SOURCE: Daily Mail
A young woman is seeking asylum in Britain after she spurned the
advances of the polyamorous King Mswati III of Swaziland (pictured
right) and refused to join his harem of 13 wives.
Tintswalo Ngobeni, 22, fled to England from the southern African
nation as a teenager after she caught the attention of the millionaire
monarch, a notoriously oppressive ruler known for his lavish lifestyle.
As part of Swazi custom, King Mswati III, 45, is permitted to choose a new bride every year.
Miss Ngobeni, who now lives in Birmingham, was just 15 when the King
made his advances after seeing her at the palace of his fourth wife,
LaNgangaza. She said she was ‘terrified’ when she learned of his
marriage intentions.
She added: ‘He started calling me at boarding school. He would ask me
if I wanted to be a part of the royal family. I had to keep quiet about
my fears but I knew I didn’t want to get married to him and have a life
devoted to the king.
‘His wives are kept in their palace, surrounded by bodyguards, and
they can’t really go anywhere unless the king says so. The only thing
they do is go to America once a year, as the king gives them a shopping
allowance.’
Miss Ngobeni was forced to abandon a comfortable lifestyle in a
private boarding school as her aunt, who was her chief guardian,
arranged the escape to England to join her mother, who moved to
Birmingham five years earlier, fleeing an abusive husband.
‘I didn’t have a choice,’ she said. ‘Nobody has ever turned down the king or dares to disobey him, so I just disappeared.’
Since her arrival in England, Miss Ngobeni has become a vocal
opponent of the oppressive Swazi regime, where political opposition
parties are banned and activists routinely arrested or assaulted.
However, Miss Ngobeni’s high-profile activities, including weekly
protests outside the Swazi embassy in London with activist group Swazi
Vigil, have caught the attention of the authorities in her home country
and she now believes she is in more danger than ever.
She said: ‘Recently I had news that people had been sent from
Swaziland to come and get me, which really scares me. If I went back, I
would be arrested or much worse as there are people there who are
tortured, beaten up or killed for being politically active.’
Miss Ngobeni now lives in fear of having to return to Swaziland,
after her first plea for political asylum in England in 2007 was denied
in 2011.
Last month, she was arrested and taken to an immigration detention
centre after 18 months of reporting weekly to the authorities.
However, after pressure from the TUC and the office of Roger Godsiff,
Labour MP for Birmingham, Miss Ngobeni was released and has now been
granted an appeal by the Home Office.
Mr Godsiff said yesterday: ‘We were very pleased solicitors were
successful in achieving a judicial review into Miss Ngobeni’s case.’
The father of 27 children, King Mswati III was a guest at the William
and Kate wedding as well as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations
last summer.
The king’s sixth wife escaped from the royal harem last year, citing years of ‘emotional and physical abuse’ by her husband.
Culled from Daily Mail UK
God will protect you,he is having no power than our God.Amen
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