| violetriga
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| 100850. Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:52 pm |
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A small, landlocked country in Southern Africa.
- Swaziland has the world's lowest life expectancy at 32.62 years, mostly due to HIV
- Head of state King Mswati III has 13 wives and 27 children
- The annual Umhlanga Reed Dance pays homage to the Queen Mother, and Mswati III has sometimes used to occasion to select a wife.
- The currency is known as the lilangeni |
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| dr.bob
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| 101010. Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:10 am |
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And, of course, Richard E Grant grew up in Swaziland.
Although, as Bob Mortimer told him during an episode of Shooting Stars:
"I think you'll find it's pronounced 'Switzerland'!"
:) |
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| izbella
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| 101843. Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:02 pm |
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up to 40% of the population are HIV postive.
in 2001 King Mswati III imposed a sex ban on the country to try and prevent the spread of HIV. Girls wore wollen tassels as a sign of their chastity and men could be fined a cow for trying to have sex with a woman. (The country is very poor so this was a substantial fine)
The king broke his own ban only a few months in by taking a new, 17 year-old wife. He duly fined himself a cow, but as he has a million-dollar private plane this didn't exactly financially drain him.
The ban was ended a year early in 2005. (probably so the king could choose himself a new wife at that year's reed dance - which he did) |
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| Mr Jafa
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| 132502. Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:23 pm |
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Recently, at a very slow day at school, me and two friends decided that we would do Dictator Trump Cards. It was during the research of the Dictators that we stumbled upon Mswati III, who is just hilarious at most things he does.
Cheers Mswati III, you are a great man! |
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| CaptTimmy
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| 132541. Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:32 pm |
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Quite an interesting flag I may add. One of the few flags to have a projectile displayed on it., unless I'm missing one... |
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| Jawr256
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| 132620. Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:41 am |
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Some others have projectile weapons:
Bolivia has muskets
Haiti has cannons
Mozambique has the AK-47
No actual projectiles though |
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| grizzly
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| Jawr256
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| 134294. Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:09 am |
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| Oh yeah, there are some others with that sort of thing as well |
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| eggshaped
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| eggshaped
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| samivel
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| 214001. Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:59 am |
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| Drat, no pictures. |
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| Ian Dunn
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| 403455. Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:10 am |
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Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Swaziland's independence from the British. Also, Mswati III is 40 this year. As a result, Swaziland is hold a series of "40-40" celebrations.
Yesterday, the King celebrate the independence by arriving at a stadium in the capital Mbabane in a brand new BMW. It was one of 20 brought for the occassion. The celebration was attended by several other African leaders, including Robert Mugabe.
However, the celebrations have been attacked. They have cost £1.4 million - money which could have been spent elsewhere. Trade unions and civic groups have been protesting against the celebrations for two days.
Story from the BBC |
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| misterchris
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| 453051. Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:29 am |
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In March 2003, Phesheya Dube, Swaziland state radio's "man in Baghdad" gave several "live reports" from Baghdad. Program host Moses Matsebula frequently expressed concern for his wellbeing and once advised him to "find a cave somewhere to be safe from missiles."
Some time later, Swazi MPs were surprised to see Dube in parliament in Mbabane, the Swazi capital. A brief investigation prompted MP Jojo Dlamini to ask some penetrating questions, among them:
"Why are they lying to the nation that the man is in Iraq, when he is here in Swaziland, broadcasting out of a broom closet?"
Information Minister Mntomzima Dlamini promised to investigate. The station declined to comment. |
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| TheRedElephant
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| zomgmouse
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| 576568. Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:57 pm |
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| Apart from English, their official language is SiSwati, one of the few remaining Bantu languages. |
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