was already expecting a child from him. On July 27, 2010, Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba was arrested for having an affair with her. Mswati chose the 17-year-old student Phindile Nkambule as the 13th woman. He discovered her at the traditional Umhlanga (also: Schilftanz, Reed Dance Festival) of the bare-breasted virgins in September 2005, in which 4,000 women took part. The monarch ordered by decree to marry Nkambule as soon as she was pregnant by him. In 2013, Mswati had 15 wives; three of them have left Mswati and are in exile in South Africa. In 2017 he officially married his 14th wife.

Mswati has at least 30 children (as of September 2017), including Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini .

His eighth wife, Senteni Masango, died on April 6, 2018 of a drug overdose. Nothando Dube died at the age of 31 in March 2019.

See also

Web links

Commons : Mswati III  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The 5 Richest Kings In Africa. Forbes, June 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Top 15 Wealthiest Royals. Forbes, August 22, 2008.
  3. ↑ Swazi culture at sntc.org.sz (English), accessed on July 14, 2014
  4. ↑ Biography at biography.jrank.org (English), accessed on September 2, 2015
  5. ^ Daily Telegraph website, January 2005 , accessed September 20, 2012
  6. ^ CIA Handbook, 2015 Estimate , accessed October 21, 2015
  7. ^ Swaziland pro-democracy protests met with teargas and water cannon. The Guardian on April 12, 2011 (accessed May 20, 2013)
  8. ↑ Swaziland's King Mswati III given jet by 'sponsors' at bbc.co.uk on April 25, 2012 (English), accessed on May 20, 2013
  9. ↑ Swaziland king renames country Kingdom of eSwatini. The Guardian, April 18, 2018, accessed April 19, 2018
  10. ↑ Horand Knaup: Monarchy in Africa: Dangerous Liaisons in Swaziland. In: Spiegel Online . August 19, 2010, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  11. ↑ King of Swaziland to marry his 15th wife. The Independent on September 16, 2013, accessed October 21, 2015
  12. ↑ Swazi royal wife flees to SA - family source at citypress.co.za ( Memento from July 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on July 15, 2012
  13. ↑ a b Swazi king grabs 14th wife after September's Reed Dance ceremony. Euronews, 27 September 2017.
  14. ↑ Swazi king's wife took overdose. News24, April 8, 2018.
  15. ↑ King Mswati's 12th wife passes away. mpumalanganews.co.za of March 8, 2019 (English), accessed on March 16, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Mswati III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swaziland king
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Manzini