SWAZI communists called yesterday for all progressives to boycott King Mswati III’s “annual rape fest.”

The Umhlanga or Reed Dance takes place each year in Swaziland and sees virgins dance for the king, who often picks one to add to his collection of wives — currently numbering 15.

But this “repulsive display of patriarchy” is just the tip of the iceberg, Communist Party of Swaziland general secretary Kenneth Kunene charged, slamming the “porn and rape fest” as indulging the “dirty appetites of Mswati and his brothers.”

“Each year scores of girls disappear from this event never to be hard of again. There is evidence that the Reed Dance is one of the channels for human trafficking, run by a syndicate at the heart of the royal family.”

Tens of thousands of young girls are forced to take part in the dance each year, which has become a tourist attraction because the monarchy claims it symbolises traditional culture.

Households are forced to pay 100 lilangheni (£4.80) to participate — not a small sum in a country where 70 per cent live below the poverty line — and if they do not send their girls in a bid to protect them, they must pay a fine of 800 lilangheni (£38.50) or donate a cow to the king.

Attention has been focused on the dance since more than 60 girls died in a traffic accident on their way to attend, hurled off the open back of a flatbed lorry that careered into another vehicle.

Girls taking part are “exposed to sexual abuse, including rape. Many are killed in road accidents or die from exhaustion and fatigue … some drown in rivers,” the party warned.

“It is complete chaos. It is a porn and rape fest for men in the ruling elite. It is a cash source for Mswati and it is one more thing that impoverishes our people,” Mr Kunene declared.

“That is why we are calling for a boycott of the Reed Dance. We must persuade tourists who are fooled by regime propaganda about colourful African traditions to stay away.

“The event is one of the biggest celebrations of mass abuse and violence against women in the world.”