High Commissioner: It is prohibited to make eye contact with the wives of Eswatini kings

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According to H.E. Mahlaba Almon Mamba, Eswatini's High Commissioner to Ghana, it is customary to avoid looking directly into the eyes of the wives of King Mswati III of Eswatini. 

The diplomat said that the king, who is in Ghana for a four-day state visit, has 15 wives who have been meticulously selected from all over Eswatini to maintain balance, according to a Joy Prime article that was shared on social media. In the unusual custom of the Kingdom of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, the king is permitted to have multiple wives.

The ruler of the southern African country, King Mswati the Third (born Makhosetive Dlamini on April 19, 1968), is the father of roughly 36 children. A special council selects his first two wives. The kids of these two wives are incapable of becoming kings.

It is customary for the king's first wife to be from the Matsebula clan and for the second to be from the Motsa clan. After then, the monarch is free to select spouses from the other clans. The Kingdom of Eswatini is home to at least 17 founding clans. Due to his constitutional immunity from prosecution and veto power over all organs of government, he leads an absolute monarchy.

On April 25, 1986, at the age of 18, he was anointed Mswati III, Ingwenyama, and King of Swaziland, making him the world's youngest reigning monarch at the time. 

Mswati III, together with his mother, Ntfombi Tfwala, who is currently Queen Mother [Ndlovukati], 

is the last absolute monarch in Africa and one of only twelve absolute national or subnational monarchs in the world. He has unrestrained political power and the ability to rule by decree.

During his rule, laws against sedition and other regulations severely punish political dissent as well as civic and labor action.Since 1973, when King Sobhuza II proclaimed a state of emergency that lasted until 2005, when the constitution went into effect, political parties have been prohibited in Eswatini.