HOW SWAZI KING IS MADE UPDATE

My post on Thursday (10 July 2008) about how the Swazi king was ‘chosen’ to lead the kingdom raised some eyebrows.

In particular my reference to people in Swaziland who consider that King Mswati III was ‘chosen’ by God hit some nerves.

The idea that he is chosen is encouraged from some pulpits in Swaziland. This gives the churches (especially it seems to me the spurious churches that meet in school classrooms or in pokey corners of the kingdom) a direct link to the King. This benefits the church more than it does the King.

Also, some chiefs in Swaziland who are themselves appointed by the King like to encourage the notion of ‘godliness’ because it allows people to believe that the chiefs themselves are close to God.

One reader of this blog had an interesting take on my original post. What the writer has to say about the succession might not be true. But then again, it might.

‘Before I get to the “making of a king” stuff, this “god” business has to be labelled bizarre. It is an archaic idea which should go the way of the dodo bird!

‘From history we know many aristocratic men have claimed the “sun” status (Louis XIV of France) or believed they were “gods” (Emperors of Japan). Even the mad psychopaths, such as Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini and German Nazi Adolph Hitler, believed they were some type of central “axis” around which Europe and the entire world should revolve. ’Hitler was not only considered “Mein Fuhrer” but also “Mein Gott” (my leader, my god) by his most loyal and ruthless SS - the schultzstaffel, his elite defense corp. So these ideas are not new no matter what surname you attach to the idea.

‘For many of us foreigners who lived in Swaziland we often heard the royal Dlamini successor must be the only child of his mother – that’s the primary consideration to becoming a king. But I’m certain many in Swaziland know the rumors about Makosetive's mother being raped so that he would not be her only child.

‘Supposedly the half-brother lives in Taiwan with a certain Mrs Mbhamali who once owned the Arcade Jewellers in Mbabane. She was a sister to the late Prime Minister Bhekimpi, hence the outcry when she was reported to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the 1990s. To this date, both have been esteemed guests of the now defeated Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

‘I guess it would be a bit too risky for the Nation or any others in Swaziland to print this but I doubt that I’m the only one who's heard it. Perhaps friends in Taiwan may even shed light on this half-brother to a “god.”’

See also
HOW A SWAZI KING IS MADE