Times Of Swaziland: ‘SPECIAL’ IMBALI DANCES WITH PRINCESSES

‘SPECIAL’ IMBALI DANCES WITH PRINCESSES
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BY SIBONGILE SUKATI on 05/09/2017 02:26:00


LUDZIDZINI – The ‘special’ maiden who has had tongues wagging has been
identified as Siphelele Mashwama, a former Waterford KaMhlaba student.
Mashwama was once again spotted dancing next to Princess Sikhanyiso throughout
the main day of the Reed dance yesterday. She was wearing red feathers
(emagwalagwala) which are normally donned by members of the royal family.
Although no one seemed to know who she was, she certainly had people talking as
they wondered why she was dancing with the princesses and other members of the
royal family. Like Princess Sikhanyiso and Temaswati, Mashwama was wearing a
brown bottom sidvwashi, blue indlamu tassles which matched her blue-clothed
anklets.
She danced in sync with the rest of the princesses, who had joined Princess
Sikhanyiso in the first row.
The crowd also got excited when some of the Emakhosikati went and joined her and
appreciated her dance skills. However, no one really wanted to talk much about
the maiden, with others stating that they hoped to see her at the Shiselweni
Reed Dance, which normally takes place two weeks after the main reed dance.
Interestingly, Siphelele was not among Princess Sikhanyiso’s group when they
first entered the arena, but later joined them once they had formed what is
called umkhumbi (ark) which is where they maidens dance in a uniform style. Once
again, there was also security among her and the other maidens from the royal
family. Mashwama is one of the students from Waterford who excelled in the 2016
IB Diploma. She was among the top students profiled by this newspaper early last
year.