 King Mswati III has chosen a 17-year-old as his bride-to-be, selecting a teenager just a month after retreating from a campaign to encourage girls to wait until they are 18 to have sex.
| Again? I'm spending a fortune buying him toasters! |
Ntfonjeni Dlamini, in charge of traditional matters for the royal family, told state radio Sunday that the chosen girl is Phindile Nkambule. Students at the private high school she had attended in the capital said they had already heard she was dropping out to marry the king. In 2001, Mswati temporarily revived the ancient "umchwasho" rite, which bans sexual relations for girls younger than 18 in a bid to fight AIDS. About 40 percent of this African nation's 1 million people are infected with HIV. |