Swaziland’s serious shopping spree

What happened

Hundreds of women in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, protested a recent shopping trip that at least eight of King Mswati III’s 13 wives took in the Middle East and Europe. The trip, on a chartered jet, also included the queens’ kids and entourage. The unusual protest march was organized by two non-governmental organizations that work with HIV-positive women. (The Daily Telegraph)

What the commentators said

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The protesters may be aggrieved, said Mbongiseni Nhleko in the Times of of Swaziland, but the government thinks it's “wrong, uncultural, and completely unacceptable for women to march.” The government also seems confused as to why women would protest a “national trip” that will “benefit the country” by preparing the wives for next month’s dual celebration of the king’s and the country’s 40th birthdays.

“All Swazi who love democracy” should “wear black until the 40/40 celebrations are over,” said Richard Rooney in the blog Swazi Media Commentary. And if the government thinks it’s unacceptable for the women to march, it should read its 2005 constitution, which “allows for freedom of assembly (i.e. freedom to march) and gender equity.”

What good is a constitution under the “autocratic rule” of a “pillaging” absolute monarch? said Sentletse Diakanyo in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian. King Mswati’s reign has been “a tragic affair” that has left his subjects with “an ignoble and pitiful existence.” He should watch out. That’s how you prepare “a fertile soil from which a revolution could blossom.”