14 DAY TRIAL // Hugh Hefner is a poor amateur: the king of Swaziland, Mswati III, 39-year old, had to choose from amongst 100,000 chanting, bare-breasted maidens who have paraded before him so that he could choose his 14th wife. A special honor for the Swazi girls. The maidens are dispatched by King Mswati III to cut the reeds on the banks of Mbuluzana River in the picturesque Bhamsakhe area tomorrow.
The annual reed dance (Umhlanga) ended today at the king's residence in Ludzidzini. For many Swazi, this is a magnificent display of tradition and pride in the minuscule African country.
The paraded girls and women represent about 10 % of the entire population and honored the Queen Mother Ntombi Thwala , or Indlovukazi (The Great She-Elephant).
"Their arrival is in honor of the queen mother whose administrative capital is Ludzidzini and the reeds are used as wind breakers for the traditional huts and other traditional structures," said traditional overseer Ntfonjeni Dlamini.
"Our culture and the reed dance is my pride and joy," said Nothando Nhlengethwa, 21, the Indvuna (leader of the maidens) of the ceremony.
"If you take pride for yourself, you can always do it for your country. It helps us to know who we are and the people we should look up to, the King and princes. He is a great king to us."
Not all the Swazi share this enthusiasm: about 70 % live with less than $1 per day, while the royal family lives in opulence. In July, a big general strike demanded multi-party democracy. Political parties were banned by Mswati's late father, Sobhuza II, in 1973, who saw in them a factor of instability.
Mwazi, who studied in England, appoints the prime minister and cabinet, all judges, 70 % of the upper house, 15 % of the lower house and is the army leader while leaders of the political parties experience persecutions in Swaziland.
"Here we have a problem: the King has all powers vested in him. We want the King to reign but not to rule," said Jan Sithole, secretary-general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.
"I want to stress to you that political parties remain banned up until the people of Swaziland say so." said King Mswati in August.
"Just like apartheid was lawful in South Africa but it was an unjust system, our system continues to undermine and deny the rights to self-determination of the Swazi people," said Sithole.
The King enraged his people when he bought a $45 million private jet while hundreds of thousands of Swazi required food aid.
"That's his weakness, he likes women and he likes money, irrespective of the obtaining economic conditions."
And not all the "reed" girls came because they wanted to: rural families risk to be fined with a cow if they do not send their daughters to the parade.
"The reed dance is the apex of a patriarchal system that contributes heavily to Swaziland's devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic," said Ntombi Nkosi, president of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress Women's League.
Swaziland has the highest level of HIV infection in the world: 40 % of the pregnant women are infected. Life expectancy has plummeted to over 30 and every newborn Swazi has a 75 % chance to be dead before 40.
