EU NOT FOOLED ON POLITICAL PARTIES

Nobody needs to worry that the European Union (EU) is being fooled into thinking that King Mswati III is about to allow political parties to operate in Swaziland, the kingdom he rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The idea that the EU is being misled surfaced after news that David Matse, the Swazi Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, met with members of the African United Democratic Party (AUDP) surfaced in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.

The Times reported, ‘Political observers we cannot name said the government meeting with AUDP was a smokescreen as it was solely convened to lead the EU into believing that there was a genuine dialogue over the registration of political parties.’

AUDP has been pressing the Swazi Government to unban political parties in time for the next election in 2013. Parties have been banned since 1973 following a proclamation by King Sobhuza II, after Swazi people dared to elect a political party that King Sobhuza didn’t like.

The EU became involved because Matse and some of his colleagues met with an EU delegation the day after his meeting with the AUDP.

If it really was Matse’s intention to fool the EU, he is wasting his time. The meeting he had with the EU was a regular ‘Article 8’ meeting that is held every six months. The EU delegation members are old hands at dealing with the Swazi Government. They have been around long enough to know that you can’t trust a word the government says.

The government can make as many promises as it wants, but it’s what it actually does that matters. And as we all know Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, who is presently embroiled in a corruption scandal about government land, is not a man to be trusted.

As an example, just think of all the international conventions Swaziland has signed on subjects such as human rights, civil rights and gender rights. All signed, but not implemented. And as for the Swaziland Constitution – we all know that’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.

Meanwhile, what about the AUDP? It wants political parties to operate in Swaziland, but it supports the present Tinkhundla system of government. Like the Imbokodvo National Movement, that has been in the headlines for the past three weeks after news emerged there were attempts to reform it, AUDP seems to pose no threat to the established order.

Or maybe it does. One source told me of being approached by a leader of the AUDP who wanted to know where he could purchase weapons. Leaders of the AUDP have also been approaching foreign embassies seeking to raise funds. The Times reported that Canada had been approached for E5 million (about US$ 450,000).

I hear that the AUDP has had its approaches to embassies rebuffed. This is hardly surprising because no foreign government could be seen to be openly financing an opposition party in Swaziland. It was naive of the AUDP to make the approach. Even more naively, I am told, upon being told that it could not be openly supported, the AUDP, asked to be funded ‘indirectly’.

The AUDP has also angered the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the best known of the opposition groups in Swaziland (and one that wants to see the present political system in Swaziland changed radically). The media constantly refer to AUDP as a ‘breakaway’ from PUDEMO.

In a statement yesterday (23 January 2011), PUDEMO said, ‘PUDEMO has neither links nor history with the AUDP. We share nothing in common ideologically and otherwise. The formation of the AUDP has got nothing to do with PUDEMO – period! We cannot recall in our history where the founders of the AUDP decided to walk out of PUDEMO and announce they were breaking away to form their own organization.’

That seems clear enough.

NO EU SUPPORT FOR SWAZI BUDGET

The European Union (EU) will not help to bail out Swaziland from its present budget crisis.

The EU made this clear after Swazi Finance Minister Majozi Sithole claimed it might be a source of cash to pay civil servants salaries.

Once Sithole announced this, in an attempt to reassure government workers they would receive their salaries this month (October 2010), progressives fighting for democratic reform protested to the EU.

Now, in a letter to Africa Contact, Denmark, the EU position has been made crystal clear – no budget support for Swaziland.

Claudia Wiedey-Nippold, on behalf of the EU, wrote, ‘I can assure you that there are no plans to channel EU funds into the Swazi national budget in the near future.’

Nor is there likely to be until at least 2013. Ms Wiedey-Nippold wrote, ‘The EU-Swaziland multi-annual country strategy for the period 2008-2013 does not foresee the use of general budget support since Swaziland does not fulfil the required eligibility conditions. Instead, EU assistance is delivered via project support with water, health and education as focal sectors.’

This couldn’t be clearer and Finance Minister must have known this – or at least he should have.

So why did he mislead the Swazi people into thinking that help from the EU was a viable way to tackle the budget crisis?

The most likely answer considering his ten-year track record of mismanagement is that he hasn’t got a clue on how to tackle the budget and he is just whistling in the dark.

SWAZIS READ OF QUEENS’ EXCESSES

Despite the effort of Swaziland’s ruling elite, news of King Mswati III’s extravagant spending is getting through to the kingdom.

Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed prime minister, threatened Swazi media with sanctions, including closure, if they revealed that five of the king’s wives were off on a global shopping spree, spending at least six million US dollars.

There has been no word about this in the Swazi media, but as I wrote yesterday the story is being reported worldwide.

Today (23 August 2009), the Sunday Times, a newspaper based in Johannesburg, South Africa, carries the story. The newspaper is freely available to buy in Swaziland. Yesterday another South African newspaper, the Saturday Star, also available in Swaziland, ran with the story.

Today, the Sunday Times reprints an article previously published by the Times, London. Headlined Mswati raids treasury for wives’ R50m the Sunday Times' report tells how King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has blown millions on a ‘secret shopping tour’ while his subjects live on less than R10 (one US dollar) a day.

Swaziland is heavily dependent on aid from the international community, and the UK has been drawn into the row because of the millions of pounds it reportedly gives to the kingdom.

The UK is said to pay a large part of an estimated R835-million in annual European Union aid, the newspaper reports.

SWAZI QUEENS’ TRIP CONDEMNED

My report yesterday (19 August 2009) that some of the wives of Swaziland’s King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have undertaken a round the world shopping spree spending as much as six million US dollars is attracting international attention.

Below is a report from the Times of London, dated 21 August 2009.

Swaziland’s king sends wives on shopping spree while subjects go hungry

King Mswati III of Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarch and ruler of some of the poorest people in the world, has sent his favourite wives on a multimillion-pound shopping jaunt through Europe, the Middle East and Asia, provoking fierce criticism of his profligacy.

Britain has been drawn into the row because of the millions of pounds in aid reportedly given to the kingdom, with campaigners accusing Whitehall of double standards. “They shout about Zimbabwe, but keep quiet about what is happening in Swaziland, even though they are one of its biggest aid donors. They are wasting British taxpayers’ money on this tyrant,” Lucky Lukhele, of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), told The Times.

The landlocked kingdom of Swaziland is home to about 1.2 million people, more than two thirds of whom live in abject poverty on less than 50 pence a day. More than a quarter of the adult population has HIV — the highest ratio in the world.

The king enjoys a personal fortune of about £145 million, as the beneficiary of two funds created by his father, Sobhuza II, in trust for the nation. He also receives money from the national budget for his family’s upkeep. Last year this totalled £12 million — more than was set aside for education.

Reports from the kingdom said that the king had dispatched at least five of his 13 wives and dozens of retainers to France, Italy, Dubai and Taiwan on a secret tour last week, using £4 million from the state budget. In Swaziland it is a criminal offence to criticise the king’s private life. The Government declined to comment.

Swaziland is heavily dependent on handouts from the international community. According to SSN, Britain pays the lion’s share of an estimated £65 million in annual European Union aid, the second-highest amount after the US, which donates about $200 million (£142 million) a year.

Two years ago, Foreign and Commonwealth Office cuts led to the closure of the UK’s Embassy in Mbabane, the capital, and the country is now monitored from neighbouring South Africa. A British diplomatic source said that the Government had made clear its concern over “governance issues” in Swaziland and no longer gave bilateral support.

King Mswati, who was educated at the English public school at Sherborne, Dorset, is no stranger to controversy. In May he bought 20 armoured Mercedes Benz cars at a cost of £150,000 each; last year he held a sumptuous “40/40” party to celebrate the twin events of his 40th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his country’s independence.

He owns several private palaces where he houses his many wives, some of whom have run away and sought refuge in South Africa.

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