Where do we go from here?

Teachers take a break during protests demanding government pay what is owing to schools, so pupils can keep learning….

Protesters burn flag, or rather someone’s king skirt

 

Manzini, Sept 6th

Reed Dance in Pictures

Day 6. Maidens waiting to deposit bundles of reeds at royal kraal. I saw others arriving with broken-looking stalks earlier that looked far more genuine. I don't know where these bundles came from but they look very uniform. I was told maidens found it difficult to collect enough reeds this year after a mysterious fire destroyed most of the reed plantation

Day 6. This princess was late for the divvying out of the reeds so her driver dropped her off right in the middle of the action

Photo op

King Mswati entering the stadium – this year he was on foot with his regiment. He did not show the usual flash by entering in a luxury cars. Neither did the queen mother who made no grand entrance, seated demurely in the stands behind. Perhaps all in deference to the economic crisis.

Part of crowd of spectators. Sorry guys I couldn't resist. It took guts

Princess Sikhanyiso led the dancing as usual. This year she unveiled a new song. Read into it what you will: "This is our land, they may come with spears but that is not the way it goes. They will not cope, they will not get close to this land."

Dancing to Different Tunes: Umhlanga Maidens’ Close Encounter With Dangerous Varsity Students

Students from the University of Swaziland have been waiting 3 weeks for campus to open to allow them to start their varsity year but, UNISWA says it is short of funds, blaming the financial crisis. It seems the money for education has run out here in Swaziland. If and when the university does open, only about a quarter of the first year students who thought they would get state bursaries will actually get them. Students say they have exhausted all avenues by way of pleading with university authorities so they tried petitioning parliament.

Unluckily for them, just up the road, a march of a different kind was underway. Thousands upon thousands of Swazi maidens (by which I mean girls between the ages of 12 and 18 mainly) were massing in preparation for their long march to cut reeds to eventually present to the King on Monday. The air of festivity and expectation around the maidens is palpable as hordes of roadside stores mushroomed throughout the Lobombo area around Ezulwini to cater to the hungry, and often bored young women.

No ways were the students getting near the girls. You could hardly see the small group of toyi-toying students (who’d been brave enough to turn up given clashes with police outside the university earlier in the week) there was such a big crowd of  police surrounding them as they made their way down to parliament. On the way back things got nasty as the police blocked their route back to the bus rank and detained around 7 according to student leaders – the idea being so as not to ruin an otherwise beautiful, celebration of Swazi culture.

“They thought we wanted to disturb the King’s thing, this Reed Dance,” said student leader, Sibusiso Nhlabatsi. He and several others were bundled into police vans and taken to HQ where they were made to do press ups and stomach crunches for half an hour while police verbally abused them.”They told us we think the King is not good enough,” Nhlabatsi said.

Woman gives birth to 7-Headed Snake

And now for something completely different.

Both Swazi daily papers featured, as front page news, the story of a woman who gave birth to a snake.  This is apparently normal if you are an ex-devil worshipper, married to a cop. The only way the stories differ between papers is that in the Times she gave birth to a 7 headed snake, and in the Observer, a 2 headed one. Well, that and in the Times she also got a T-shirt from the devil while in the underworld and in the Observer she came away with a hairpiece manufactured in hell.

Swazi Police Grab Papers at Border

Swazi Times reports today that cops went to the border to grab copies of SA paper, the Sowetan apparently because it contained details of legal crisis unfolding  here. Specifically the sexual misconduct allegations against Chief Justice, Ramodibedi. Police apparently confiscated copies of the paper to study them and released them several hours later. It appears they also wanted to block copies of the Mail and Guardian coming in. There the offending article is one on King Mswati’s 12 wife, LaDube trying to flee the country.

Whatever happened to THAT princess?

All right, time for some royal gossip.

Remember THAT princess, Inkhosikati laDube – otherwise known as wife no. 12? She who was surprised in a lover’s tryst with the Minister of Justice last year? Perhaps you saw those unforgettable photos circulating on the net of said minister peering out of the innards of a bed.

Well, after nearly a year in Coventry (sequestered inside one of the many royal palaces), she has been seen out in public again and has even been quoted giving fashion advice in a local paper.

When asked by the Times of Swaziland on Sunday to share her beauty secrets the former Miss Teen says, “Tons of sleep and staying prayed up.” She also advises readers, “it’s all about exercise, keeping healthy and staying positive.” Few clues there as to how she’s been spending those lonely months waiting for the dust to settle.

LaDube was spotted at a fashion show 2 weeks ago and both national papers published the photo of her in a pale blue sari (albeit in a low-key manner without mentioning why her appearance was significant).The state controlled Observer received a sharp rap over the knuckles from the King’s Office for daring to do so none the less. The Swazi media were not supposed to report on the scandal to begin with.

But, no matter, she appears to have managed a seamless coming-out – though we have yet to see her accompany her husband to any state functions.

As for her partner in crime, the erstwhile advisor to the king and top businessman, Ndumiso Mamba, he is still keeping a very, very low profile. He was not sentenced to death or locked away for life as many predicted, but is occasionally spotted at church with his wife.