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Ngwenyama Sobhuza II to the Swazi’s was a towering hereditary and traditional figure of the Dlamini lineage in the Kingdom of Swaziland. It was primarily through the leadership of a series of strong kings of the Dlamini Dynasty that the Swazi Nation not only came into existence, but also maintained it’s identity. Sobhuza II was therefore a hereditary monarch, and he owed his position to the culture and tradition of a dynastic succession of the Dlamini’s.
As with the historical European monarchs, Sobhuza’s rights were considered divine and were periodically reinforced by a succession of special rituals in dance and song during the Incwala as well as the Reed Dance Ceremonies. His legitimacy was therefore ancestral and not derived from universal adult suffrage which he refused to have anything to do with on the grounds that it was un-Afrikan.
The people viewed Sobhuza as a mystical figure who had direct association with the health of his subjects and the fertility of the soil. Pictured below is the young Prince Sobhuza and his grandmother Labotsibeni also known as Gwamile and between the two of them they led the Swazi nation for over 80 years. (picture taken in 1910).
