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Tuesday 24 February 2009

IMAGE MAKEOVER FOR SWAZI PRINCESS

The publicity machine around Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of Swaziland’s King Mswati III just goes rolling on and on.


The Princess, aged 21, who is allegedly studying at the Biola University in Los Angeles, California, USA, spends most of her time trying to forge a career as a rap star under the name Princess Pashu.


Now, to add to the various online networks she already has, an ‘official’ website has been opened up. This one plays down her musical ambitions and highlights her life as a member of the Swazi Royal Family.

And what a family. According to the website, King Mswati has 23 children in total, the princess has over 200 aunts and uncles, not including their own spouses as the late King Sobhuza II had 102 wives and over 400 children. That’s a lot of mouths for the Swazi people to feed.

The website says that King Mswati has 12 wives, but most observers think he has at least 13. Nobody can be sure because the number of wives the king has is information that the Swazi people are not allowed to know.

The website is meant to show just how much the princess loves Swaziland and all the hard work she puts in for her people. The effect is somewhat undermined on the page devoted to her forthcoming planned events. The most recent - presenting books to students at Lasi High School – was scheduled for 24 July 2008. So she’s not entirely rushed off her feet then.

One of the most striking features of the website is its gaudy attempt to glamorise the Princess through the use of doctored photographs. She is described as a ‘model’ who ‘maintains a respectable yet flexible range of poses’.

I don’t know who set up the website, but it states that she owns the copyright to all the material on it (even though much of it, such as reports from Swazi newspapers about her, was not written by her).

There have been suspicions for some time that she has a public relations firm working for her (her father has at least two working for him), so maybe this is part of an image building exercise. Let’s face it she needs to work hard to dispel the belief that she parties while Swazis starve.



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

With all due respect, Mr. Rooney, this entry does not reflect your best work. Unfortunately, Biola University is far from being a party school. You should read the long list of rules for its students. It is not like many of the other colleges and universities in the US. I know your arguments because I've been reading them for quite some time now, but don't lower your standards of reporting to make the point. If you do, you may lose some of us (the few who actually read this blog) who agree with you.

Publisher: Richard Rooney said...

The point I made was about the behaviour of the princess, not about students of Biola, who may or may not be very hard working youngsters.

Richard

Anonymous said...

Then substantiate your claims. Have you any eyewitness accounts of her partying? Or does rapper and model in your mind mean something more? I went to the site you linked with and it appears she is a "Christian rapper, r & b, and blues singer." I listened to her music and it does not come close to great music nor does it come close to what one would think of when you hear about rap music. Her website is one that you could sign up for if you wanted. It doesn't have anything to do with pr firms. Besides that, it appears she is a communications major and therefore is going to have an increasing skill set in regards to marketing. So it appears that you took some information and jumped to a conclusion. Unless, of course, you can substantiate your claims further. It gives me pause to go back over your other work and wonder if this is how you write about everything. If so, I'll look elsewhere for factual reporting. Thanks.

Publisher: Richard Rooney said...

Try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q690saeUOFw to hear the princess herself talk about her lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. "The best thing about being royal is getting pretty much anything you want." What a statement.

Anonymous said...

ROONEY!, I am a Proud African, who has been reading about all what you said about Princess Pashu, if i may ask you do you have life? have yuo ever watched a documentary-movie called 'without the king'?, its unbelievable that you have a pHD but yet you cant evaluate how a person expresses her self, i mean if you have read about Pashu, and made your research before coming to conclusions about her. what are you expecting from her? to be a hero? she is just like you and me the fact that her father is a king does not mean she has power over her father, i suggest you focus on updating or upgrading your phd, by the way i cant stop asking my self on how did you write your theses, or copied and pasted peoples work!!

my name is Phakamani which means 'rise' in english

Anonymous said...

Well her career in music is one talent that SIKAHNYISO might have.Its a blessing that a majority Swazi citizens are happy to see; however, the facts still ramain she is part of the royal family that is milking the Swazi people's welath inorder to secure their wealth yet seeing a majority Swazi children poor makes them proud and happy..It is believed that Princess sikhanyiso is one of the African richest folks on forbes and maybe the yongest richest teen in her eirly young age..I wonder how she became rich all of a sudden, let me guess all the doations that Swaziland receives from USA,CANADA AND other overseas countries end up into her bank account and becoming the richest young folks in Africa..Its sickning to keep on getting news about an irrational Swaziland royal family that prefers to see their own Swazi citizens hungry, dying of AIDS, and other Mulnitrution diseases yet securing their wealth and being labeled the richest princess in Africa...We know that the late KING SOBHUZA 11 did the very same problems in Swaziland in milking the Swazi citizens their wealth in all business investments, donations and the majority Swazi citizens kept in a dark yet securing King Mswati 111 bank account and making the majority Swazi citizens poor and dye of hunger and AIDS. well to us most folks in the USA,AND the rest of the world we see the Swazi Royal family as greedy as SADAM HUSSAIN and a King with his family that do not want to see a better Swaziland but to contiue to rob the Swazi citizens part of what belong to them too.. Swaziland doe's belong to the DLAMINI CLAN Swaziland is Swaziland becuase of the people of Swaziland...SIKHANYISO BETTER START WITHDRAWING ALL HER FORBES MONEY AND HELP THE POOR SWAZI COMMUITIES IN GETTING BETTER IN TERMS OF ENCOURAGING BUSINESS GRANTS TO THOSE THAT WANT TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT IN THE kiNGDOM.. Every time we see Sikhanyiso and the royal family in USA we see a royal family that is useless and think of their pocket rather not to help improve Swziland situation yet securing their FORBES MONEY...