Swaziland minister “caught hiding in the queen’s bed”

Mbabane, Swaziland – The king of Swaziland has fired his justice minister after he was allegedly caught having an affair with one of the king’s 14 wives, according to reports.

Photographs of a startled Ndumiso Mamba apparently hiding in the base of the bed of one of the king’s wives emerged online.

The pictures appear to confirm rumours that King Mswati III’s 12th wife was having an affair with Mr Mamba, which have been circulating around the country for weeks.

The wife, 22-year-old Nothando Dube, is a former Miss Teen Swaziland. It is rumoured that she dressed up like a soldier to get past security guards at the palace and meet her lover.

Police raided the Royal Villas hotel on the outskirts of the capital, Mbabane, where they allegedly discovered Mr Mamba inside the base of the queen’s bed.

The country’s prime minister Sibusiso Dlamini announced Mr Mamba’s resignation and he is currently in custody.

It is expected that Mrs Dube will spend the rest of her life under 24-hour surveillance.

Now the queen, a former Miss Teen Swaziland and the king’s twelfth wife, claims she is under effective house arrest, prevented from visiting her own family or friends and assaulted if she tries to leave the small private palace where she lives with her three children – all descendants from the royal line.

“Things have been bad and now they are worse. I really, really want out and I can’t, he [the King] is just not letting me go. It’s like I am in prison; I am under 24-hour surveillance,” she said in an interview with a South African newspaper.

She added: “My friends and family have been banned from seeing me and I really feel like I don’t want to be here any more because I feel like I am in jail. This is not healthy and I can’t live like this forever.”

“Every time I want to go somewhere the security guards become aggressive with me. It happens about once a week, when I try to go somewhere. They literally hit me, they kick and they punch me… I can’t even see a doctor. If I am sick or anything, they have to come to me. My family is not allowed to speak to the king. I am also not allowed to see him. How am I not allowed to see the man that I married?”