Once I heard people talking, ‘getting drunk is the same, it doesn’t matter the type of alcohol or drugs you have taken” and I want to believe that the same apply to polygamous. Polygamy seems to identify with African man and more visible with leaders. Tindzaba tebantfu labadzala-ke leti. His Majesty the King Mswati III and the president of South Africa, Mr. J. Zuma have more than one wife.

It is no secrete that both leaders have more than one wife and there is generally nothing wrong with that. It depends on an individual’s beliefs, whatever the position. It’s surprising how some people from other African countries and the rest of world ridicule polygamy, particularly one that is visible with our leaders. I know from experience the kind of questions that people pause to people from Swaziland on polygamy. Each time, more often than not, when I travel outside the country and soon people learn that I’m Swazi, they want to know how many wives the King has. I have since established that people ask mainly to ridicule polygamy than to learn the truth about it and it makes me sick because the King lives his own life and I’m living mine as well. The King might have more than 1 wife but it’s just His choice.

Surprisingly, I was with an American gentleman the other day who confirmed that even in his home country polygamy exists. This came as news to me. Interestingly, last week I was in South Africa and the same common question came about the King, from a Zulu young man this time. One of us gave a very good answer by asking the same question ‘how many does your president have?’ We did get the answer but the intension was not to ridicule the leader but to reveal that all people are equal and whatever one does can be done by the other in equal state of power. It’s reality that people still have to realize. Never say President Barack Obama will surely have one wife for the rest of His life because you may be lying to yourself.

In conclusion, I must say that I liked the atmosphere afterwards. No one was marginalized from polygamy stigmatization.

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