SWAZILAND STATE READY FOR WAR

The Swazi state is prepared to repress any unrest that might arise as a result of the kingdom’s present economic meltdown.

Millions of dollars have been spent on weapons that have no other purpose than to quell unrest among the Swazi people.

Three armoured anti-riot vehicles costing E6 million (about 880,000 US dollars) have been bought, along with assault rifles worth E1 million, pistols worth E500,000 and millions of rounds of bullets worth E14 million.

And 20 Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman Guard armour plated cars valued at E2.5 million each have been bought for King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and his family.

The armoured vehicles described by manufacturers BAE Systems ‘as an anti-riot vehicle’ can be deployed in both urban and rural settings. A variety of grenades, rifles and other weapons can be employed from inside the vehicle.

According to BAE Systems, ‘In public order policing configuration, up to 12 fully equipped police officers can operate in the fully air-conditioned vehicle for extended periods. There is also ample space for the accommodation of additional police equipment.’

Although the Swazi Government won’t admit it, these armoured vehicles have no other use than to be turned against the civilian population of Swaziland.

The government also purchased small arms and millions of bullets: enough to fight a small war. But a war against whom? Swaziland has no external enemies, so we must conclude that they are to be used, if necessary, against King Mswati’s own subjects.

There are fewer than one million people living in Swaziland so there will be enough bullets to go round, with some left over.

The government has also bought 20 armour plated Mercedes cars for the king and his family. The cars can resist an attack with small arms projectiles, a grenade or other explosive.

One website described the car as ‘The car of choice for up-and-coming dictators.’

Since the International Monetary Fund moved in to direct Swaziland’s economy there have been many fears that salary cuts and at least 7,000 public service job losses will result in civil unrest. Among those publicly stating their fears are Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland and Joannes Mongardini, who headed the IMF team that has just left the kingdom after agreeing to support massive cuts in government expenditure.

COUNTING COST OF THE SWAZI KING

King Mswati III of Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has a new Rolls Royce car at exactly the time that his government has ordered huge cuts in public expenditure that put at risk what little education and health service.

The king, who has a personal wealth estimated at 200 million US dollars,(about 2 billion emalangeni) continues to be a drain on the wealth of his kingdom. What follows is a media release from the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) detailing the cost of King Mswati and his family (You might also like to read a blogpost on this subject I wrote in December 2009)

Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] Statement

24 April, 2010

Breakdown of expenditure by King Mswati and the Royal family

The Swazi government’s forced budgetary cut backs on all ministries were not accompanied by reduced expenditure on the royal family. This is a fact that many observers predicted. What was not immediately apparent was the extent of king Mswati’s greed. King Mswati and his endless list of beneficiaries, it appears, have deemed it necessary to traverse the world in search of finances to satisfy their insatiable appetites.

According to recent reports, the government of Swaziland has approached the World Bank to plead for a loan amounting to E500 million in order to finance its originally intended budget. A major part of this budget goes towards the maintenance of the royal support system, an undisclosed network of hangers on who happen to be inflicted with the a vile sense of entitlement.

A breakdown of expenditures indicates that despite the personal wealth that the king has from his own investments and the two national trusts, a significant portion of mainstream government spending goes towards the up keep of the royal family. In the past few years the following are annual expenditures associated with the royal family:

· E170 million for Royal Emoluments and Civil List

· E 125 million for rehabilitation, maintenance and construction of state houses.

· E158 million recurrent budget for the Swazi National Treasury under the King’s office.

· E50 million for state houses and E50 Million for link roads to royal residence.

· E95 million for official royal trips by the king.

On top of those fixed annual expenses are the random other expenses such as:

In 2009 five of the king’s wives went on a shopping spree, spending E60 million in the process.

In 2009 the 20 surviving siblings of the king each received E60 000 for merely being royalty. This is a total of E1.2 million.

In the same year, 20 armoured Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman Guards cars were bought for his wives at an estimated cost of E2.5 million (about 250,000 US dollars) each. E 50 million in total.

Recently, he added an E5 million Rolls Royce Phantom to his endless list of luxury cars.

The latter set of expenses are not directly from government coffers but are said to be from his own private accounts, according to his personal secretary, Sam Mkhombe. In total, the amount of money spent by the royal family annually is a little over E700 million. This is an outrageous amount of money especially when it is considered that the failed public funded primary education scheme has a budget of only E839 million this year.

The reason why all aims to borrow money on behalf of the country should be seen as nothing but a front for self aggrandisement is because with reasonable or no royal expenditure by government, there would be no need for this loan. And this is not too much to ask of a royal family that boasts of having its own private finances, investments and receives 10% royalties in every mine in the country.

Issued By the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South African Chapter.

SWAZI POLICE GET ANTI-RIOT VEHICLES

Swaziland’s Police Operational Support Service Unit (OSSU) has bought three armoured vehicles designed to be used against civilian populations.

The RG12 4x4 armoured vehicle is described by manufacturers BAE Systems ‘as an anti-riot vehicle.’ It can be deployed in both urban and rural settings.

BAE Systems says, ‘A variety of grenades, rifles and other weapons can be employed from inside the vehicle.’

It goes on, ‘In public order policing configuration, up to 12 fully equipped police officers can operate in the fully air-conditioned vehicle for extended periods. There is also ample space for the accommodation of additional police equipment.’

Three of the RG12s have been bought second-hand from a South African company at a cost of E2million each (270,000 US dollars).

The RG12 is in use all over the world including in such well known democracies as the Republic of the Congo, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

The purchase of the vehicles has caused some excitement among the Swazi media where there are concerns that the vehicles were brought into the kingdom without the necessary delivery notes.

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, spectacularly missed the point when it gave a blow-by-blow account of the bureaucratic pathway that needed to be followed to get the vehicles registered in Swaziland.

The question it missed, of course, is what are the armoured vehicles that can deploy a ‘variety of grenades, rifles and other weapons’ to be used for?

In November 2008 King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch’ declared war on his own people when he instructed Barnabas Dlamini, his illegally-appointed prime minister, to crack down on ‘terrorists’. Since then freedom of speech and association have been restricted.

Later this month Mario Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) is due to stand trial on a terrorism charge and tensions within Swaziland are mounting. If Masuku were to be convicted we should expect some kind of civil unrest.

The purchase of the RG12 vehicles for OSSU follows the purchase in April 2009 by King Mswati for himself and his family of 20 armour plated Mercedes cars which can resist an attack with small arms projectiles, a grenade or other explosive.

In May 2008 it was reported that the Swaziland Army had purchased ‘hundreds of guns and millions of ammunition’, as well as ‘security gadgets.’

As I wrote at the time, ‘an army would only purchase millions of bullets if it were about to go to war. And whom is Swaziland going to fight? There are no external enemies of Swaziland at the moment, so one can only assume that the bullets will be stockpiled for future use, possibly even to use against Swazis. There are fewer than one million people living in Swaziland so there will be enough bullets to go round, with some left over.’

The news of the army purchases came just as the army started to deploy troops all over Swaziland in what it described as an attempt to cut down on crime in the kingdom and round up illegal items such as guns, weapons, cars and smuggled goods.

Only this month (September 2009), police claimed weapons were being stockpiled ‘in an operation to assassinate the country’s influential politicians and other high ranking members of royalty’.

The purchase of the RG12s is just another piece of a plan designed to impress upon the population of Swaziland that resistance to the regime will be met with force.

We have been warned.

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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