Tuesday, February 24, 2009

IMAGE MAKEOVER FOR SWAZI PRINCESS

The publicity machine around Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of Swaziland’s King Mswati III just goes rolling on and on.


The Princess, aged 21, who is allegedly studying at the Biola University in Los Angeles, California, USA, spends most of her time trying to forge a career as a rap star under the name Princess Pashu.


Now, to add to the various online networks she already has, an ‘official’ website has been opened up. This one plays down her musical ambitions and highlights her life as a member of the Swazi Royal Family.

And what a family. According to the website, King Mswati has 23 children in total, the princess has over 200 aunts and uncles, not including their own spouses as the late King Sobhuza II had 102 wives and over 400 children. That’s a lot of mouths for the Swazi people to feed.

The website says that King Mswati has 12 wives, but most observers think he has at least 13. Nobody can be sure because the number of wives the king has is information that the Swazi people are not allowed to know.

The website is meant to show just how much the princess loves Swaziland and all the hard work she puts in for her people. The effect is somewhat undermined on the page devoted to her forthcoming planned events. The most recent - presenting books to students at Lasi High School – was scheduled for 24 July 2008. So she’s not entirely rushed off her feet then.

One of the most striking features of the website is its gaudy attempt to glamorise the Princess through the use of doctored photographs. She is described as a ‘model’ who ‘maintains a respectable yet flexible range of poses’.

I don’t know who set up the website, but it states that she owns the copyright to all the material on it (even though much of it, such as reports from Swazi newspapers about her, was not written by her).

There have been suspicions for some time that she has a public relations firm working for her (her father has at least two working for him), so maybe this is part of an image building exercise. Let’s face it she needs to work hard to dispel the belief that she parties while Swazis starve.

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