Mbabane - The main event of Swaziland’s Reed Dance – in which one of the tens of thousands of topless maidens dancing before King Mswati was selected as the polygamous ruler’s 15th bride – was held as scheduled late Monday afternoon.
This is despite several dozen teenage girls being killed in a road accident on Friday while travelling in open trucks to the king’s palace.
Civil society groups had called for the event to be cancelled but traditional officials in charge refused.
At the weekend, Mswati, who was opening a trade fair in Manzini, Swaziland, said: “We will give support to the parents of the children who lost their lives.”
The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), a Pretoria-based group seeking democracy for the country, accused the police of withholding an accurate death toll.
Police have released the names of only three girls who died when three trucks each loaded with 50 standing maidens and travelling between 80km and 100km collided along a highway near the royal village Engabezweni.
The SSN claims that more than 60 girls and young women lost their lives.
The driver of one of the trucks has been charged with culpable homicide.
Parents of the dead and injured girls expressed dismay that they weren’t transported in buses rather than made to stand in packed open trucks travelling at a high speed.
However, open criticism of Mswati is unknown in the kingdom and public anger towards traditional authorities who run the Reed Dance was muted on Monday because of the importance the royal family places on the event.
The Swaziland Tourism Authority has played up the dance as a tourism draw.
The Reed Dance – uMhlanga in Swati – draws its name from the reed stalks gathered by the girls and brought to Ludzidzini royal village, where they are used to build wind screens. This form of traditional tribute labour is voluntary, defenders of the event say, although government critics insist the girls are compelled to attend by their chiefs.
Estimates of the number of girls who took part in the Reed Dance on Monday varied between 40 000 and 90 000.
The king, wearing a leopard skin loincloth and carrying a gold sceptre, greeted the maidens with a walk-by salute.
The palace never reveals the king’s marriage plans and his choice will be known in a few weeks when the family of the chosen girl make known that royal emissaries have removed her from her home to undergo traditional rites in preparation for wifehood.
Independent Foreign Service