Magistrate hears story of man who believes he's a prince

A man who has claimed to be the son of Swaziland King Mswati III, appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court on Friday for failing to pay a Premier Hotel bill of R16 500, says a Saturday Dispatch report. Prince Makhosini ‘Omari’ Dlamini, whose real name is Phumelele Sangweni (26), was arrested when Premier Hotel found he had allegedly used fake documents to check himself in at two of their hotels. Sangweni was due to apply for bail on fraud charges but changed his mind at the last minute, saying instead he wanted to be referred for psychiatric evaluation. He stayed in some of the priciest hotel suites in the US in 2010, wined and dined with Hollywood stars and was chauffeured in a R4.2m bulletproof Maybach escorted by consulate police. His mother, Advocate Phindiwe Dlamini, told Magistrate Rochelle Sam she supported the application that he be referred for psychiatric evaluation. She gave the court a brief history of his troubled past, including his trips all over the world using a diplomatic passport he attained by using his status as a king’s ‘son’. '...one day he just took off and went to Swaziland to visit the royal family. The family immediately treated him as one of their own. The public, hotels and restaurants gave him the same treatment as that afforded to the king. The situation has been exacerbated by the family themselves who treat him as one of their own,’ Dlamini told the magistrate. ‘Where does he get this belief that he is King Mswati’s son,’ Sam asked. ‘My grandfather and King Sobhuza II were brothers. My grandfather came to SA in the 1920s, so when my son went to Swaziland, they said ‘this is our child’. The case was postponed to 20 October.

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