Mswati 3 years old

The 8th king of Eswatini . He is the co -head of state of Eswatini along with his mother , Ntombi .[1]

The son of Sobhuza II , the 7th King of Eswatini , he was born in British Swaziland on April 19, 1968.[2] He was appointed crown prince in September 1983 and attended Sherborne School, a boarding school in England. When his father, Sobhuza II , died, he served as regent for his mother and ascended to the throne on April 25, 1986, just six days after his 18th birthday. At the time, he was the youngest monarch in the world.

Since 1973 , he inherited the absolute monarchy system from his father , who wielded omnipotent power by declaring all political parties illegal in the name of rule by decree . He is also called Africa's last despot because he has the power to manipulate the highest-ranking government officials, including the prime minister, and traditional tribal chiefs to his liking . Of course, although she holds such powerful personnel authority, there is a rule that when appointing a major position such as prime minister, she must receive special advice from the Empress Dowager and the advisory committee. Similarly, when appointing cabinet officials, the Prime Minister is advised.

Mswati III ruled the country by royal edict, but he also tried to revive the parliament that his father had destroyed in the past to give power to a single king. It was an evasion tactic to avoid criticism from the international community and shift responsibility for the economic collapse and mismanagement to the National Assembly. However, the limits are clear as the members are either directly appointed by Mswati himself (two-thirds of the Senate and 10 members of the House of Representatives) or elected by pro-government traditional chieftains who bask in the flames of power.

Because they are Christians and have a close relationship with the conservative evangelical church, divorce and the wearing of miniskirts are completely banned.

In 2001, to prevent the AIDS pandemic, the authority, which had been almost forgotten, was exercised for the first time in 30 years.[3] The time-honored purity ritual ‘umcwasho’ was revived. It was a ridiculous ritual that forced all virgins in Swaziland to abstain from sexual intercourse for five years. According to this rule, sexual relations were completely prohibited for Swazi citizens under the age of 18 from September 9, 2001 to August 19, 2005 . However, just two months after the ban was imposed, Mswati himself showed his generosity by taking his 17-year-old fiancee as his new wife.

A new constitution was promulgated in 2005, putting an end to the long state of emergency that had lasted since 1973 . On the surface, the new constitution seemed to guarantee freedom of speech and assembly, but according to Amnesty International 's fact check, it is practically useless.

On April 19, 2018, the country's name was changed from Swaziland to Eswatini to commemorate the 50th anniversary of independence. Swaziland is an English word ending in land, meaning 'land of the Swazi people', and Eswatini has the same meaning as 'land of the Swazi people', but is purely a Swati word, the native language of the locals. It meant eliminating the remnants of Britain remaining in the name of the country. In addition , he revealed another reason for changing the country's name, saying that whenever he goes abroad, people confuse Swaziland with Switzerland . #

As of June 2018, he showed pro-Taiwan actions, visiting Taiwan as many as 17 times, and promised to continue to recognize Taiwan (Republic of China) as a country instead of the People's Republic of China (China).

Eswatini is one of the world's poorest countries, with an overwhelmingly high proportion of rural areas and 63% of the population struggling below the poverty line. An economic cartel made up of just over 15,000 businessmen and politicians controls most of the country's wealth. South African investors who flocked to Eswatini in search of cheap labor and white businessmen descended from British settlers are controlling the national wealth.

In January 2021, King Mswati III was diagnosed with COVID-19 , and later expressed gratitude to Taiwan for generously sending antiviral drugs to help him recover. The fact that he was taken to the hospital was revealed to the public only after he fully recovered.

Ultimately, in June 2021, the anger of citizens who had been suppressed by authoritarian rule and oppression of the opposition party exploded starting with the COVID-19 incident, leading to large-scale anti-government protests. As the protests grew out of control and demonstrators advanced to the front of the palace, the frightened king went missing. The Swazi Communist Party claimed that the king fled to South Africa on the night of June 28-29, while the Swaziland Solidarity Network claimed that he fled to Mozambique . However, Acting Prime Minister Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku drew a line by denying both rumors.[4] In the end, King Mswati III suppressed the protests by implementing strong repressive policies, including bloody suppression, including tear gas and live ammunition , a night curfew, and a complete internet shutdown, and the unrest eventually subsided around 2024.

In addition, Mkhlinga, a reed dance in which only virgins can participate, was held as a dance ceremony for the king and became a regular event every year.

To prevent AIDS , an attempt was made to provide a monthly pension worth about 19,000 Korean Won only to women with no sexual experience. In a developing country like Eswatini, this is enough money to sustain one's livelihood for a month.

A meeting was held with President Yoon Seok-yeol on the occasion of the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit .

Umhlanga, or Reed Dance Festival, is famous as a traditional dance festival held every year in late August or early September. Tens of thousands of single women from all over the country enjoy the eight-day festival at the Ruzicini royal village, but its greater significance is actually the audition for the selection of a queen . Both Sobhuza II and Mswati III chose their wives at this festival, and in the case of Sobhuza II, many of his over 70 wives were chosen here. However, it is not something that is chosen just based on dance and face; in fact, it is more of a performance where it is already decided who will be selected . Representatively, the 14th queen, Sipelele Mashwama, is the daughter of an Eswatini minister and is an elite member of the elite who even had experience studying in the United States , and the most recently married queen, Queen Nomsebo Zuma, is the daughter of President Jacob Zuma .

In fact, it is not a ceremony with a long history , and was modified by King Sobhuza II in the 1940s from the Swazi coming-of-age ceremony called ‘Umcwasho’ to suit his taste. Umkwasho was a system in which unmarried women were divided by age, and if someone became pregnant before marriage , the family would pay a fine of one cow to the local chief. Due to the nature of Swazi society, which values ​​chastity as the highest virtue of women , the main goal was to prevent girls from having sex before marriage.[5] This system was expanded by Sobuja II and developed into a nationwide festival.

The festival is held in the royal village of Ruzicini, where the Mother of the Nation resides. The night before the festival, unmarried women disperse to the surrounding area to cut down tall reeds , and the next night they bundle these reeds and offer them to the mother of the nation. These reeds are used to repair the fence surrounding the village.

Afterwards, they rest for a day, wash their bodies, and prepare full-fledged festival costumes, including bead necklaces, anklets made from cocoons, shoulder belts, and skirts. To symbolize their purity, they march while holding in their hands the jungle sword they used to cut reeds. Once preparations are complete, they sing, dance, and march in front of royal family members, government officials, and tourists from all over the world.[6] After the march, teams representing each village come to the center of the square and present a special performance. The king's daughters and royal princesses also participate in this festival, and are distinguished by the red feather crowns they wear on their heads.

Because the women participating in the festival wore traditional costumes and their breasts were exposed, YouTube in the past classified related videos as restricted content that required adult verification. In the end, it was released due to strong protests from cultural groups in Eswatini and South Africa .

King Mswati III brought some changes to the political scene, such as lifting the state of emergency and reviving parliament. However, since the revived parliament was a straw man with no authority and the king's authority was still absolute, there was great criticism that these changes were ultimately just an attempt to solidify the power of vested interests. Therefore , strong criticism arose when King Mswati III was invited to the monarch's dinner celebrating Queen Elizabeth II 's Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary of her accession to the throne) in May 2012 .

It is famous for its poor human rights situation as it is the only autocratic monarchy in Africa, where dictatorships and human rights abuses are rampant. Torture and excessive repression were frequently committed, including during the 2021 protests, and opposition parties and anti-regime forces were criticized for blatantly discriminating and suppressing them. There are constant accusations that they have not only committed extrajudicial killings by mobilizing armed forces to kill people without trial, but also arresting and detaining people without asking questions, and conducting unauthorized searches and seizures of other people's homes and property without a warrant.

The government tightly restricted freedom of speech, assembly, and association, and persistently harassed civil activists and journalists. In particular, they targeted the LGBT community , the labor community, and activists against child labor. The judiciary, which was controlled by the royal family, was of little help.

In particular, including the kidnapping of a high school girl, which will be described later, he is even receiving an embarrassing evaluation of the fact that when he catches sight of a woman he wants to marry, he doesn't care about the future or not and just bosses her around . He is famous for having married as many as 16 wives so far, having countless concubines, and an enormous number of children and illegitimate children . In 2000, there were suspicions that he attempted to convene a session of parliament to discuss whether people who tested positive for HIV should be "forced to be neutered (sterilized) and stigmatized."

There is a lot of criticism that people are enjoying a luxurious lifestyle alone while people are starving to death . As of 2014, 63% of Eswatini's people survive on less than $1.25 a day, but parliament provided a whopping $61 million to the king's annual living budget. Not only does he have a collection of custom-made, ultra-luxurious watches worth millions of dollars, but he also bought high-end supercars such as the $500,000 Maybach 62 , but when he faced public criticism, he even banned taking pictures of his cars by law.

According to the list of '15 Richest Royals in the World' published by Forbes in 2009 , King Mswati's fortune is said to be as much as $200 million (about 260 billion won). In January 2004, revelations emerged that the king had asked the government to spend about $15 million to renovate his three main palaces and build a palace for each of his 13 wives. In response, the Prime Minister's Office criticized the proposal as "irresponsible fake news" and explained that it was only a proposal to build five 'state guesthouses' rather than a palace, and that the cost was only 19.9 million euros. Finally, at the end of that year, approval was given to build five new buildings using more than $4 million in national taxes.

In August 2008, hundreds of Swazi women protested across the capital, angry that nine of the king's 13 wives had spent a huge amount of money on a shopping trip abroad. Positive Living, a non-governmental organization for Swazi women with AIDS , led the protest and submitted a petition to the finance minister saying the huge sum of money should have been spent on other desperate causes.

Mswati III holds a huge personal stake in Eswatini's economy, which is one of the main culprits in Eswatini's dismal economic growth rate, which is below average even among sub-Saharan African countries. As an absolute monarch, he has the power to forcibly dissolve political parties and has the power to veto any bill passed by the National Assembly.

Zena Mahlangu, the 10th queen of King Mswati III. Born in 1984.

He even kidnaps high school girls and makes them his wives. According to Amnesty International 's revelations, in October 2002, an 18-year-old high school girl named Jenna Mahlangu was kidnapped from school. When her mother, Lindiwe Dlamini, learned that her daughter had been assaulted by two men named Chetuka Sgombeni Dlamini and Tulujani Sikhondje, she immediately reported it to the police. The answer she received shortly afterwards was that her daughter was being held in the royal village of Ludzidzini and being forcibly prepared to become the king's next wife.[7]

The case went up to the High Court, but Swaziland's Minister of Justice, Pesheya Dlamini, forcibly intervened and covered up the case. The royal family blocked the court from accessing Jenna Mahlangu and even prevented her from asking her doctor if she wanted to marry. Jenna's mother was unable to see her daughter throughout the lawsuit. Eventually, Zena Mahlangu became the king's tenth wife and now has children.

President Tsai Ing-wen met with Mother Ntombi .