As in previous years the foreign media saw the Reed Dance rather differently. For them the Reed Dance is a cultural curiosity with sexual overtones in which ‘virgins’ dance half naked in front of the king. This headline from the online news site Earth Times.com gives a flavour of this: ‘Thousands of virgins line up for inspection by Swazi king’.
The South Africa Press Association (SAPA) news agency, whose report appeared in news media across South Africa (including the Independent group of newspapers), said this,
‘Tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins have lined up for inspection by King Mswati III on Sunday in Swaziland's annual reed dance, which is always riven with speculation over whether the king will choose a new bride.’
Canada’s Calgary Herald which headlined its report ‘Swaziland’s king ponders 14th wife at annual dance’ took a similar view,
‘Tens of thousands of chanting, bare-breasted maidens paraded before King Mswati III of Swaziland Sunday, many of them hoping to catch his eye and be picked out to become his 14th wife.’
The Daily Telegraph, London, UK, made more of an effort than other news media to place the Reed Dance ceremony into a wider context, although when it came to the headline it still followed the pack: ‘Swaziland king has eyes for 14th wife’.
In its report the Telegraph quoted Nothando Nhlengethwa, 21, who was acting as the Indvuna, or leader of the maidens. She told the Telegraph,
‘Our culture and the reed dance is my pride and joy.’
She went on, ‘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.’
The Telegraph report went on, ‘Around 70 per cent of the population live on less than 50p a day, in stark contrast to the wealth and opulence of the royal family. Six weeks ago the country saw its biggest general strike in a decade, demanding, among other things, multi-party democracy.
‘Political parties were banned by King Mswati's late father, Sobhuza II, in 1973 on the grounds that they were divisive, after three opposition MPs were elected.
‘The current monarch, who acceded to the throne while a pupil at Sherborne School in Dorset, appoints the prime minister and cabinet, all judges, two-thirds of the upper house, 15 per cent of the lower house, and is commander in chief of the armed forces.
‘“Here we have a problem: the King has all powers vested in him,” said Jan Sithole, secretary-general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions. “We want the King to reign but not to rule.”’
The Telegraph reminded readers, ‘The dancers far outnumbered those who went on strike a few weeks ago, although opposition figures say rural families have no choice but to send their daughters to participate, as they can be fined a cow if they do not.’
The Telegraph’s report was unusual in that it gave context to the event, but it was also unusual in its length. Most reports I have seen were only of a few paragraphs long, confirming in my mind that the world outside Swaziland isn’t really very interested in what goes on in the kingdom.
There also seemed to be fewer media outlets reporting on the event than I have seen in the past two years that I have been observing Swaziland. The Swazi Observer claimed to have met journalists from the UK, France, Belgium and Taiwan.
South Africa was well represented by reporters, but that is understandable since Swaziland is on their doorstep and the opportunity to photograph bare-breasted virgins is one that South African newspapers would find hard to resist.
But I couldn’t find any reports on the Reed Dance in American newspapers, leaving me to assume that the Associated Press (AP) news agency did not attend. American newspapers rely almost exclusively for their news of Swaziland on reports from the AP. So, if the AP wasn’t there, as far as America is concerned it never happened.
A FOOTNOTE ON NUMBERS. The Swazi press reported there were 100,000 dancers at the ceremony, but SAPA only saw 40,000. Meanwhile, SABC Africa Television reported there were 55,000 and the Daily Telegraph, UK, quoting ‘officials’ went with the 100,000. They can’t all be right.
Last year it was estimated that 30,000 women took part.
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