Photographs of the women and girls who dance bare breasted and in short skirts and some with no underwear in front of Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III at the traditional Reed Dance are appearing on pornography websites across the world.

The half-naked dancers, some as young as 11, are also said to be attracting ‘sex tourists’ to the kingdom. Also, some of King Mswati’s American backers told him the sight of a middle-age man watching tens of thousands of semi-clothed women dance for him gave Swaziland a bad image as there was an obvious ‘sexual undertone’ to it.

On 3 September, 2018 this year’s annual Reed Dance (also known as Umhlanga) took place in Swaziland, renamed Eswatini by King Mswati on his fiftieth birthday earlier this year. If past years are a guide possibly as many as 100,000 women, often described as ‘maidens’ or ‘virgins’ by media in Swaziland, showcased their dance skills and will do so next year. The Reed Dance is considered a major traditional cultural event and takes place each year.

Ahead of this year’s event Nonduduzo ‘Zuzu’ Zubuko, the leader of the women who dance and who are called the Imbali Regiment, told participants, ‘Part of the things that our culture teaches us is to dress appropriately for the ceremony you are attending.’

The Swazi Observer, a news outlet owned by King Mswati III on 16 August, 2018 quoted Zuzu as saying, ‘You are also expected to attend in your numbers as our culture teaches us to always respect and attend to royal commands. This must start at chiefdom level. You are also expected to always attend community meetings called by your leaders and this spreads to the whole country where you should show respect to the highest authority of the kingdom.’

The newspaper added, ‘She implored Imbali to be proud of who they are and their culture. “You must wear that outfit with pride because you are indeed the pride of the nation.

‘”How would you claim to be Liswati [Swazi people] if you are even afraid to dress up in traditional regalia? How do you claim to be Liswati if you don’t even know which regiment you belong to as an individual?” she wondered.’

The traditional dress means going topless and wearing very short skirts. The women are encouraged by traditionalists not to wear underwear.

The dancers make easy pickings for people wanting to take photographs and use them for pornographic purpose. A simple search on Google highlights how many sites, some of them demanding payment to view, exist.

There are also concerns that people who come into Swaziland to attend the event are ‘sex tourists’. As long ago as 2006 Independent-on-Line (IOL) newspapers in South Africa reported they came from all over the world.

IOL reported, ‘Some of them, mainly male European tourist armed with video cameras and modern digital cameras, are not afraid to admit that “it is the only place in the world where we can see bare-breasted women and buttocks”.’

It also interviewed tourists from South Africa, Chile and China.

It added, ‘Even though the tourists were told not to take photographs of the girls below the waist, it was evident that most of them – mainly men – were taking photographs as they wished.

‘It was also striking that when the very young maidens passed before the King and the photographers, no one showed much interest. But when the teenagers and the young women danced, photographers flocked towards the girls.’