Mswati III

Mswati III (born Makhosetive; 19 April 1968) is Ngwenyama (King) of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family.

He was born in Manzini in the Protectorate of Swaziland to King Sobhuza II and one of his younger wives, Ntfombi Tfwala.

Mswati III was born on 19 April 1968 at Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, Manzini, the son of Sobhuza II (who had 70 wives during his reign of 82 years), and the only child of Ntfombi Tfwala, also known as Inkhosikati LaTfwala, one of Sobhuza's younger wives.

He was born four months before Eswatini attained independence from the United Kingdom.

When he and his mother were discharged from the hospital, they went to live at one of Sobhuza's residences, Etjeni, near the Masundwini royal residence.

His birth name was Makhosetive (lit. "Kings of Nations", in reference to the heads of state who visited Eswatini that year for the independence celebrations), and his half-siblings included Mantfombi, a future queen of the South African Zulus.

As a young prince, Makhosetive attended Masundwini Primary School and later Lozitha Palace School.

This was last done under Sobhuza II in 1971.

Political parties have been banned in Eswatini since 1973 when a state of emergency was declared that has continued ever since.

Pro-democracy protests from 2021 onwards have been violently dispersed and political activists have been arrested, subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and their homes were raided by security forces.

The government exercises total control over the broadcast media, including the only privately owned TV channel, which belongs to the royal family.

Almost all media outlets are controlled, directly or indirectly, by Mswati III.

Mswati III lives an opulent and lavish lifestyle which stands in sharp contrast to the lives of most Emaswazi people.

In 2022, an estimated 32% of the population lived below the $2.15/day international poverty line (measured by price-purchasing parity (PPP) in 2017) while 55% of the population was under the lower-middle-income country poverty line of $3.65/day.

Mswati III is known for his practice of polygamy (although at least two wives are appointed by the state) and currently has 15 wives.

He sat for the Swaziland Primary Certificate examination in December 1982 at Phondo Royal Residence and received First Class with merit in Mathematics and English.

He developed a great interest in the royal guard, becoming the first young cadet to join the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (USDF).

When King Sobhuza II died on 21 August 1982, the Great Council of State (the Liqoqo) selected the 14-year-old prince Makhosetive to be the next king.

For the next four years, two wives of Sobhuza II, Queen Dzeliwe Shongwe (1982–1983) and Queen Ntfombi Tfwala (1983–1986), served as regent while he continued his education in the United Kingdom, attending Sherborne School (International College), before he was called back to ascend to the throne.

He was crowned as Mswati III, Ingwenyama and King of Swaziland, on 25 April 1986 at the age of 18, thus becoming the youngest ruling monarch in the world at that time.

With unrestricted political power and able to rule by decree, Mswati III (together with his mother, Ntfombi Tfwala, now Queen Mother (Ndlovukati)) is the last remaining absolute monarch in Africa and one of the only 12 remaining absolute national or subnational monarchs in the world.

Under the constitution, the king is the commander-in-chief of the defence force and commissioner-in-chief of police and correctional services and Mswati III exercises ultimate authority over all branches of the national government and effectively controls local governance through his influence over traditional chiefs.

Under his reign, political dissent and civic and labor activism are subject to harsh punishment under sedition and other laws.

Mswati was introduced as crown prince in September 1983 and was crowned king on 25 April 1986, aged 18 years and 6 days, thus making him one of the youngest reigning monarchs of the late 20th century, The king and his mother, whose title is Indlovukati ("Great She-Elephant"), rule jointly.

Today King Mswati III is Africa's last absolute monarch in the sense that he has the power to choose the prime minister, other top government posts and top traditional posts.

Even though he makes the appointments, he still has to get special advice from the queen mother and council, for example when he chooses the prime minister.

In matters of cabinet appointments, he gets advice from the prime minister.

He ruled by decree, but did restore the nation's Parliament, which had been dissolved by his father in order to ensure concentration of power remained with the king.

Parliamentarians are appointed by himself (two-thirds of the senators and ten deputies) or elected by traditional chiefs close to power.

Close to the evangelical churches, he banned divorce and the wearing of miniskirts.

In an attempt to mitigate the HIV and AIDS pandemic in 2001, the king used his traditional powers to invoke a time-honoured chastity rite (umcwasho) under the patronage of a princess, which encouraged all Swazi maidens to abstain from sexual relations for five years.

This rite banned sexual relations for Swazis under 18 years of age from 9 September 2001 to 19 August 2005, but just two months after imposing the ban, he violated this decree when a 17-year-old liphovela (royal fiancée) was chosen, who became his 13th wife.

As per custom, he was fined a cow by members of her regiment, which he duly paid.

In 2006, Mswati promulgated a new constitution that allows freedom of speech and assembly.

However, Amnesty International criticizes that freedoms are restricted in practice.

Formerly named Swaziland, in 2018 Mswati III renamed the country Eswatini (formally the Kingdom of Eswatini) by decree.

Mswati has visited Taiwan seventeen times as of June 2018, and has promised to continue recognizing Taiwan instead of the People's Republic of China.

Eswatini is predominantly rural and is one of the poorest countries in the world (63% of its population lives below the poverty line).

An economic circle of 15,000 businessmen takes most of the country's wealth.

This circle includes South African investors who have come to Eswatini to find labour at one-third the cost and a group of white businessmen who are heirs to the British settlers.