- Reports say King Mswati will marry the Shembe leader’s daughter. Neither the palace nor the church has confirmed it yet.
- The palace labelled it a family affair. The Shembe family and Eswatini dismissed similar claims in February, City Press reported.
Reports say King Mswati III of Eswatini will marry a daughter of Shembe church leader Inkosi Mduduzi Nyazilwezulu Shembe. Neither the king’s office nor the church has confirmed it.
Swaziland News reported on 28 October, citing royal insiders and travel records it says it saw, that she visited Eswatini between 28 August and 4 September, during the uMhlanga Reed Dance.
The publication says lobola has been paid. It also says she was due to be introduced as the king’s liphovela, or royal fiancée, but this was put off out of respect for Jacob Zuma, who attended.
Ilanga newspaper reported, citing sources, that an Eswatini delegation was seen at Inkosi Shembe’s home in Inanda.
King Mswati’s spokesperson, Percy Simelane, told Swaziland News: “This one appears to be a family affair. I would not know what is in the mind of the royal family with regards to the marriage in question.”
In February, City Press reported that the Shembe family and the Eswatini kingdom both dismissed claims that they had become in-laws.
Scrolla.Africa tried several times to reach the church’s spokesperson, Thokozani Mncwabe, but he could not be reached.
King Mswati married Nomcebo Zuma, a daughter of Jacob Zuma, in 2024.
