News from the Third World takes longer to get to Walt's cabin in the woods than news from, say, Springfield. Just in is a report from India's Zee Media claiming that His Royal Highness Mswati III, king of Swaziland, took 15 of his wives, 30 children, and 100 servants to India for last week's India-Africa Forum.
The report goes on to say that at least 200 hotel rooms in a five-star, $230/night, New Delhi hotel were booked a week in advance, with all expenses paid by the Indian government. Struggling to carve out a high profile in Africa, the Indians treated African delegates to lavish spectacles and even richer gifts, before the two sides shook hands on a US$10.6 billion deal for cheap loans and grants.
The Swazi Observer, a mouthpiece for the Swazi royal house, termed the Zee reports "blatant lies" and "totally fabricated". The journal did not, however, deny that Mswati III has 15 wives. Nor did it make any mention of the famous Swazi Reed Dance, featured here on WWW before, in which hundreds of virgins dance before the king, hoping to be chosen to fill any vacant wifely positions.
As a public service, we present a short educational video explaining the Reed Dance, taken by Shari Rogers in 2015. Ed. asks me to make clear that this is not a barbaric cultural practice.
Footnote: Wondering what happened to the video of the Swazi girls doing the reed dance that we posted on 1 July 2012? It's still there! You're [not "your"] welcome.
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