Word: swazis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...weapon of choice, according to Mfanasibili, was a witch doctor, who was sent to England to hunt down the prince and poison him. As a result of Mfanasibili's charges, several princes loyal to the ousted Queen regent were detained without trial, as were a handful of ranking Swazi officials, including police and army chiefs...
...meantime, Mswati has demonstrated that despite his British schooling, Swazi tribal tradition has a strong hold on him. Mswati was one of at least 67 sons of Sobhuza, who had as many as 200 children -- the exact number is a royal secret -- and who died at 83 as the world's oldest reigning monarch (Emperor Hirohito of Japan, at 86, is now the oldest). At last year's coronation, the chiefs of Swaziland paid a total of 105 cattle to the family of Mswati's mother Ntombi as a dowry for the woman who was to become the mother...
Like his father, Mswati generally remains aloof from commoners. He exercises his power largely through private audiences given at Elusaseni, the royal capital, a traditional Swazi village of thatched huts about 15 miles from Mbabane. Flanked by advisers, Mswati listens to local disputes and hands out royal counsel on property questions and other matters. He appears in public only on such national holidays as his birthday, April 19, and to receive state visitors. Britain's Prince Charles dropped by for a chat in March...
...natural imperiousness. Several advisers who have seen the young King in high dudgeon have given him the sobriquet "Fire Eyes." Like his father, Mswati is clearly determined to have a king-size family. He has three wives already, and at this week's annual reed-dance ceremony, in which Swazi maidens take part in a topless parade, he may be induced to choose a fourth...
Mswati is adamant about protecting the sanctity of Swazi tribal rituals. Three months ago the young King arrested the British leader of a fundamentalist Christian movement, the South African-based Rhema Gospel Church, and has kept him locked up ever since. The proselytizing foreigner, who is expected to appear in court this month, faces charges of sedition for daring to suggest that certain Swazi traditions, such as the reed-dance ceremony, might be "ungodly and immoral." As the people of Swaziland are learning, Fire Eyes does not take lightly any kind of disrespect...