RASTA ROW SHAKES SWAZI ROYALS

The Rastafarian Movement Originated In Jamaica

A row has broken out in the royal family in Swaziland about Rastafarian
members of the royal household.

King Mswati's aides have evicted six young men, including the king's
nephew, for wearing dreadlocks and, allegedly, for smoking marijuana in the
royal residence.

Royal sources say the order to evict the men was made by King Mswati on
Wednesday after they made abusive utterances against him.

But the men deny the allegations against them and say that the real motive
for their eviction is to prevent them gaining access to the king.

They want to pass to the king a message from God they say they received in
a dream.

The father of one of the men, Prince Sulumlomo, has condemned the eviction
and is reported to have sought an urgent meeting with King Mswati, who is
his younger brother, over the eviction order.

His son, Prince Bhamela, and the five other men, have been ordered not to
set foot inside the Ludzidzini royal palace and in any of the royal
residences because of their Rastafarian beliefs.

Common blood

They have also been asked to vacate the late King Sobhuza's royal residence
where they sought alternative accommodation after their eviction.

Royal sources say this is the second time the men have been ordered out of
royal residences for their belief in Rastafarianism.

The men say that they have been detained several times by police for their
beliefs, but that they have never been charged.

Earlier this year they were accused of mischievous acts in the palace,
including smoking dagga, a local name for marijuana, and bringing into the
residence people who did not have royal blood.

The men have denied the allegations against them, saying the royal aides,
known as Elders of the Swazi Nation, were not acting on the orders of the
king, as they have claimed.

Prince Bhamela said the reason they were being thrown out of the royal
residences was that they have constantly demanded an audience with King
Mswati to reveal to him a certain dream concerning his rule in the tiny
kingdom.

'Disaster'

Another member of the group, Victor Zulu, said they were not moving an inch
from the royal residence where they are currently staying because, he said,
they were born there and had nowhere else to go.

He said that they were messengers of peace, and that they had no plan
against the nation.

"We have the secret to life and we have been ordered not to give this
information to anyone but the king... We have not been told these words we
are meant to have said when praise-singing the king," Mr Zulu said on Tuesday.

"We have a lot of information about the nation, and we will persist in
making our way to see the king. There are a lot of things happening which
are leading the country into disaster, and we need to divulge these
happenings before the king," he said.