Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party leader Jacob Zuma's daughter Nomcebo Zuma is accompanying her new husband, King Mswati III, on an overseas state visit to Italy, Serbia and Samoa. Pictures: TikTok and Jacob & Co
King Mswati III’s 16th wife and former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Nomcebo Zuma, touched down in Samoa on Friday morning for the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The billionaire king is currently on a whirlwind tour by private jet to attend to state business, as well as to introduce his new inkhosikati (“queen”) to the world.
First on the royal couple’s itinerary was Italy where King Mswati attended the World Food Forum.
This was followed by a stopover in Serbia on Monday, with the 56-year-old monarch splashing R1 million on eSwatini University students – including some from South Africa and Burundi – studying in the country.
The state-owned Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) reported that each of the students who attended the event where the king and Nomcebo were hosted, received R8,000.
According to the eSwatini-based publication Swaziland News, the royals’ overseas trip is estimated to cost citizens of the small kingdom more than R200 million.
The cost reportedly includes allowances for the royal delegation and what “is described as pocket money for the king and his new wife”.
The flying costs for the king’s private jet – which has previously been described as a “palace in the air” – are also included in the hefty sum.
The 21-year-old Nomcebo was recently introduced as the king’s new wife at the annual Reed Dance ceremony.
The polygamous monarch is said to have paid lobola amounting to R2 million and 100 head of cattle to secure the daughter of the former president and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party leader’s hand in marriage.
King Mswati is notorious for spending megabucks on luxury items and his obsession with exorbitantly expensive watches is no state secret.
At President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration ceremony in Pretoria in June this year, the king flashed a Jacob & Co Brilliant Skeleton Tourbillon Ruby watch worth more than R16 million.
Following in her husband’s footsteps, Nomcebo has been spotted flaunting a glitzy Jacob & Co Epic X Tourbillon Baguette watch on the state trip.
The timepiece is estimated to be worth around R3.9 million.
“I have no clue of her jewellery. But individual wardrobes are financed privately,” the king’s spokesperson, Percy Simelane, told Swaziland News when asked for comment on Wednesday.
According to the luxury watchmaker’s website, Nomcebo’s Epic X Baguette’s bezel is made up of 36 baguette-cut white diamonds” and “worn on an everyday basis, it makes for a perfect daily companion”.
Despite her “perfect daily companion”, insiders told the publication that several friends and relatives of Zuma’s daughter were included in the delegation so the young wife would “not feel lonely” throughout the trip.
ALSO READ: Is daughter’s marriage to King Mswati a ‘strategic political move’ by Zuma camp?
The royal couple’s extravagant overseas trip comes at a time when it is estimated that about 70% of the kingdom’s population is living below the poverty line.
Eswatini is also facing an education and health crisis amid a shortage of drugs in public hospitals, while schools face a shortage of teachers and working equipment.
But apart from that, the government is struggling to pay suppliers within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector which has resulted in the closure of various companies and job losses.
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