Word: swazis
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...Sobhuza's strong-willed son and successor, Mswati III, at 19 the world's youngest reigning monarch. Five years after his father's death, Mswati has finally shown that he can use his full regal powers with a vengeance. So far this year he has arrested a dozen high Swazi officials, including five members of the royal family, on suspicion of sedition and treason. Says a Swazi journalist in Mbabane, the capital: "Mswati is clearly angry at the intrigue that took place following his father's death and is determined to put things right...
...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...
...less to do with egos than with wallets. The model for the romantic doctor in W. Somerset Maugham's story The Happy Man was typical. The author had profited handsomely from his tale, complained the original, but where was the fee for the man who had lived it? A Swazi warrior named M'hlopekazi was more succinct. He was the inspiration for Umslopogaas, the intrepid tribesman of King Solomon's Mines. The hunting knife that H. Rider Haggard had presented was all very well. But, M'hlopekazi protested vainly, there was something an African guide would find far more valuable...