A daughter of the former South African president Jacob Zuma and the king of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, have become engaged during a traditional ceremony in which Nomcebo Zuma was among hundreds of women and girls dancing for the monarch.
Zuma, 21, appeared on Monday night at the annual reed dance as the liphovela – the royal fiancee or concubine – and will become King Mswati III’s 16th wife.
The 56-year-old king has led Africa’s last absolute monarchy since taking power in 1986, days after his 18th birthday, and has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle while most of the population lives in poverty.
The days-long reed dance is a traditional rite of womanhood, with young women singing and dancing bare-chested, wearing traditional clothing that includes anklets and thick colourful tassles, some carrying mock swords and shields.
Also known as the Umhlanga, it was regarded as an example of Eswatini’s “graceful” culture, said Bianca Dlamini-Holman, a Swazi influencer, in a 2023 YouTube vlog about that year’s dance. About 5,000 people attended this year’s celebrations at the Ludzidzini royal village in Lobamba.
It is not the first time King Mswati, who has dozens of children, has announced a much younger bride at the Umhlanga. In September 2005, 17-year-old Phindile Nkambule was presented as his 13th fiancee at a reed dance, with the BBC reporting at the time that she had caught his eye at the main dance the previous month.
Just days before, the king had rescinded a ban on sex for and with girls under 18, which he had implemented in an effort to fight HIV/Aids. Two months after imposing the ban in 2001, Mswati fined himself a cow for breaking his own rule by taking a 17-year-old as his ninth wife, according to the BBC.
The king rules the country of 1.2 million people by decree, with political parties banned and elected officials only existing in an advisory capacity.
In 2003, Mswati’s 10th wife, Zena Mahlangu, was abducted, aged 18, while preparing for her A-level exams, her mother, Lindiwe Dlamini, who fought an unsuccessful legal battle to have her daughter returned, alleged.
The king’s latest bride also comes from a large polygamous family. Jacob Zuma, 82, has been married six times and currently has four wives and more than 20 children.
He was South Africa’s president from 2009-18, when he was forced to resign by his African National Congress party after a series of corruption allegations. The shrewd political operator upended the country’s elections earlier this year, when his new uMkhonto we Sizwe party came third, with 14.6% of the vote.
Associated France Presse contributed to this story.
