AFRICA’S last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland, is used to getting the girl. Each year he has the pick of the country’s maidens as a new bride, but this year an irate mother has stepped in to deny the royal prerogative.

In an unprecedented legal action, which pits tradition against modernity in the remote mountain kingdom, she has challenged the King, provoking a national uproar and demands for the abolition of the King’s annual “grab-a-girl” custom.

The furore follows the decision by Lindiwe Dlamini, a single mother from Manzini in central Swaziland, to ask for the court’s help in returning Zena Mahlangu, 18, to her custody so that she can complete her A levels.

Ms Dlamini, the communications manager of Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications, submitted papers to the court accusing two of the King’s courtiers of abducting her daughter and hiding her in one of the King’s palaces. Demanding her daughter’s immediate return, she expressed fears about the teenager’s schoolwork, insisting that a whole year would have been wasted if her daughter was not allowed to take her end-of-year exams.

“My right to custody of my child will have been unlawfully infringed, and Zena’s rights to liberty, privacy and protection from abuse will have been breached,” Ms Dlamini said.

It is the first time that the King’s right to pick a new bride has been challenged.

Ms Dlamini is prohibited by law from citing King Mswati himself as a co-defendant, as under Swazi law the King cannot be sued, arrested or prosecuted. But by citing his courtiers, she hopes to generate enough bad publicity for the royal household to force the King into allowing her daughter home.

The teenager was one of four girls selected by the King as potential brides during the annual Umhlanga or Reed Dance ceremony in September, during which thousands of bare-breasted maidens danced for his attentions. After the King signals his interest by dropping a black “magic stick” in front of one of the maidens, it is the responsibility of the King’s courtiers to locate the girls and bring them back to the royal kraal, where they are tutored in their “royal duties.”

Girls selected as candidates but not chosen as brides are never returned to their families and are passed on to a senior prince instead. The palace has since confirmed that three maidens are being held for “ritualistic induction” as royal brides. The fourth is on the run and is reported to have been smuggled out of the country by her relatives.

King Mswati married his ninth bride last month. His father, King Sobhuza II, collected 99 wives during his long reign and is estimated to have sired some 250 children.

As an absolute ruler, the King holds the nation’s assets in trust, including the country’s “female resources”, palace officials say.

But opposition to King Mswati’s customary rights, and his dictatorial rule, is mounting in the landlocked country the size of Wales, with a population of one million subjects. As Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati, 34, makes all Cabinet appointments himself, rules the impoverished country by decree and has banned all opposition parties.

Parents and women’s rights organisations have rallied behind Ms Dlamini’s legal action, calling for the abolition of the Umhlanga ceremony. “It’s actually abduction in the pure criminal sense,” one women’s rights campaigner said.

Last year King Mswati found himself the target of intense criticism after reviving the ancient prohibition on under-age sex in an attempt to help to stem the spread of HIV-Aids. Women’s rights groups said that by choosing teenage brides, he was violating his own laws. The King was forced to fine himself one cow for breaking his own royal decree.

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