Daily Skiff

Thank you for your criticism, but I think you misunderstand what I was trying to say. I understand the importance of the Queen Mother, as she shares power with the King and his wives indeed have played a major role in Swazi affairs- one of Mswati III's wives has a doctorate in law and serves on the High Court. The argument of my article was not, as the headline that I did not write misleadingly says, that the Reed Dance should be 'gotten rid of' (in fact, it says the opposite), that the young women should put clothes on, nor that his Queens do not play an essential role, but that the King has abused his power and this ritual for his own benefit and is not taking care of his people. As I do not live there and have no credible expertise on the subject, I do not have as thorough an understanding of the situation, and I can accept that the way the article was edited can make my opinion sound narrow and even 'chauvinistic'. But I would ask that you take another, closer look at what I was trying to say.