King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland /
Eswatini, told a meeting of the kingdom’s ‘People’s Parliament’ he had been
visited by angels who told him who he should appoint as the kingdom’s new Prime
Minister.
In the past the King has said he received messages
directly from God.
He told his story at the Ludzidzini
Royal Residence on Wednesday (24 October 2018) during a meeting of Sibaya. The
Sibaya is where the King summons his 1.1 million subjects to the royal cattle
byre to discuss pressing issues.
When he called Sibaya people expected he would reveal who he had chosen
to be Prime Minister, following the recent national elections.
Instead of revealing his choice the King said he had prayed hard for guidance
and had been visited by angels. The Times of Swaziland reported he said,
‘The angels did eventually come and told me who it was.’
The Times added, ‘He said it
became apparent as he was continuously in prayer that the angels and ancestors
(tingilozi nemadloti) would appear to him and show him the right man for the
job.
‘He said the angels and ancestors would show him the man who was given
the authority to run the country.’
The said he would not reveal the name until at least Saturday (27
October 2018) after the Sibaya had given its views on who should be the PM.
King Mswati and his supporters have in the past said the King has a
direct line to God.
In 2013, African Eye News Service reported King Mswati’s
elder brother, Prince Masitsela Dlamini, said that God had given the royal
family authority to rule over other Swazi clans. ‘The Dlaminis are closer to
God,’ said Dlamini.
In 2011, the King said God spoke to him through a TV remote control. It
happened at the Lozitha Palace, near Mbabane. At the time the King told his
subjects about his ‘miraculous experience’.
The Times of Swaziland reported
in October 2011, ‘His Majesty saw a miracle yesterday when he was preparing a
sermon [to preach to a group of evangelical Christians.] The King said a remote
control lay at the centre of a coffee table but something mysteriously brought
it down.
‘He said there was no person or wind that could have brought it down. The King said he realised that God was with him. It was Him who brought the remote control down.’
‘He said there was no person or wind that could have brought it down. The King said he realised that God was with him. It was Him who brought the remote control down.’
In September 2013, the King told his subjects he had received a vision during a thunderstorm and was
told that the political system in Swaziland that puts the King at the head and
bans political parties should from then on be called ‘Monarchical Democracy.’
On 21 October 2009, the Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, told its readers King
Mswati was ‘ordained by God to lead his people’. Musa Ndlangamandla, the Observer
chief editor at the time, reported that Lutfo Dlamini, then Swaziland’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, wrote a poem to the King that included the
line, ‘You are living proof that Kings and Monarchs are ordained by God to lead
his people’.
Following this, the most senior ‘traditionalist’ leader in Swaziland Timothy Velabo Mtsetfwa was reported in the Observer saying ‘Royalty was a gift from God’. He said this while urging the Swazi nation ‘to respect the Royalty because it cares for the needy’.
Following this, the most senior ‘traditionalist’ leader in Swaziland Timothy Velabo Mtsetfwa was reported in the Observer saying ‘Royalty was a gift from God’. He said this while urging the Swazi nation ‘to respect the Royalty because it cares for the needy’.
Mtsetfwa also spoke about
how multi-parties which are banned in Swaziland, ‘were a monster to which many
countries had succumbed and fell’. He then went on to say, ‘in other countries,
especially those under multi-party democracy, the leaders only think of
themselves and their immediate families and forget about the needy people’.
Following the latest election on 21 September 2018 the King appointed six
members of his own family to the House of Assembly and eight
to the Senate.
The King rules as an absolute monarch and chooses the PM and government.
People are only allowed to select 59 members of the House of Assembly; the King
appoints a further 10. No members of the Swazi Senate are elected, the House of
Assembly elects 20 and the King appoints 10.
See also
Swazi King’s private line to God
Fears
over King’s mental health
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