Depending upon which media outlet you choose to believe (if you believe any of them) anything up to 130,000 ‘maidens’ danced for Swaziland’s King Mswati III at the Reed Dance this year.
The Swazi Observer reported 130,000 girls took part, but international news sources put the figure much lower.
Playing with numbers is not a new thing when it comes to the Reed Dance. There is always a tendency on the part of the Swazi media to overestimate the numbers taking part. I can’t be sure whether this is because journalists in Swaziland can’t count (and let’s be honest there’s plenty of evidence from the things they write and broadcast that many are challenged in this department) or they just want to exaggerate the numbers to make the event (and by extension the King) seem more popular than it really is.
This year’s event received much attention in the media outside of Swaziland, mainly because international news agencies were there to report it. The agencies send their reports to news organisations across the world. That means that a single report could appear in countless newspapers, websites and broadcasting outlets across the world.
It also means that the way these agencies report the event and what they highlight (and what they choose to miss out) determines what most people in the world get to learn about the Reed Dance and Swaziland more generally.
Yesterday, I posted the report sent out by the international news agency Reuters.
Here is a report sent by another news agency Agence France-Press (AFP).
Unlike the Reuter report, AFP downplayed the ‘bare breasted’ dancing, but nonetheless emphasised that the dancers were ‘maidens’. Considering the highly sexualised nature of the Reed Dance it is perhaps disconcerting to learn that girls as ‘young as six years of age’ took part.
Record turnout as virgins dance for Swaziland's king
1 September 2008
LUDZIDZINI, Swaziland (AFP) — Tens of thousands of virgin maidens danced Monday for Swaziland's King Mswati III in a traditional reed dance at Ludzidzini palace outside the capital Mbabane.
The final day of the annual dance attracted a record 70,000 girls, some of them as young as six years of age.
The girls -- dressed in colourful Swazi regalia -- came from all corners of the mountain kingdom in a display of pride in their culture and virtue.
The ceremony has a more serious mission -- to draw attention to AIDS and encourage abstinence among young women, in a small southern African nation ravaged by AIDS and poverty.
Swaziland has one of the highest AIDS prevalence rates in the world, with almost 40 percent of adults affected, according to UN data.
"As a young Swazi woman, it is very important for me to here. I have been attending the dance since I was 14 years of age," university student Landile Hlongwa, 24, told AFP.
King Mswati has 13 wifes, and he could pick another from among the dancers.
"Being chosen by the king would be a bonus for me. I would like occupy one of the royal palaces one day," Hlongwa said shyly.
In 2005 the monarch triggered an outcry when he selected a 17-year-old to be his 13th wife just days after he ended an official ban on sex for girls younger than 18.
The bare-breasted maidens -- led by the king's own daughters -- sang and chanted traditional songs before thousands of spectators and tourists who gathered at a sports field outside the palace.
Groups of girls, some clad in sarongs bearing the face of Africa's last absolute monarch, took turns in dancing to traditional rhythms while some of the queens and other royals joined in.
"This year's record attendance is an indication that our children have more understanding of what our culture is about," said event co-ordinator Irene Ngwane.
This year's ceremony precedes a controversial "40-40" celebration to mark the impoverished kingdom's 40 years of independence from Britain as well as the king's birthday.
That much-anticipated event has touched off unprecedented demonstrations against international shopping trips by the royal family and the purchase of luxury cars at a time when most Swazis live in poverty.
The lavish celebration takes place Saturday.
See also
SWAZILAND REED DANCE FIRST REPORT
4 comments:
The following comment in response to the above post was left at the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum. http://groups.google.com/group/sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum
It seems to me the western press can't even write an informative article about the Reed Dance! Every journalist is terrified to touch the holy subject of culture and will never ask "who defines this culture"?
Is there not a bloody reporter who can make the link between the "child" of "child-headed households" and these child-virgins?
Isn't there anyone who will ask how these girls, without parents, without fees for education, without a welfare system, can be expected to abstain from sex while the sex trade often offers the only escape from death.
It's a pathetic joke to say the virgin-dance tries "to draw attention to AIDS" when the money for these "cultural" events could truly rebuild a crippled health care system. I guess health and life expectancy are insignificance in the royal culture of Swazland.
I am always interested to learn what the foreign press write about the Reed Dance. To me everything is just funny!!
It's funny how less informative are the reports on the ceremony itself. Instead they always focus on the lavish lifestyle of the King. It is funny how the reports speculate on the King 'picking' another wife.
Today I read a screaming headline
"Bare-breasted virgins compete for Swaziland king" . The very article claimed. "The Reed Dance has been a big date on the Swaziland cultural calendar since Mswati began the ceremony in 1999."
http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINL148259220080901
The headline tweaked the reality and the latter statement is a blatant lie.
In as much as I believe a lot of things are not right... It is funny how basic journalism practices are conveniently ignored when reporting on certain issues or personalities. I am interested on how media scholars view this!
Like Stanley i wondered what the 1999 was about. Initially i thought it was a typo by Richard originally but i guess not. If i remember my history correctly, the Reed Dance stopped for a number of years around the turn of the last century and then began again in the mid 20th century. I remember attending one dance in 1988 and have no idea what the 1999 is about. Anyone help? Too bad we didn't know the journalist's name of email to enquire...
Hey Stanley, are you the author of a students' siSwati novels or have I the wrong fellow?
The bit about 1999 was in the Reuters report. I highlighted it in an ironic way. Of course, it's an error on the part of the reporter. My guess is that the reporter saw the date in someone else's report and believing it to be true simply copied it into their own report. That's the way journalism works.
Richard
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