The 21-year-old daughter of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma is marrying the Eswatini king for love, a spokesman for Africa’s last remaining absolute monarchy has told the BBC.
Nomcebo Zuma’s engagement to King Mswati III was made official earlier this week at the end of the eight-day reed dance ceremony – a traditional rite of passage for young women and girls held every year.
The 56-year-old monarch is currently in a polygamous arrangement with 11 wives – and has been married 15 times in total.
Eswatini spokesman Alpheous Nxumalo dismissed outright the suggestion that the marriage would be a political alliance.
“Love has no eyes to see or count age. Love happens between two people. It can happen between a person who is 100 years old and a person who is above the average of what is permitted constitutionally,” he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Mr Zuma, who was president of South Africa from 2009 until 2018, and King Mswati are already relatives through marriage.
Critics accuse King Mswati, who rules by decree and has been on the throne for 38 years, of living in luxury with his polygamous household – while most of his people languish in poverty.
Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland, has a population of 1.1 million and one of the world’s highest rates of HIV/Aids infection.
The heavy-handed treatment of the king’s opponents in Eswatini, which is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa, has also come in for criticism.
There are strong traditional ties between Eswatini and South Africa’s Zulu monarchy – the current Zulu king, Misuzulu ka Zwelithini, is Mswati III’s nephew.
Mr Zuma, who resigned in disgrace over corruption allegations during his presidency and still faces a court case over a 1999 arms deal (he denies any wrong-doing), is currently enjoying a political renaissance.
His newly formed party uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) came third in South Africa’s general election this year.
The 82-year-old is also greatly respected by his supporters for upholding his cultural and traditional Zulu beliefs – and has several wives and is thought to have 20 children.
Nomcebo, whose mother is his long-standing fiancée Nonkululeko Mhlongo, was dressed in the bright colours of the Eswatini kingdom on the last day of the reed dance ceremony at the Ludzidzini Royal Palace on Monday.
Known as the Umhlanga ceremony, it is intended to discourage those taking part from becoming sexually active at a young age.
The king is allowed to choose a bride from the participants – and on this occasion Ms Zuma was presented as the “liphovela”, which means royal fiancée in Swati.
He has faced scrutiny in the past over the age of his brides. In 2005, he chose 17-year-old Phindile Nkambule for a wife – a few days after he had rescinded a ban on sexual relations for girls younger than 18.
Just two months after it had originally been imposed in 2001 – to help fight HIV/Aids – he had fined himself a cow for breaking the ban as he had married a 17-year-old as his ninth wife.
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