KING’S CELEBRATION BLED MONEY

Nobody will be surprised to learn that the cost of celebrations in 2008 to glorify King Mswati III overran by E32.6 million (about US$5 million).

The so-called 40/40 celebration to mark both the king’s 40th birthday and the 40th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence from Great Britain were supposed to cost the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, E17 million but ended up costing ‘at least’ E50.2 million.

We have to say ‘at least’ because the sad truth is that nobody can be sure (or ever will be sure) exactly how much the extravaganza for the king cost.

The news of the massive waste of money is revealed just as Swaziland is reeling under the pressure of savage financial cuts, imposed by the International Monetary Fund, after years of mismanagement of the economy by successive Swazi governments – handpicked by King Mswati.

The massive waste has come to light in the ‘Comprehensive Project Completion Report’ (CPCR), written by Luke Mswane, chair of the double celebrations committee that oversaw the 40/40 celebration that took place on one day – 6 September 2008.

The CPCR highlights a catalogue of mismanagement. Next to no time was made available to set a proper budget for the events and it became impossible to keep track of the money. At least E1.8 million was spent on capital projects without any formal written authority.

The CPCR also states that E500 000 was budgeted for labour costs, but overtime paid to civil servants amounted to E5 million.

Tellingly, since the world was led to believe that King Mswati’s joy at his 40th birthday and the independence anniversary was shared by his subjects, Mswane’s report states that there was actually a lack of interest in the event and it was impossible to attract sponsors. They had expected sponsors to pay E0.8 million but in fact only E104,000 was given.

(At the celebration, the King said, ‘I am aware that the world might be wondering as to why we are so excited in celebrating 40 years of our independence. The answer is simple, we are celebrating our nationhood and also thanking God almighty for preserving us as a nation. We are celebrating the unity, peace, stability and progress that we have enjoyed for the past 40 years.’ Not for the first time the king showed he is completely out of touch with his subjects.)

In his report, Mswane showed how inept the government was in organising the celebration. The project was only launched at the end of October 2007, less than a year before the celebrations. As a result there was not enough time for proper planning and proper costing of all the activities and services that were going to be required before and during the celebrations. He also gave a list of problems that arose because nobody was sure on the rules governing purchasing goods and services for the celebrations.

I said back in 2008 that the 40/40 celebration had turned out to be a public relations disaster for the king. Instead of praising Mswati, the international media coverage of the event showed him as a man out of touch with his people. He was seen as selfish and greedy. It was estimated at the time that the bash might have cost as much as US$10 million (about E70 million at the then exchange rate). It was pointed out that while the king wallows in this wealth, seven out of ten of his subjects earned less than one dollar a day. Six out of ten relied on international food aid and four in ten were moving from hunger to starvation. And of course, Swaziland continues to have the highest rate of HIV infection in the world.

It was known to be a public relations disaster then: now we know it was a financial disaster too.

IS SWAZI KING TO GET PRIVATE JET?

Here we go again; the Swazi Government is considering buying an airplane for King Mswati III.

Parliamentarians are saying the plane will be for the ‘nation’, but as we know in Swaziland the king holds everything ‘in trust’ for the nation, so in effect it will be his to do with as he pleases.

The idea was aired at a sitting of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport portfolio committee on Thursday (27 August 2009).

The minister Ntuthuko Dlamini told the committee, ‘Let us consider buying our own aircraft.’ The committee was discussing various concerns over the perceived inadequacies of airline travel to and from Swaziland.

Swaziland still hasn’t recovered from the last aborted attempt to buy a jet for King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

In 2002 the then Swazi Government secretly and illegally entered into a contract to buy a private jet for the king. When news leaked out and the outcry travelled around the world, the government was forced to abandon the contract and lost a E28m (3.6 million US dollars at current exchange rates) deposit.

In February 2009 Finance Minister Majozi Sithole promised that the deposit for the jet was to be returned to Swaziland with interest. As far as I know this hasn’t happened, and personally I’m not holding my breath that it ever will.

News that the Swaziland Government is even discussing the possibility of buying a jet plane will cause dismay throughout the world.

The king wastes money all time while 70 percent of his subjects live in abject poverty.

King Mswati has been under heavy criticism this past month after news leaked in the international media (but was suppressed in Swaziland) that five of the king’s 13 wives had been on a global shopping spree, spending at least six million dollars.

In April 2009 he bought 20 top-of –the-range armoured Mercedes cars at an estimated cost of 250,000 dollars each. Last year he spent about 10 million dollars on a 40/40 celebration to mark his own birthday and the 40^th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence from Britain and a further four million dollars sending eight of his wives on a shopping trip to Dubai.

The fact that the Swazi Government may entertain the purchase of the plane is evidence of how out of touch with reality its members are. Swaziland is bracing itself for a reduction of at least a half in Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) receipts this year which will result in vicious cuts in public spending in a kingdom that already has threadbare health and education services.

The Swazi Government needs to make a clear statement confirming that the idea to buy the plane was just a bit of kite flying and no such purchase will in fact be made.

SWAZI KING ‘HIDES FROM SUBJECTS’

Mfomfo Nkhambule, the Swazi dissident who was forced to stop writing in the Times of Swaziland after King Mswati III threatened to close down the newspaper has returned to his attack on the king.

Writing on his blog Nkhambule criticises King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, for being detached from his subjects and not giving them anything in return for their loyalty and what Nkhambule calls their ‘unconditional love’.

Nkhambule says, ‘It is a one way traffic. The king has made it quite clear what he wants from his subjects: It is peace and stability of the kingdom at whatever cost.

‘The most disheartening development in Swaziland is that the king stays in a palace surrounded by a brick wall 2m high, with no building higher than the wall. The king does not know how many Swazis are outside the palace. He knows the Swazis that are allowed entry to the palace. If a Swazi has never been to the palace then he is not an asset to the king because he does not exist and will never exist in the king’s list.’

He goes on, ‘Therefore the king’s interests are bound to be those of his family and to a certain extent those of his messengers. It is no surprise then that on the year of the 40/40 celebrations some of the queens boarded a chartered jet for some shopping in Asia. Now this is becoming a routine, as not long ago (about a week to be precise) another delegation of about 50 (including some of the queens) got some visas for USA. It is no surprise again that they have a fine taste of style and the king has to look after their interests because his eyes can see as far as the walls of the palace.’

He says King Mswati has told the Swaziland media he will close them down if they report on the queens’ latest trip. Certainly there have been reports on the Swaziland Solidarity Network forum about the queens’ trip but I’ve seen nothing in the official media in Swaziland.

Nkhambule gained international attention for his articles that appeared each Monday in the Times and were largely critical of Swaziland’s ruling elite, including the king. He was hauled in by Swaziland’s state police and threatened with torture if he continued to criticise the king. He was later dropped from his traditional regiment, threatened with banishment from his homeland, and his family was threatened because he refused to be silenced.

To read Nkhambule’s full blog click here.

SWAZI ‘OBSERVER’ AND HIV BRANDING

I am saddened to read that the Swazi Observer seems to be supporting the call from Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni to brand people who are HIV positive on the buttocks to advertise the fact.

The Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, has reported favourable the support readers of a UK newspaper have given to the idea.

Readers of the website of the Daily Mail, a newspaper published in London, have given ‘overwhelming support’ to the branding idea, the Observer reports.

It goes on to reproduce many of the comments left by readers on the website. This one gives a flavour of what is being said, ‘43% HIV infection rate! Those who are infected with HIV are patently not behaving responsibly. If I was the Swazi AIDS campaigner I’d be much more outraged about that.’

None of this surprises me. The Mail is probably the most politically right-wing newspaper in the UK and is no lover of Africans (at least not the black Africans). For many years it was an apologist for the apartheid regime in South Africa and it continues to give racist coverage on issues such as immigration into the UK.

I wouldn’t be the least surprised to see its readers supporting a call to end all non-white immigration into the UK and for all blacks presently in the country to be sent ‘home’.

The Mail is no lover of Swazi culture either. Like all news organisations in the world, it is not at all interested in what is going on in Swaziland, but when it does take any notice it is mostly critical.

In one report it said, ‘The kingdom of Swaziland is one of just two monarchies surviving in corrupt, cruel and collapsing southern Africa.’

Another report talks about the ‘slave status’ of Swazi women.

King Mswati, the Observer owner, will not be pleased to learn that the Mail was critical of his 40/40 celebrations last year that marked the king’s 40^th birthday and the 40^th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence.

The Mail criticised Paul Boateng, the British Ambassador to South Africa (the UK doesn’t have an ambassador in Swaziland, that’s how valuable it sees the kingdom), for attending the celebrations. It called him a hypocrite for saying he believed in democracy while supporting the king’s ‘sham’ democracy.

It reported that campaigners said the estimated 10 million US dollars spent on the celebrations ‘would have been better spent tackling chronic unemployment, malnutrition which affects 70 percent of the 1.1m population and the HIV epidemic which killed 10,000 people last year’.

The Observer needs to be careful about who its chooses as bedfellows.

DEFEND THE SWAZI CONSTITUTION

People are being urged to take to the streets to defend the Swaziland Constitution.

The call comes as the Swazi Government refuses to meet its constitutional obligation and deliver free primary school education for every child in the kingdom.

The High Court ruled that the government must comply with the constitution but ministers say Swaziland can’t afford it.

A protest march organised by the Council of Swaziland Churches takes place on Thursday (16 April 2009).

According to reports it will cost about E225million (25 million US dollars) a year to deliver primary schooling.

The banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) in a statement in support of the march put this spending into context. The Swazi Government has just agreed to give members of the Swaziland army and defence forces pay increases that will cost about E200 million (this came after the president of Madagascar was overthrown with the help of his own army and is seen as an attempt by King Mswati III to keep his own military sweet).

PUDEMO also reckons that the 40/40 celebration last year (2008) to mark the anniversary of independence from Britain and the king’s birthday cost about E100 million and more of Swaziland’s money is expected to be spent when the king celebrates his latest birthday later this month.

PUDEMO called the demonstration a ‘legitimate and noble cause’ and urged people to ‘go into the streets and demand their right’. It added that people ‘must not be deterred by the fact that the regime might as usual deploy all its armed security forces to crush the protest action’.